House passes bill to tighten campaign fundraising rules

RICHMOND

A Republican bill to undercut the state Democratic Party’s largest annual fundraising dinner cleared the House of Delegates for the third year in a row today.

The measure, as in the past, is expected to be killed in the Democratic-controlled state Senate.

HB1634 would bar legislators and the governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general from attending political fundraisers while the General Assembly is in session.

The measure would force the state Democratic Party, starting next year, to changes its tradition of holding its annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner in late January or February. President-elect Barack Obama has been the featured speaker at the last two dinners, prompting record attendance.

State law bars lawmakers for raising money for their own campaigns while the General Assembly is in session. House Republicans said it is just as unseemly for lawmakers, while they are meeting, to help raise money for political parties.

Democrats argued that the bill was a thinly-veiled partisan slap that draws attention away from the state’s financials woes.

After more than a half hour of debate, the bill passed by a 78-14 vote. Many Democrats said the supported, even though they thought it was a bad idea, because they did not want to be accused in future campaigns of opposing campaign finance reform.