A few weeks ago, Republican state representative and candidate for U.S. Senate, Patricia Morgan, came under the local media searchlight for some errors in campaign finance.

I don’t see anything particularly suspicious in the findings, but the story does give me an opportunity to restate my thoughts on campaign finance law.  It’s just a way to trip up outsiders.  We’re to the point that running for office nearly requires finding an outside accountant.  A candidate running for multiple offices can’t mix the funds or use them to offset the personal burden of running for office.

Most telling, in this case, is that two people exceeded the maximum donation to Morgan, but the real problem is that her campaign didn’t attribute the donations to the donors and their spouses, which would have been just fine.  Consider this error in contrast with the supposedly non-political money that Democrat Senator Lou DiPalma has been getting from a wealthy Newport developer.

Special interests can give politician high-paying jobs, even setting them up for life with income and perks that won’t all have to be made public, but a motivated citizen can’t just give a candidate $6,000 to help her or him run for office, even if it’s reported.  This is a system designed to help the corrupt, not to increase transparency.