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Oklahoma News

January 25, 2010

Ethics panel mulls rule changes

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — When the political season heats up in Oklahoma, voters can expect to see and hear even more political advertising than usual.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision this week that allows unions and corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on campaign ads for or against candidates is expected to lead to a barrage of TV ads, but campaign finance experts disagreed on how significant the impact will be.

The Oklahoma Ethics Commission on Friday postponed rewriting state election rules to comply with the ruling. The five-member panel plans to hold a special meeting next week.

Under Oklahoma law, corporations and labor unions are limited to using funds for campaign advertising from their political action committees, which are subject to certain restrictions.

The decision handed down Thursday "changes the whole complexion" of political campaigns in Oklahoma, said Marilyn Hughes, the Ethics Commission's executive director.

"It's going to have an effect on elections, because those kinds of funds were not available from corporate profits in the past," Hughes said. "I think the small donors are going to have less and less impact on elections because corporations have so much more resources from their profits to make these kind of expenditures."

Direct contributions from corporate and union treasuries to candidates or candidate committees will remain prohibited. Also, any ads funded by those treasuries for or against a candidate still must be produced independently and not coordinated with the candidate's campaign.

Former U.S. Attorney Robert McCampbell, who specializes in constitutional and campaign finance law, agreed the decision will have an impact on campaign advertising, but downplayed its overall significance.

"I don't think the impact will be overwhelming," McCampbell said. "Twenty-six states already allow independent political expenditures by corporations. The change would just move Oklahoma into line with those other states."

The Supreme Court ruling also eliminates the prohibition on issue-oriented ads paid for by corporations or unions 30 days before a primary and 60 days before a general election.

Representatives from Common Cause Oklahoma, a nonpartisan political watchdog group, urged the panel not to change its rules, arguing it's unclear whether the U.S. Supreme Court decision applied to both state and federal campaigns.

Common Cause member John Wood said allowing corporate money to flood the political marketplace will corrupt democracy.

"They could really overwhelm the marketplace with ideas," he said. "We're giving corporations super rights — rights that you and I don't have."

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