Law, courts protect Pa. pay to play
In his stunning dismissal of a corruption case against investment manager Richard Ireland, U.S. District Judge John Jones III ruled that there was insufficient evidence to find that Ireland had attempted to bribe former state Treasurer Rob McCord with campaign donations.
Federal prosecutors had contended that Ireland had tried to bribe McCord with $500,000 in campaign contributions in exchange for state pension investment contracts.
McCord, who earlier had pleaded guilty in a separate case for attempting to shake down potential donors, had worn a wire to record his conversations with Ireland. The pair discussed hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential campaign donations and investment contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The judge agreed with the defense’s contention, however, that there was no specific quid pro quo, or specific exchange of donations for specific contracts.
The government cannot appeal the judge’s decision. But the state Legislature should take the case itself as an indictment of state campaign finance laws.
Pennsylvania is among a dozen states that do not limit campaign contributions, thus creating an environment that gives heavyweight donors undue access to politicians seeking high office.
Testimony in the Ireland case was that some of those donors don’t waste the opportunity that they purchase with big political donations.
McCord unsuccessfully sought the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2014. He testified that he met with a waste company executive and potential campaign donor in 2013, who demanded the right to name the environmental protection secretary should McCord be elected governor. That is appalling.
McCord lost after lending his own campaign $2 million. He then attempted to recoup some of that money by shaking down donors in exchange for treasury contracts.
Most candidates court big donors, few of whom are interested only in good government.
State Sen. Jay Costa, the Democratic minority leader from Allegheny County, has at- tempted for years to legislate contribution limits. The current system “prices out” regular Pennsylvanians, he contends.
Indeed, if money is free political speech, the likes of Richard Ireland have bullhorns while millions of Pennsylvanians can only whisper. It’s time for the Legislature to make those voices heard by establishing sensible limits on campaign contributions.