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Ban Pay to Play Campaign Contributions

Just as corporate lobbying corrupts the legislative process, the scramble for government contracts corrupts the executive branch and its agencies. Ohio has seen multiple pay-to-play scandals in recent years where campaign contributors illicitly received unbid special counsel work from the attorney general's office, no-bid contracts from the secretary of state's office, and control of workers’ compensation investments in the notorious Coingate scandal. Similar scandals have enveloped public officials in New York, California, South Carolina, Illinois and other states across the country.

A number of states have taken action to assure greater accountability in the public contracting system through common-sense solutions:

Campaign Contributions by Contractors: Seven states currently have some form of pay-to-play contracting law to bar companies bidding on contracts from making campaign contributions to government officials, and in 2005, New Jersey passed the nation’s most far-reaching pay-to-play law in the wake of local contracting scandals.

Tightening Contracting Standards: The tighter the standards for the bidding processes and the work done, the less likely incompetent or corrupt companies can buy contracts with campaign contributions.

Public Citizen — Pay to Play and State Governments
Public Citizen — State Pay to Play Laws
AFSCME — Legislative Approaches to Responsible Contracting
New Jersey Pay to Play Law

From the Dispatch

States Act to Limit Judicial Ruling Allowing Corporations to Spend Directly to Elect or Defeat Candidates

Jan 28, 2010

Portending a sharp increase in corporate political spending, the Supreme Court has ruled (Citizens United v. FEC) that corporations enjoy the same speech rights of citizens when it comes to advocating the election or defeating political candidates. Elected officials, including U.S. President Barack Obama, have denounced the ruling as striking at the heart of our democracy by putting corporations on an equal footing with real people when it comes to basic constitutional rights.
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New York Attorney General Uncovers National Pay-to-Play Scandal

May 21, 2009

New York's Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, is in the midst of a two-year investigation into kickbacks paid to state political staff in exchange for the opportunity to profitably manage the investments of New York State's public pension fund. That investigation has now prompted a national effort with a multi-state task force and the Securities and Exchange Commission working together to uncover rampant pay-to-play abuses. Nationally there is over $2 trillion in US public pension assets.
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Two States With Tarnished Images Make Strong Gains on Ethics in 2008

Jun 26, 2008

Many states have suffered from public officials being involved in ethics scandals. While sometimes there is talk of reform and other overtures, comprehensive reform is most often elusive. However, some states have managed, either in response to one particularly egregious event or a history of problems being overturned in a wave of dissatisfaction, to truly make a fundamental change. This year Connecticut once again moved forward with a multi-year ethics reform initiative, and Louisiana enacted one of the most far-reaching ethics overhauls any state has in generations.
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Illinois Legislature Passes Pay-to-Play Contracting Reform, Bill Awaits Governor's Signature

Jun 19, 2008

Illinois stands out as a state famous for corrupt politics. For generations, patronage and pay-to-play politics have been raised to an art form by state and local politicians. The state's last governor is in jail for racketeering. The current governor is under federal investigation for allegedly giving jobs and no-bid contracts to campaign supporters, more than 200 of whom have given the governor checks for exactly $25,000. Advocates of good government such as the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform have fought for years to bring the states' corrupt government officials to heel.
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