HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania. (AP) — Gov. Josh Shapiro’s refusal to reveal who paid for his glitzy inaugural party has exposed a gap in state law that allows Pennsylvania governors to avoid the transparency sometimes required elsewhere.
Federal law requires presidential inauguration committees to disclose information about donors who donate more than $200 to the inauguration celebration. Such laws exist in states such as Virginia, Maryland, and New Jersey, as well as in cities such as New York and Philadelphia, where cities also limit the amount an individual donor can donate to an inauguration.
Many other states do not have such disclosure laws, and millions of dollars can be surreptitiously provided by donors who seek favorable treatment under state law, have contracts with the state government, or rely on state government subsidies.
That raises serious conflicts of interest concerns, said Aaron McKean, an attorney at the Washington-based Campaign Legal Center, a nonprofit good government group.
“The whole purpose here is to prevent corruption or even the appearance of corruption,” McKean said. “This is how we build trust in our elected officials and our government.”
No one, he says, “gives this money just for fun.”
Shapiro’s party in Lititz last week – tickets cost $50 apiece while fundraisers sold sponsorship packages with VIP perks – drew hundreds, possibly thousands of people to drink, eat and watch top-notch music entertainment, including Smokey Robinson , Meek Mill, Wiz Khalifa and Mount Joy.
Asked about donors at an irrelevant press conference last week, Shapiro, a Democrat, made no commitment to name them.
“We’re going to follow all the laws that are required in terms of reporting and disclosure, and that’s the approach we’re going to take,” Shapiro said.
No law requires such disclosure. But not revealing who paid for it sets Shapiro apart from his predecessors in Pennsylvania.
In states that do not regulate inauguration celebration donations, fundraisers are usually organized and run by assistant governors, allies, or a party organization.
In some cases, governors disclosed information about the original sponsors, although sometimes they did so reluctantly and only after they had withstood public scrutiny.
In Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis was elected to a second term, the Florida GOP raised money for its inaugural party – sponsorship packages topped $1 million – and filed a campaign finance report that revealed more than $10 million in November. donations. and December.
In Texas, the Texas Organizing Committee releases sponsors, but the Texas Tribune successfully sued to get details on how $5.3 million was spent on the 2019 event.
In Shapiro’s case, he appointed top campaign assistants to lead his inaugural committee and organized it as a 501c(4) non-profit organization under federal tax laws that require no disclosure of donor information or restrictions on who can donate or donation amounts. .
Shapiro’s aides did not answer questions about why he chose not to reveal the identities of the donors.
Shapiro’s predecessor, Democrat Tom Wolf, limited donations to his inauguration celebration to $50,000 per donor and disclosed those who contributed at least $500. In 2019, donors included labor unions, energy companies, health insurance companies, law firms and developers.
During Shapiro’s insider fundraiser, fundraisers sought “prime sponsor” donations of up to $150,000 for a package including a “limited edition commemorative gift”, 10 tickets to the VIP reception, “preferred” tickets to the swearing-in ceremony, and other perks. .
Money often remains in 501c(4) bank accounts, and there is no law specifying how the money should be spent. McKean said that without transparency, such remaining money could turn into a “black fund” for the governor.
Over the past two decades, Philadelphia has implemented campaign finance reforms to fight corruption. These city laws treat donations to the inaugural committee the same way as donations to the campaign committee, requiring disclosure of who donated and how much they donated.
It caps donations – currently $3,100 for individuals and $12,600 for businesses and organizations – and determines how the rest of the money should be handled.
City councilors who approved the law understood that unregulated donations to inaugural committees could circumvent the purpose of campaign finance law restrictions, said J. Shane Creamer, executive director of the city’s ethics board, which enforces the law.
“And we’re going back to the big donor days we had before the campaign finance law went into effect,” Creamer said.
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