GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS

Show Me the Money?

What does it cost to run for the General Assembly in Rhode Island?

The short answer: surprisingly little, in most cases.

New Harbor Group, the Society’s public affairs counsel, recently completed their bi-annual survey of what every candidate for the General Assembly raised and spent on their campaign in 2010. The survey is online at the New Harbor website, and here are some highlights:

Historically, the leadership of both chambers raises and spends the most money, and that proved to be the case again in 2010.  House Speaker Gordon Fox (D-Providence) raised $142,000, and spent $117,000 last year. Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed (D-Newport) raised $111,000, and spent $131,000.

The average winner in either chamber spent significantly less than the leaders, however. In the Senate that number was $25,064, while in the House the figure was $17,308.  

But even those figures are high in a surprising number of races. For instance, in the House, 25 members spent less than $10,000 to get elected, including five newcomers. And these weren’t easy races either – 18 of the 25 were against credible opponents who received more than one-third of the vote. In the Senate, ten Senators spent less than $10,000 to get elected, including three first-timers.

Last year also saw the introduction of “Independent Expenditures”, a new way for people and organizations to spend money to either elect or defeat candidates.  Previously, it was illegal for individuals or groups to spend money to directly advocate for the victory or defeat of a candidate.  But following the “Citizens United” decision by the U.S. Supreme Court last year, these expenditures are now allowed.

Many groups, nearly all of them associated with organized labor, took advantage of the new rules in order to participate in the election process at every level.  However, the record keeping at the R.I. Board of Elections website makes it difficult to determine how much money was spent either for, or against, individual candidates. The New Harbor survey does, however, highlight which candidates for the Assembly benefited from independent expenditures, and which candidates were targets of them.

“The new rules do throw a little bit of a curve ball into what had previously been a relatively straightforward process,” said David Preston of New Harbor Group. “However, the fact remains that getting elected to the General Assembly is well within the grasp of any Rhode Islander who is willing to put in the hard work it takes to run a winning campaign.”