Just one year ago, the State House was abuzz with chatter about whether Gov. Maggie Hassan would jump into the U.S. Senate race.
Somewhat surprisingly, news of Hassan’s decision never leaked. It wasn’t until the Democrat decided to post a video on YouTube that the state learned in early October she would take on Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte.
Had Hassan’s campaign finance reports been public back then – instead of coming out last week – it would have been a lot easier to read the tea leaves and predict her decision to run for higher office.
In the run-up to her announcement, Hassan’s state campaign upped its fees for Washington D.C., consultants, took out advertisements and commissioned research.
The tell-tale sign would have been the $100,000 in contributions she made to the state Democratic Party and other New Hampshire Democratic political committees five days before announcing the senate bid. Candidates for federal office can’t transfer funds between their state and federal campaign coffers.
The information is now available because last week political committees and some candidates filed their first campaign finance reports in almost two years. The state only requires reporting between June and December of election years, which means almost a year goes by when the public is in the dark about what candidates collect and spend.
But that will change soon, because Hassan signed a bill into law this year that increases the frequency of campaign finance reports and expands who must file.
The bill flew almost entirely under the radar this year. It didn’t become a partisan attack issue. And Hassan didn’t have a ceremony when she signed it, or even put out a statement letting people know the bill became law.
The measure was sponsored by a strange political coalition – three Senate Republicans and two senate Democrats, including Sen. Andy Sanborn of Bedford and Sen. Dan Feltes of Concord.
It marks a pretty big change.
When the law takes effect in 2017, political committees and candidate committees will be required to file campaign finance reports in June and December of off-election years. The changes don’t apply to candidates who don’t have political committees.
The issue of who must file and when has become a political football in the ongoing gubernatorial race. But the new law largely addresses concerns raised by Democratic candidates Colin Van Ostern and Mark Connolly.
Currently, non-candidate political committees are the only groups required to file finance reports by June before the primary. Candidates and candidate committees don’t have to disclose their campaign finances until late August, just a few weeks before the primary. The law Hassan signed recently strips that exemption and requires candidate committees also file by the June deadline.
“It’s a good change,” said Secretary of State Bill Gardner.
In the name of transparency, Van Ostern and Connolly voluntarily submitted their campaign finances last week. The remaining five gubernatorial candidates have not filed.
Hassan’s campaign finance report wasn’t the only interesting read – Kelly PAC, associated with Ayotte, offered insights, too.
The PAC raised almost $50,000 last year entirely from out-of-state donors. Its biggest contributions, of $5,000 apiece, came from people in Georgia, Illinois, Texas, Washington, Ohio and Florida, according to the report.
But all the money did go to New Hampshire Republican causes. Kelly PAC spent more than $36,000 on everything from the state GOP to Ted Gatsas’s 2015 mayoral campaign.
Mark Aug. 3 on your calendars. It’s the day candidates for office will decide whether to sign an Americans for Prosperity pledge, which calls for no tax hikes, passage of right to work laws and opposition to Obamacare. Americans for Prosperity is a conservative group founded by billionaire Koch brothers.
The pledge elicits excitement or anger from lawmakers. Democrats generally complain the pledge makes it so Republicans can’t consider practical solutions and compromise. But Republicans say it holds members accountable.
More than 350 candidates signed the pledge last election, including both Republican gubernatorial candidates, said AFP New Hampshire Director Greg Moore. It first emerged here in 2008 and has since been updated. In 2012, the pledge to pass right-to-work legislation was added. In 2014, opposition to Medicaid expansion was tacked on. No new additions this year.
(This post has been updated to more accurately reflect Hassan’s state campaign expenditures. Allie Morris can be reached at 369-3307 or amorris@cmonitor.com)