Northam, Perriello talk campaign finance reform

Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam and former congressman Tom Perriello are sparring over campaign finance reform today.

Northam announced a series of proposals to reform Virginia’s campaign finance system, including banning corporate contributions and capping contributions to candidates at $10,000 from all donors except political party committees.

The new push comes on top of his proposal for a DISCLOSE Act, which would require dark money groups, regardless of their tax status, to disclose their contributors if they spend money to influence Virginia’s elections.

The full set of proposed reforms from Northam include:

• Reforming Virginia’s redistricting laws, like Ralph Northam has been fighting to do for nearly a decade
• Banning contributions to candidates or committees from corporations and businesses
• Capping contributions at $10,000 from all donors except political party committees
• Mandating donor disclosure for nonprofits seeking to influence Virginia’s elections
• Banning personal use of campaign funds
• Supporting a federal constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United

“Virginia’s campaign finance system is a boondoggle that alienates its citizens and makes them lose faith in government,” Northam said. “Virginians across every part of the political spectrum want a system that is more responsive to the people, and less reliant on big checks from a few donors. If we implement some commonsense reforms including a ban on corporate contributions and capping donations to candidates, I believe our state government can take a huge step forward in regaining the people’s trust and show Congress that it must move to end Citizens United.”

Ian Sams, a spokesman for Perriello, who is competing with Northam for the Democratic Party nomination for governor, urged the lieutenant governor to “put his money where his mouth is” by returning or giving away the more than $725,000 in corporate contributions he has accepted over his political career, including more than $100,000 from Dominion Power, a state-regulated utility monopoly that Perriello has refused contributions from in his campaign.

“Ralph Northam should put his money where his mouth is,” Sams said. “In his career, Northam has accepted more than $725,000 in campaign contributions from 132 corporations, so the question is simple: how much will Northam return or give away to meet his own standard of the ethics? Tom Perriello is the only candidate to call for publicly-financed elections and to boldly reject corporate contributions by refusing money from state-regulated monopolies like Dominion Power, which has given Northam more than $35,000 in this campaign alone. Until Northam makes the same pledge in his own campaign, his proposals are just talk.”