Colorado has some of the lowest campaign donation limits in the country \u2013 $200 for candidates for the Legislature, and $1,100 for governor.<\/p>\n
Denver University\u2019s Strategic Issues Program recommended Tuesday that the state blow the lid off those limits and let people give whatever they want to a candidate or political party.<\/p>\n
The current limits are supposed to keep excess money out of politics, said James Griesemer, the panel\u2019s chairman.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, that\u2019s not how it\u2019s working. We\u2019re not reducing the amount of money in politics,\u201d Griesemer said. \u201cAll we\u2019re doing is rechanneling it.\u201d<\/p>\n
While candidates and parties cope with low limits, outside groups \u2013 the ones with a vague names like Americans for America \u2013 can spend unlimited money and never reveal their donors.<\/p>\n
Supreme Court decisions \u2013 especially the Citizens United case \u2013 have opened the door to unlimited spending by corporations and rich people. Although many members of the DU panel disagree with the high court, they decided to \u201ctake the world as we find it\u201d and recommend new laws for the era of unlimited political money, Griesemer said.<\/p>\n
The group also tackled the \u201cdark money\u201d problem.<\/p>\n
The last several elections have seen millions of dollars in secret money flow into Colorado through nonprofit groups operating under sections 501(c)4 or 501(c)6 of the tax code. Such groups are allowed to spend on politics, and they don\u2019t have to reveal their donors.<\/p>\n
For example, the donors behind most of the money spent for and against the campaign to legalize marijuana in 2012 were never revealed, because the money flowed through nonprofit groups.<\/p>\n
The DU panel recommended that such nonprofits be forced to reveal who is funding them if they want to participate in Colorado politics.<\/p>\n
Elena Nunez, director of Colorado Common Cause, liked the recommendation to force political nonprofit groups to reveal their donors.<\/p>\n
But Common Cause was a prime author of the state\u2019s low donation limits, and Nunez said getting rid of them won\u2019t solve any problems.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat still drowns out the voices of everyday Coloradans who can\u2019t write $1,000 checks, $100,000 checks or more,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
A better solution, Nunez said, is to push for a U.S. Constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.<\/p>\n
The Strategic Issues Panel tackles a difficult problem every year by inviting state leaders from across the political spectrum to study it in detail.<\/p>\n