Who’s the first person Chaka Fattah goes to if his appeal to the Supreme Court on the city’s campaign finance rules is successful?
“I’m hoping that Tom Knox will give me a check,” Fattah joked on the phone this afternoon. “He’s going to be well off and interested in the civic affairs of the city.”
A day after a panel of Commonwealth Court judges ruled that the city’s campaign contribution limits are legal, and lawyers for Fattah revealed they planned to appeal, Fattah said that he’s only following his rights It’s the same as Tom Knox appealing the court decision to allow Bob Brady to remain on the ballot, he said.
“The way we determine whether they’re constituional is that they go through the court process,” Fattah told Metro. “The process is not complete. ... You are not guilty of a crime until all of your appeals are heard. The matter of whether or not the limits are legal is an unresolved matter.
“We want to know with a certainty, whether or not ... one person can spend $15 million and another can only provide $5,000 per contribution. We want to know whether or not the courts find that to be an appropriate and fair process for candidates.”
Fattah questions the Committee of 70’s lobbying against legal challenges to the finance limits.
“I don’t remember a release from the Committee of 70 that if Ed Rendell could take unlimited contributions [in his campaign for governor] it would be chaos and pay-to-play politics,” Fattah said. “It’s like selective amnesia here.”
Can’t speak for Seventy’s Zack Stalberg, but I’m sure he’d mention the number of city officials led into the Federal courthouse facing corruption charges. Stalberg says that overturning the limits would lead to chaos and a mad dash for cash, possibly tainting the future mayor.
UPDATE: Fattah's campaign put out a release this afternoon outlinging Fattah's March 26 campaign finance filing. Fattah raised $748,614 between Jan 31 and March 26, and had nearly $600,000 in his mayoral account.
UPDATE 2: Honestly, I'm not sure where this one is going yet, but is it possible that Fattah filed too early? The rules say that only candidates for statewide races including judgeships have to file their sixth tuesday pre-primary filing, showing finances as of March 26. The next filing due for the mayors race isn't until April 30, said one campaign. None of the other candidates seem to have filed today, but my head's still spinning trying to figure out what's going on.
More as I figure it out, but it looks like Fattah may have tipped his hand a bit early...
UPDATE 3: State guidelines say the next filing for the mayors race isn't due until May 4, showing finances through April 30. Awaiting word back from Fattah's campaign...
"You are not guilty of a crime until all of your appeals are heard"
Does that constitute an admission that he mis-spent his very large lobbyist contributions from before he announced his candidacy?
BTW, isn't the court case based on whether or not the city has the authority to regulate its own campaign finance rather than on whether or not it's fair for a self-funded candidate to be able to make unlimited contributions to his or her campaign? A bit of a technicality, but still...
Posted by: dude | April 03, 2007 at 05:28 PM
Just to be clear, the "innocent until proven guilty" line was an analogy comparing the court process for this lawsuit to a criminal proceeding.
Posted by: Josh Cornfield | April 04, 2007 at 01:52 AM