Charmaine Tavares Campaign Litigation - ICA Ruling
Press Release
Charmaine Tavares Campaign v. Wong ICA Opinion
Campaign Spending Commission Opening Brief
Charmaine Tavares Campaign v. Wong
The Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld the Maui judge’s ruling. This means that corporations and companies may contribute unlimited amounts from their treasury funds to every candidate up to the limits of the office being sought ($2,000; $4,000 or $6,000) without having to register with the Commission and report as a noncandidate committee.
This decision, among other things, is a blow to transparency. For many years, corporations and companies have been making contributions through their noncandidate committees to candidates. Based upon the Court’s decision, the public will no longer be able to see at a glance in one noncandidate report special interest campaign contributions and expenditures.
Hawaii’s campaign laws were recently rated #5 in the nation in a Pew Charitable Trust study. This decision may have an adverse effect on that rating.
The question that no one, including the Court, has yet to answer is -- just what did the Legislature intend when Act 203, SLH 2005, repealed the exception that allowed corporations and companies to put unlimited treasury funds into their own noncandidate committees (that would then be contributed to candidates)?
§11-204 Campaign contributions; limits as to persons.
…
(b) No person or any other entity shall make contributions to a noncandidate committee, in an aggregate amount greater than $1,000 in an election[; except that in the case of a corporation or company using funds from its own treasury, there shall be no limit on contributions or expenditures to the corporation or company noncandidate committee].
Fortunately, the Legislature in the 2009 session was willing to tackle this issue and considered several bills that would have clarified that corporations and companies were required to register as noncandidate committees and make contributions through their noncandidate committees. A bill clarifying this transparency issue was not passed because there were varying opinions on how much corporations and companies should be able to contribute to their own noncandidate committees.
We have high hopes that the Legislature will address this issue in 2010 and the Commission will work with the Legislature to restore transparency in the campaign law.
