Legislature should make campaign finance fix a priority

A federal court tossed Alaska’s political campaign contribution limits Friday, but the court decision points to a corrective open to the Legislature—raise the maximum per person donation from $500 to $1,500 or $2,000 and index the amount to inflation.

A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t provide such detailed instructions, of course, but the court rejected the Alaska contribution limits for being too low and for not being linked to inflation.

The 1996 donation limit of $500 equates to a buying power of less than $300 in today’s dollars. Put another way, the current limit would have to be about $800 to match the real buying power from a quarter-century ago.

The $500 limit in 1996 replaced what had been a $1,000 per person limit in 1974, when the state first approved a law limiting contributions. Under the 1974 limit—had it been linked to inflation—the per person maximum now would be about $5,000,

The state cut the limit to $500 in 1996, while the Legislature raised it to $1,000 in 2003. Then a voter initiative in 2006 cut the allowable amount back to $500, ignoring the impact of inflation.

Alaska is on the low end nationally in how much individuals can give to candidates. Raising the amount to be more in line with other states should be a priority for the Legislature.

Without taking action, there will be no limits on contributions.

In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a Vermont law that limited contributions to $400 to a candidate for governor and other state offices, $300 for state senate and $200 for state house.

The court found that limiting contributions to those levels favored incumbents and made it harder for challengers to defeat them, “thereby reducing democratic accountability.”