Blunt Calls S.C. Ruling "Reasonable," But "Frustrating"

Gov. Matt Blunt called a state Supreme Court ruling to reinstate limits on campaign contributions
"reasonable but frustrating." Blunt appeared in Springfield today to appoint Todd Parnell to the Clean Water Commission.

I asked Blunt about how he thought the ruling -- that forces candidates to cap donations at $1275 a person --- would impact the political landscape.

"I'm not a lawyer. It seemed like a reasonable ruling, I think it's maybe frustrating we'll go back to a system that lacks transparency that the new system had," Blunt said.

Blunt said that despite critics fears, the changed system allowing unlimited donations would not have plugged more money into the process. "The same amount of money was going to end up in the political process but there would be much greater transparency about who was funding and supporting the election of a particular candidate," Blunt said.

"We'll now go back to a system that lacks that transparency, with the number of committees, literally hundreds of committees will now come back into existence and be involved in campaigns, finance campaigns and launching all sorts of advertisements that may not be connected to the candidate," Blunt said.

Tony Messenger of the Springfield News-Leader said if Blunt and lawmakers wanted to, they could move to keep transparency in reports but also restore the limits.

But in an interview today, Messenger said he doubted "very seriously" the candidates would be forced to give back money already raised that exceeded the $1275 cap.

Still, Blunt said he didn't necessarily think the court made a bad decision -- and was prepared to conduct a campaign under whatever ruling the court makes.

Campaigns have been scrambling to figure out if they will have to give back hundreds of thousands of dollars raised under the "no cap" law.

"I think it would be inappropriate for the money to have to go back," Messenger told me today.

"I don't think this is one of the 3 or 4 greatest issues facing the state," Blunt said.

Still, hundreds of thousands of dollars are currently in limbo. The court has asked attorneys to file briefs on that issue on August 3rd.