Now, a newly elected member of the council has proposed some intelligent revisions to those rules and, again, it would be a good idea for the council to vote them up or down as a package. Or, more specifically, up.

The extant rules, proposed by then-acting Mayor Alan Dayton in the wake of a series of scandals, ban political contributions from contractors doing business with the county to those seeking county office. That's a well-intended attempt to lessen the ability to buy favors from county officials, but singling out a particular group of citizens for such a ban has "equal-protection lawsuit" written all over it.

The current law also sets limits for individual donations that were, it is now argued, too high.

Doing that arguing is Councilwoman Jenny Wilson, who has proposed a reasonable set of revisions that deserve approval.

Wilson's plan would remove the ban on contractor donations, a provision that seems unfair and risks dragging the county into a futile court battle, as has happened in New Jersey. But it would also cut back on the size and frequency of allowed donations, and end a suspect practice of setting different limits for council candidates who run in districts than for the many candidates who run county-wide.

The proposal also would apply the $2,000-a-pop, $6,000-a-year, limit on donations to candidates made by state and county political parties. In-kind gifts from parties to candidates - providing voter registration lists, including them in party advertisements - are limited to $10,000.

That innovative rule would likely reduce the influence of political parties. And that's too bad, really, because the parties have been a moderating force in American politics, a force that sadly is already on the wane across the nation as special interests and ideological extremists gain clout.

But it would also make it harder for deep-pocketed donors to use the parties to launder contributions that greatly exceed the limits. And reducing the influence of deep pockets is what campaign finance rules are all about.

Wilson's proposal does a good job of that, and deserves to be approved, intact.