Ogden » A push for Utah's first campaign contribution limits appears to be sputtering to an early demise.
The Governor's Commission on Strengthening Democracy is sharply divided on the issue, as it showed Thursday by killing a proposed compromise. The vote follows on the heels of Gov. Gary Herbert's public comments that he opposes limits to campaign donations.
Herbert is slated to speak at the commission's next meeting, on Thursday, and says he remains open to persuasive arguments.
"I'm more than happy to listen to their argument and be persuaded by logic and reason if my position is wrong," Herbert said Thursday during his monthly KUED news conference. "But I do have some concern about capping campaign [contribution] limits."
Herbert worries that caps would shrink the candidate pool to only those wealthy enough to fund their own campaigns.
"For the average people, 85 to 90 percent of us, I think it makes it difficult to compete against the rich," Herbert said. The governor favors quick and full disclosure of donations as a better way to improve the system.
Several commission members share that view, and flexed their muscle Thursday against contribution limits.
After a previous narrow vote in favor of a strict campaign cap, the commission spent three hours Thursday debating --- and endorsing -- relaxed restrictions in an attempt to achieve consensus. The plan seemed to have momentum, only to go down in flames on a final vote.
"The 'yes' votes unanimously came together to try to reach a middle ground and that was thwarted," said Kirk Jowers, who heads the University of Utah's Hinckley Institute of Politics and is acting chairman of the commission.
"We spent the entire three hours with hopes that some 'no's' would come to 'yes,' " Jowers said, "but that didn't happen."
Earlier this month the panel voted 10-7 in favor of restrictions put forward by Commissioner Randy Dryer, which would limit donations per election cycle to $4,000 for statewide races and $2,000 for legislative seats. Aggregate contributions would be capped at $25,000.
Commissioner Ken Verdoia proposed some looser caps and those were incorporated into even less stringent limits put forward by Jowers.
Jowers proposed hiking Dryer's limits from $4,000 to $5,000 for statewide races and $2,000 to $2,500 for legislative seats, while making the caps applicable per election rather than for an entire election-year cycle.
The convention, primary and general elections make up one cycle but three separate elections for some hotly contested races.
While all 14 commissioners in attendance voted in favor of Jowers' amendments, the final vote to approve the whole package failed 9-5.
The vote means that, at the end of the day, the original Dryer proposal still stands. But that drew fire two weeks ago from members who oppose all campaign contribution limits on principle, saying it represses free speech.
"So you have people who voted for the Jowers amendment," said Commissioner Tom Love, "who really didn't want any limits at all."
Robert Gehrke contributed to this report.
