By State Representative Frank McNulty

Would Coloradans stand for hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars, being funneled into Colorado campaigns by special interests? Given our electorate's activity on campaign finance, my guess is, no.

Coloradans have long supported open government, and elected leaders have largely held the same opinion.

Yet there is a loophole in the law that regulate campaign contributions that allows special interests to dump untold amounts of money into Colorado without having to report who made the contribution to that special interest's political arm.

What seems like an innocuous provision that precludes the collection and reporting of contributor information, even as simple as name and address, for contributions under $20, has become a major vehicle for special interests to target campaigns and hide the source of their wealth.

According to published reports, special interest small donor committees have funneled more than $4,000,000 of anonymous contributions into Colorado campaigns over the last two election cycles through these types of committees. This must stop. The public has a right to know.

I have introduced a measure that, if approved, would allow Colorado voters the opportunity to stem the flow of anonymous special interest money flowing into Colorado campaigns. I call it the "Disclose Every Dollar Act," because that is precisely what we should require of every candidate, campaign and political committee.

It is unfortunate that the actions of some special interests necessitate the introduction of this concurrent resolution because some very good forms of grassroots fundraising will probably become collateral damage. "Passing the hat" or meet and greet fundraisers in homes will become more complicated due to the reporting requirements.

For these events the reporting is probably excessive; but the way in which certain special interests have abused the $20 threshold requires action in order to preserve the integrity of our campaigns and our elections process.

Earlier this year I ran an amendment to another campaign finance bill dealing with Limited Liability Companies. The amendment required LLC's to report contributor information no matter the amount of the contribution, including those less than $20.

The amendment passed on a vote of 44-19 in the State House. I am hopeful that I will receive that same level of support as I ask Coloradans to shine a bright light on all campaigns and political committees in our state.

After all, the voting public should have the opportunity to know who is funding a candidate, cause, or political committee, and Colorado's laws should reflect that openness.

My guess is that Coloradans would agree, if given the opportunity, to stem the tide of shadowy special interest money into our state and require the disclosure of every dollar.