Campaign finance reform is on the agenda again for members of the General Assembly this year.
Campaign finance laws in Virginia are notoriously permissive. Candidates have no limits on how much money they can raise or what they use it for. Delegate Joshua Cole is a Democrat from Fredericksburg and a member of the Legislative Black Caucus. He announced his bill this way during a caucus press conference.
"Rolex. Ferragamo. OnlyFans. These are things that are not illegal for you to use your campaign money on in the Commonwealth of Virginia," he said. "Somebody say, ‘whoa.’ "
That's why he wants to prohibit personal use of campaign funds. But what, exactly, counts as personal use? Senator Tammy Mulchi is a Republican from Mecklenburg who says the legislation goes too far.
"Of course, I don't think we should use any of our fundraising funds for any personal use," Mulchi explains. "But I just don't see why you take it down to like we can't eat a piece of pizza with our staff if we buy them a pizza on the campaign funds. That's an extreme, ridiculous example of what that legislation would do."
A similar bill failed last year, although Cole says the threat of corruption warrants a public discussion of what lawmakers should and shouldn't be doing with their campaign cash.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
