GOVERNOR'S VETO EXPLANATION

Pursuant to Article V, Section 6 of the Constitution of Virginia, I am vetoing House Bill 502.

The bill relaxes the requirements for disclosing the source of political contributions by doubling the threshold below which donors to campaigns need not be specifically identified.

I do not content that the impact of this change would be sweeping, but in my view this is not the time to be weakening the provisions of Virginia's campaign contribution disclosure laws in any way.

There was again in the recent legislative session much discussion of the need for campaign finance reform, but no action was taken. Disclosure requirements have heretofore been one form of campaign finance regulation that has enjoyed broad, bipartisan support. Yet, in this bill, the General Assembly has moved in the direction of weaker campaign finance disclosure laws.

In a free society, the best protection for voters is to inform then as "consumers" by providing them with the broadest practicable access to information about the identity of the persons and interests who are bank-rolling campaigns. Because House Bill 502 reduces voters' access to this important information, I am vetoing the bill.