Connerly group refuses to name donors

OmahaNews.com
By: Matthew Hansen , Midlands News Service
08/15/2008

The out-of-state group bankrolling the campaign to ban affirmative action in Nebraska refuses to divulge the names of its biggest donors. That decision by California businessman Ward Connerly and his American Civil Rights Coalition ignores the written opinion of Nebraska's campaign finance commission.It undercuts the state's disclosure laws, which are meant to shine light into a corner of the political process and allow the public to follow the flow of money, campaign finance experts say.But because of a loophole in state law, that secrecy might be perfectly legal.The result: Donors behind roughly 83 percent of the $609,350 the Nebraska Civil Rights Initiative has received are anonymous."I think it's a major problem,'' said Robert Stern, a campaign finance expert at the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles. "Part of the idea is to know who is ultimately funding the campaign, and in this case Nebraska doesn't know.''State law requires out-of-state organizations pouring large amounts of money into a campaign to identify individual donors who have given them more than $200.But Connerly and the American Civil Rights Coalition appear to have worked around that requirement in part by creating a second group, called Super Tuesday for Equal Rights, which donates money to the Nebraska, Colorado and Arizona campaigns to ban affirmative action.A campaign statement filed with the state this week says Super Tuesday for Equal Rights has received almost $2.1 million -- roughly 99 percent of its total donations -- from the American Civil Rights Coalition.The other 1 percent comes from a list of 38 individual contributors, including a Texas doctor, a Michigan dentist, a University of Arkansas professor and several Florida retirees who donated a total of $24,900.This arrangement might allow large donors to the American Civil Rights Coalition to remain nameless because they are two steps removed from donating to the Nebraska campaign -- even though they ultimately fund the majority of that campaign.The Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission sent the California group an advisory opinion in March stating that the donors of both groups should be revealed.Since then, the commission has sent the California groups several letters requesting clarification of their organizational structure and donor records. The groups have responded through their attorney Don Stenberg, the former Nebraska attorney general, arguing that they are complying with Nebraska law.Frank Daley, executive director of the Accountability and Disclosure Commission, said he remains uncertain about the legality of moving money through a second group in order to keep donors to the first group anonymous. [To read the entire article, go to: http://www.lavistasun.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=20019138&BRD=2712&PAG=461&dept_id=556239&rfi=6 ]