The Wichita City Council on Tuesday will again consider lifting a ban on corporate political donations to municipal campaigns.
If passed, the proposed ordinance would restore corporations’ and limited liability companies’ ability to donate to campaigns for Wichita mayor and city council with one change: The owner or owners of an LLC or the person responsible for a company’s political donations would have to be disclosed on forms filed with the Sedgwick County Election Office.
Currently, that disclosure isn’t required. Information about business ownership is available on the Kansas secretary of state’s website, although it can be onerous to track in cases where LLCs are owned by other LLCs instead of by individuals.
The council postponed voting on the rollback on Jan. 16 so they could seek public input. The ban was enacted on Jan. 2 before the new council members and mayor were sworn in.
Kansas state law allows an individual, business, organization or other entity to contribute up to $500 to a candidate in each election cycle. But there is no rule that prohibits someone from contributing in their own name and then again under each of their businesses, even if they are registered at the same address.
Supporters of the Wichita ban say the restrictions close a loophole that gives certain candidates an unfair financial advantage, while opponents argue the prohibitions violate free speech rights and discourage local businesses from being involved in the political process.
The proposed ordinance, if passed, would undo the campaign finance change finalized by the council’s then-Democratic majority through an emergency declaration on Jan. 2. The meeting was former mayor Brandon Whipple’s last before he turned the seat over to former television reporter and Libertarian Lily Wu, whose November win along with two Republicans flipped the council’s majority.
At the time, some council members questioned whether there was really an emergency that allowed them to bypass the usual procedure and immediately vote on the ban. Whipple said the emergency declaration was necessary because the state-mandated $500 limit for individuals and businesses reset at the start of the year, although in local races, it technically resets between the primary and general elections.
South Wichita District 3 council member Mike Hoheisel at the time said he had been working on the change for a while and that it was in no way related to the 2023 election cycle, where Wu’s record-breaking fundraising included around $115,000 in business contributions. Whipple, by comparison, brought in roughly $5,200 in business donations.
On Jan. 9, a week after the reform was adopted, newly sworn in council member Dalton Glasscock, who represents southwest Wichita’s District 4, introduced a motion directing staff to draft an ordinance walking back the change. All four Republican and Libertarian members of the council have since spoken in favor of reversing the ban.
After hearing from citizens who support and oppose the ban on Jan. 16, council members voted to delay a decision on the ordinance until March 5 so they could seek input from the city’s six district advisory boards. Glasscock also introduced an amendment requiring corporations and LLCs to disclose their representatives at the Jan. 16 city council meeting.
At the district advisory boards’ February meetings, several citizens and board members appeared to favor restrictions that prevent businesses from donating, and many said at the very least corporations and LLCs should be required to disclose information about their owners, according to a summary of comments included with Tuesday’s city council agenda. Others argued prohibiting businesses from donating violates their First Amendment rights and that local rules shouldn’t be narrower than state law.
Several people questioned the rules that allow a person to contribute as an individual and again through each business they own with no limit on the total number of business donations, while others pointed out that even if the restrictions stand, people could circumvent the limits by diverting their money to entities that aren’t required to disclose their donors, according to the summary.
The January ban prohibits corporations and LLCs from contributing to municipal campaigns but does not restrict business partnerships, sole proprietorships, professional associations, political action committees and other groups from donating.
The ordinance under consideration Tuesday also retains a Jan. 2 amendment that makes violating the ordinance a misdemeanor crime subject to a $2,500 fine and one year in jail, which is consistent with state campaign finance law, according to the city council agenda.
The limit on campaign contributions isn’t the city’s first. Before 2015, the city barred political committees, corporations, partnerships, trusts, labor unions, business groups and other organizations from contributing to municipal candidates.
But the council dropped the restrictions in December 2015 so the ordinance was more consistent with state rules and also to avoid potential lawsuits stemming from the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United decision, which prohibits the government from restricting independent spending for political campaigns by corporations and other groups.
Contributing: Matthew Kelly of The Wichita Eagle
