Litigation

WV Public Financing Pilot Faces Setback

By Peter Hardin

West Virginia’s legislature has dealt a setback to the state’s pilot program for public financing of the 2012 state Supreme Court elections.

On the final day of the legislature’s session, a Senate panel killed a measure that would have provided nearly twice the amount of money that is now in a fund for the 2012 contest, according to a Charleston Gazette article.

Publicly financed elections are intended to curb the influence of special interest money. In West Virginia, home of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case about special interest spending in a judicial election, backers of public funding are fretting the state won’t have enough money for the pilot program. (The 2009 case is called Caperton v. Massey.)

Julie Archer of the West Virginia Citizen Action group voiced a concern that if candidates think the pilot program is under funded, they will be reticent to use it.

Public financing for appellate courts is used in four states, and these programs have faced growing “partisan pushback” from the GOP, said Charles Hall, communications director for the Justice at Stake Campaign. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s new budget has slashed funds for public financing of judicial elections (see Gavel Grab).

“Public financing is very, very popular with voters,” Hall said. “Where it’s been used, it’s very popular with candidates. It’s really met everybody’s needs, and so it is unfortunate that it’s under attack.”

There are several sources of money for the West Virginia pilot program. By 2012, the state intends to place $3 million into an account for it, with the money coming from rebates from the state auditor’s Purchasing Card program, according to the newspaper article.

The legislation this year would have added $2 million more, taken from the state treasurer’s unclaimed property trust fund. By assessing fees on lawyers and parties in civil actions, West Virginia would have raised another $800,000.

“I feel that the potential to see [the program] utilized has been crushed, quite frankly,” said Del. Tim Manchin, a backer of public financing.

House Republicans opposed the pilot program financing measure in West Virginia. To learn more about the background of West Virginia’s program, check out Gavel Grab. To learn about public financing, see the JAS issues page about it.

Full post as published by The Gavel on March 17, 2011 (boomark / email).