Virginia Beach Will Sessoms has had a good fundraising year, outraising every candidate on the November City Council ballot. The odd thing is he isn’t even on it.
His supposed re-election effort isn’t until 2012, where rumors are former Mayor Meyera Oberndorff is mulling a rematch. Sessoms isn’t doing much to dampen the speculation, raising over $200,000 and currying favor with anti-business groups that were Meyera’s base. If he’s hoping to deter a rematch, kissing up to her base and raising a ton of cash are perfect ways to do that.
But at least he admits it’s also about the other races this fall, and he’ll spread more than a little bit of that to help his friends and hurt his foes. There have been a few too many close votes and drama at Council this year, two things the consensus-loving Sessoms doesn’t like.
How much could he spend? We’ll not know for a long time. Sessoms doesn’t have to file another report until January 18, 2011. He could raise a million dollars and we won’t know until well after the elections.
Political Action Committees have some of the same freedoms. Any contributions under $10,000 received by a PAC after October 1st aren’t reported until next January. No PAC expenditures after October 1st are reported until January either.
This makes the role of kingmaker relatively easy for PACs or non-election candidates like Sessoms. Of course, candidates would have to report any contributions in the normal reporting cycles, but that’s where it gets interesting.
Sessoms has noted great support for Barbara Henley, who lacks any business community support and has raised a scant $300. With Will’s checkbook racking in money for the rest of the year reportable only in January, will Henley need to raise a dime herself? And will voters know from where the support came in time for it to matter? Sessoms could write Henley a giant check on October 1st, not have to report it until January, and Henley wouldn’t have to report it either until October 25th, presumably well after the ads would be airing.
Of course, you don’t have to contribute to a friend to help him. You can pay for attack ads against an opponent. In races with several candidates running at-large, it would be difficult to ascertain any direct in-kind benefit from a heavy television buy attacking one of them.
A PAC can be dormant all year, start raising buckets of cash on October 1st and only contributions of $10,000 or more are reported this year.
I’ve long been a supporter of Virginia’s system of no-limit campaign finance, but these reporting deadlines are a joke, especially in the electronic age. Learning about contributions and expenditures two months after Election Day doesn’t help any voter. I have no problem at all with Mayor Sessoms engaging in the political process, or anyone else for that matter.
But these reporting deadlines are gaping loopholes that are a disservice to transparency that is crucial to Virginia’s campaign finance freedoms.
