Campaign Spending Rules Examined

The PPH reports on the move to better define legitimate campaign expenses after a small number of questionable expenditures during the last election.

Political candidates would no longer be able to bill taxpayers for out-of-state travel, car repairs, charitable contributions or their own restaurant meals under a plan to tighten rules for using public funds in campaigns. The four new restrictions are some of the practices that the executive director of the state ethics commission wants to crack down on[...]

Using tax dollars to feed campaign volunteers is legitimate, said commissioner Andrew Ketterer, but candidates should not be billing taxpayers to take their spouses out to a restaurant.

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