House endorses campaign finance legislation

MONTPELIER, VT (2007-05-08)

(Host) The Vermont House has endorsed campaign finance legislation that raises the amount individuals can give to parties and candidates.The bill allows people to give $2,000 dollars to gubernatorial candidates for each election cycle. VPR's John Dillon has more:

(Dillon) The bill is designed to replace a campaign finance law that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down last year as an unconstitutional restriction on free speech.That law, first passed in 1997, set a $400 total limit for an individual's contribution to a gubernatorial candidate. The new legislation raises that amount by five times. The bill also raises the contribution limit for other statewide offices. Paul Burns is a director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group. He says the legislation makes sense, given the Supreme Court's ruling.

(Burns) "This establishes reasonable limits and does the best job we can I think, given the court's decision, at reducing the powerful influence of money and politics."

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