Enforce Iowa’s campaign finance laws

Dozens of Iowa political campaigns have been fined since 2018 for running afoul of state campaign disclosure laws. But those campaigns have not paid fines handed down for their violations.

Zach Goodrich, who is in his second year as director of the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board, thinks that needs to change.

“I’m concerned of the dismissive attitude that far too many people in positions of power have toward Iowa’s ethics and campaign laws. I’m especially concerned that state law allows them to get away with not caring about following the ethics and campaign laws,” Goodrich told The Gazette’s Erin Murphy. “Most public servants and candidates for public office comply without the threat of consequences because they want to do what’s right, and they feel a responsibility to the public. But in the instances where someone lacks any sense of public duty or personal integrity, we need strong laws and effective enforcement to hold them accountable.”

We fully agree with Goodrich’s sentiments and commend him for seeking changes. What good are campaign finance disclosure laws if they have no teeth?

We’re not talking about a massive windfall. Dating back to 2018, 240 Iowa campaigns have failed to pay $27,520 in fines. Most of those unpaid fines were leveled at state legislative campaigns.

More maddening than the amount is the conduct that led to fines. One unpaid fine case involved a government employee who accepted thousands of dollars in illegal gifts in exchange for preferential treatment. One politician filed blatantly false finance reports to cover up the identity of donors and how their money was spent. The candidate told Goodrich he had no worries, because our campaign finance laws have no real consequences.

But the board under Goodrich has made progress. Almost 1,000 unpaid fines over the previous three fiscal years have now been paid.

Goodrich has asked the Legislature to approve legislation that would allow the Iowa Department of Transportation to suspend the licenses of people with unpaid fines. That would certainly grab their attention.

We hope Goodrich’s change movement extends beyond unpaid fines. The board needs policies covering disclosure of who is paying for campaign text messages and other uses of technology. We’d also like to see more frequent filing of disclosure reports so Iowans can more closely track who is funding campaigns and how that money is being spent.

But Goodrich clearly is on the right track. Actually enforcing existing laws existing laws is a good step forward.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com