Will candidates for NH governor disclose their finances early?
State law does not require candidates to report receipts, expenditures until late August
Two Democratic candidates for governor say they will disclose their campaign receipts and expenditures later this month, two months before they are required to do so by law.
Most of the other gubernatorial candidates said Friday they will wait until August to disclose their receipts and expenditures, while one said a decision has not yet been made, and another declined to comment.
Former state securities bureau chief Mark Connolly and Executive Councilor Colin Van Ostern, both Democrats, cited what they view as a need for more transparency in the state system in promising to report their campaign finances by June 22. By law, they are not required to do so until Aug. 24.
June 22 is the deadline for so-called non-candidate political committees to report, while candidate committees are not required to report until Aug. 24.
Under New Hampshire’s arcane campaign finance system, candidates for governor and other state offices can form either a candidate political committee or a non-candidate political committee, which essentially is a political action committee.
One key difference is that non-candidate political committees are required to file reports of receipts and expenditures in June and again in August, while candidate committees are not required to file until the August date, just three weeks prior to the Sept. 13 state primary election.
According to the Secretary of State’s campaign finance website, Republican Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas is the only candidate for governor of either party operating with a political committee subject to the June 22 deadline.
Even that requirement is cloudy. An official of the Attorney General’s Office said in 2014 that once someone files his or her paperwork to officially become a candidate, his or her committee then becomes a candidate committee and is subject to the August deadline.
Gatsas for Governor spokeswoman Alicia Preston said the campaign has not yet decided when it will file its report.
Van Ostern has announced that he will adhere to the deadline for political committees.
“The people of New Hampshire deserve a governor who works for all the people of our state, not just the powerful interests and top 1 percent,” Van Ostern said. “My campaign will release in June an early public report to give voters a clear view into how our campaign is funded, and I ask the other candidates for governor to join us in this simple good-government step.”
Connolly’s campaign was asked to comment on the issue after WMUR.com’s New Hampshire Primary Source column reported on Van Ostern’s position on the issue on Thursday morning.
“We've always planned to release our first financial report in June,” Connolly campaign manager Colin Pio said. “For nearly a decade, Mark has been a leader in calling for greater transparency in state government and has been actively involved in efforts to limit the out-sized influence of special interests on our campaign finance system. In the coming weeks, Mark will be releasing a series of proposals to make our finance system and our state government more transparent."
His campaign pointed out that Connolly was a member of the board of Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig’s New Hampshire Rebellion, a well-known campaign finance reform and transparency organization.
It noted that Connolly wrote a book about transparency in state government. In the 2011 book “Cover-Up,” Connolly recounted the massive FRM Ponzi scheme that, according to a 2010 report by then-New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney, defrauded at least $20 million from 150 investors. Connolly resigned as director of the state Bureau of Securities Regulation and became a whistleblower in what he called a state government cover-up involving the failed mortgage company.
In March 2016, Connolly wrote an opinion piece in the New Hampshire Business Review about his work in the securities bureau and his call for greater transparency in government.
He called for an overhaul of the state campaign finance system, writing, “Candidates can currently raise vast amounts of money without having to report any of it until the summer before an election, and when they do disclose, there’s typically no follow-up or potential penalties … We need to stop taking transparency as a suggestion and start treating it as an imperative by demanding more from our elected and appointed leaders.”
State Rep. Frank Edelblut, a Republican candidate for governor, said he will wait until August to file, adding, “I’m going to play by the rules in this election.”
But he said, “I would support more transparency in the system. If I became governor and there is a bill put in front of me to create a higher degree of transparency, I would sign it.”
Republican candidate and Executive Councilor Chris Sununu’s campaign declined to comment for this report.
Former Portsmouth Mayor Steve Marchand, a Democrat, would not say whether he will file a report in June, but he issued a separate call for gubernatorial candidates to adhere to the state’s voluntary spending limit of $625,000 in the primary and $625,000 in the general election.
No candidate in recent memory has agreed to the voluntary limit, with the exception of Andrew Hemingway, who did so in 2014 as a Republican candidate for governor. Hemingway lost to retired businessman Walt Havenstein in the GOP primary.
Candidates who comply with the limit are allowed to take contributions of up to $5,000, while candidates who choose not to adhere to the limit are prohibited from taking contributions of more than $1,000.
"In the era of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, the amount of money in politics is making public service less effective and accessible for everyday Americans,” Marchand said.
"If my opponents want to join me in showing they are people of action, and not just words, they will join me in accepting the state's voluntary campaign spending limit. On the subject of campaign finance reform, transparency is one thing, and that is certainly the GOP's talking point. But substantive action is another.”
"In the spirit of reducing the corrosive influence of big money in politics, I ask my gubernatorial opponents to join me in accepting the state's voluntary campaign spending limit,” Marchand said.
Republican state Sen. Jeanie Forrester will file her report in August in accordance with the law, her senior adviser said. Michael Dennehy also questioned the importance to voters of campaign finance matters, including Marchand’s call for candidates to adhere to the campaign sending limit.
"Quite frankly, the voters of New Hampshire should be outraged that all the Democrats are talking about is funding of their campaigns,” Dennehy said.
“This is the second day in a row that the Democrat candidates have issued harebrained fundraising challenges. Honestly, it's time all the candidates share how they would govern, as Jeanie Forrester has by releasing her 'Economic Plan for the People.'"
Edelblut said he will not adhere to the limit, saying, “I think the greater transparency we’re talking about would obviate the need for that.”
“The voluntary spending limit is just that, voluntary,” Gatsas said. “It’s up to each candidate to make his or her own decision. It is not something I have chosen to do.”
"There's too much at stake in November,” Connolly campaign manager Pio said. “Mark and Democrats up and down the ticket will spend the resources we need to defeat Donald Trump and the Republican nominee for governor. Mark has long been an outspoken proponent for cleaning up New Hampshire's campaign finance system, and will make it a priority as governor to reduce the influence of special interests and increase transparency."
Van Ostern’s campaign declined to comment on Marchand’s proposal.