The Center for Competitive Politics (CCP) sent a letter to Kentucky legislative leaders Friday about policy concerns regarding a bill to restrict political contributions.
Senate Bill 82, purportedly aimed at keeping tax dollars from going towards political endorsements, instead silences the speech of large groups of Kentuckians. It prohibits political donations above $50 by state contractors to state and local candidates, for up to five years prior to the singing of a state contract.
“Targeting the First Amendment rights of business owners is a misguided approach to valid concerns regarding state contracts,” CCP Research & Government Relations Director Laura Renz wrote in the letter. “If the Kentucky legislature is seriously worried about the influence of government contractors, it should invest in an open and wholly competitive bidding process for all public contracts.”
“Increasing transparency, not restricting free speech, is the appropriate response to the legislative anxieties about the integrity of the bidding process,” Renz said.
CCP detailed academic studies showing that restricting the right of citizens to contribute to candidates does not reduce real or perceived undue influence by interest groups or political corruption.
