Missouri Supreme Court resurrects campaign limits

St. Louis Daily Record & St. Louis Countian, Jul 20, 2007 by James Goodwin

Missouri's campaign contribution limits are being reinstated under a unanimous decision handed down Thursday by the state Supreme Court.

According to the high court, lawmakers linked two important provisions of a 2006 campaign finance law - one that allowed unlimited donations and one that prohibited candidates from receiving them during legislative sessions, which run from January to mid-May.

When a lower court in March invalidated the ban on campaign collections during the legislative session, the limit on caps should have been thrown out, too, the Supreme Court said.

The decision effectively reinstates the previous limits on individual donations: $1,275 for statewide candidates, $650 for Senate candidates and $325 for House candidates.

"The blackout period cannot be severed from the repeal of the campaign contribution limits in the other provisions of section 130.032," Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh Jr. wrote in the high court's opinion, "and because the blackout period was declared invalid (and no appeal followed from that part of the trial court's judgment), the repeal of the campaign contribution limits is also invalid."

In a letter accompanying Thursday's opinion, the court asked interested parties to suggest by Aug. 3 what should be done with money collected during the legislative session. Cole County Judge Richard Callahan issued a temporary restraining order against the blackout provision in January. Callahan issued a decision in March striking down the blackout period, citing violations of First Amendment free speech protections.

Other provisions included in House Bill 1900 still stand, including provisions Callahan previously struck down as violating the original purpose and single subject provisions of the state constitution.

The ruling stems from a suit filed Jan. 2 by James Trout, a candidate who lost in 2006 to state Rep. Kathlyn Fares, R-Webster Groves. He argued that vague language contained in House Bill 1900 violated the state's "clear title" law for legislation and that it handicapped new candidates who competed against established incumbents for political seats.

Rep. Tom Dempsey, R-St. Charles, who sponsored the legislation, declined to comment Thursday until he could review the ruling. He said he did not know yet whether he would re-introduce similar legislation in the next session.

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on June 21. Trout was represented by three attorneys at Stinson Morrison Hecker: Gretchen Garrison and Jane E. Dueker in St. Louis and Charles W. Hatfield in Jefferson City. Alana M. Barragan-Scott of the Missouri Attorney General's Office represented the state.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's Office did not return a call for comment.

"This is the way government is supposed to work - when the Legislature enacts something improperly, the Supreme Court - steps in and corrects it," Hatfield said.

"The ultimate goal here was to reinstate reasonable contribution limits, and that's what we've done. Now we're going to brief whether candidates have to give back the money that they took in excess of the limit."