Arthur Orr is exceeding my expectations for a freshman state senator by leaps and bounds.  He introduced two bills on Wednesday that would take great strides towards cleaning up campaign finances.

Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, said Wednesday he is sponsoring two bills that would further tighten loopholes in Alabama’s campaign finance laws.

Gov. Bob Riley complained Tuesday that a bill passed by the House to ban PAC-to-PAC transfers left out a key element that would prohibit financial transfers between principal campaign committees.

Orr said his bill on PAC-to-PAC transfers closes that loophole.

“If we pass a PAC-to-PAC transfer ban, transfers between principal campaign committees will quickly become the new conduit for hiding contributors,” he said. “The Legislature would simply be voting to close one loophole and open another unless campaign committees are included in a transfer ban.”

…

Orr is sponsoring a second campaign finance bill that would require all candidates for state office to regularly disclose their contributors, regardless of whether they face opposition.

“Our current campaign finance system is a patchwork quilt of loopholes and conflicting attorney general’s opinions,” he said. “This bill begins to bring transparency to the system by simply saying, ‘if you are on the ballot, you must disclose your contributors,’ period.”

I wouldn’t be surprised to see both bills die in committee given the low caliber of many of his peers in the Alabama Senate, but I’m glad to see him sponsoring legislation that the people want and need.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Thursday, March 15th, 2007 at 5:05 am and is filed under Alabama, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.