Big money went into the last election

An analysis of the financial reports filed by Iowa legislative candidates shows the pack of politicians spent over 10-million dollars on their races. Joan Lucas of the group “Money and Politics, Iowa” did the number crunching. Lucas says candidates for the Iowa Legislature probably set a record for spending. Lucas says Tom Vilsack and Doug Gross spent more than 12-million dollars to run for Governor, which is definitely a record. Those numbers are preliminary. The final numbers will be inflated a bit because reports due next month will account for last-minute contributions made in the last week of the campaign. Lucas says the flow of money into politics is out-of-control, and it must be addressed now before it gets even worse. She says there seem to be more contributions of bigger amounts from political action committees or PACs. Lucas’ group is seeking election reforms that would let the public more easily find out who’s financing campaigns. Lucas says donors who give more than 200 dollars should reveal their occupation and employer, something that’s done on federal reports, so Iowans can easily find out who’s bankrolling campaigns. In addition, “Money and Politics, Iowa” wants better electronic filing methods so financial disclosures are available to the public on the day the reports are due.