Heller complains of weak campaign finance package

Friday, Oct. 31, 2003 | 10:08 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Secretary of State Dean Heller says the public's right to know about contributions and spending by political candidates will be severely limited by Thursday's action by the Legislative Commission.

The commission ordered Heller to eliminate sections of a proposed campaign reporting form that required candidates to disclose their cash balances, interest and income earned on the donations and the money on hand at the end of each reporting period.

Brenda Erdoes, counsel to the Nevada Legislature, told the commission a 2003 law prohibits Heller from requiring any information from political candidates that is not specifically allowed.

Without this information on the campaign disclosure forms, Heller said, "It will be much more difficult to track the activities of the political parties and the (political action committees) and where the money is coming from and where it is going."

Heller intends to send out individual letters to candidates asking if they want to voluntarily provide this information in the name of open government.

"Let's see who does and doesn't," he said.

Heller's proposed disclosure form would have allowed the public to follow through the three reports required during and after a campaign how much money was spent cumulatively and how much money was still in the candidate's bank account.

"We've lost basic accounting principles," Heller said after the commission rejected his proposed document.

Eliminating this information, Heller said, serves those already in power and allows the unscrupulous to hide thousands of dollars in contributions and spending.

The campaign disclosure form will still contain a list of how much each person contributed. But there won't be any summary.

For instance, a candidate could report he ended up in the red after a political campaign. But Heller said the candidate will not have to disclose how much cash he had on hand going into the campaign. So the candidate may still be in the black, but the public would never know that.

Starting in January a campaign and expense report will be required each year. During the election next year, reports will be due before the primary election, the general election and a wrap-up in January 2005. They will require total contributions in excess of $100 and those less than $100 and expenses paid, plus a list of the donors.

The candidates will not have to report how much cash they had at the beginning or the end of the reporting period.

Heller and his chief deputy Renee Parker told the commission that restricting the information would reduce the accountability of politicians. They said nearly every member of the Legislature supported collecting the information and that should be considered in deciding what to do.

But the commission unanimously rejected the Heller plan.