Last June, Alliance for a Better Utah (ABU) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) seeking an investigation of Sen. Mike Lee, former attorney general John Swallow and businessman Jeremy Johnson for violations of campaign finance laws. The FEC responded to ABUs call last week by filing formal charges against Jeremy Johnson for illegal campaign donations to Sen. Lee, Mark Shurtleff and Harry Reid. It serves as another reminder of the broken system of campaign finance that allowed corruption to flourish in the first place. The writing on the wall couldnt be clearer; we cant keep treating campaign finance laws as if they were meant to be broken.

With the rising cost of elections, politicians need big bucks to run their campaigns. This high price tag locks ordinary citizens who want to serve in government out of the system because they dont have access to money, while others are forced to seek campaign funding from wealthy individuals and businesses. But nothing is free and those contributors expect paybacks in the form of earmarks, preferential policy and government appointments.

The current structure of campaign finance is systematically corrupt. There is an old saying that money is the root of all evil. While money may not cause evil in all circumstances, it certainly can sway some people toward a path of corruption and deceit. Thus, in pursuit of the almighty campaign dollar, candidates feel pressure to wander into gray areas of campaign-finance laws while a few choose to overtly break the rules.

All we have to do is look at the politics evolving in our own backyard and Jeremy Johnsons straw donations to Sen. Lee, Shurtleff and Reid. Johnson sought to secure his business interests by evading campaign finance caps giving tens of thousands of dollars to friends and associates to make straw donations to the campaign.

Then, just after Utah watched Swallow resign for campaign finance violations, Sean Reyes filled his vacancy for attorney general using dark money to finance his campaign. The overwhelming majority of Reyes funding (89 percent) came from just five sources, with the Republican Attorney Generals Association (RAGA) being the largest donor with a single donation of $100,000. Large donations from groups like RAGA are concerning because current campaign finance laws allow such groups to make large donations, yet hide the names of the donors, begging the question of whose checkbook are these elected officials accountable to.

Campaign finance reform is favored by 68 percent of Utahs registered voters. But voters voices arent being heard, evidenced by the active litigation to suppress Count My Vote, a citizens initiative to increase voter participation and civic engagement.

Corruption, big donors and anonymity leave elected officials without the autonomy to represent the interests of the voters. So, why do we allow this to happen?

Even to those who object to limits (you know, the corporations are people set), why do we fight transparency? Disclosure arms the people with information. It empowers shareholders to monitor how corporate funds are spent. It allows voters to better judge the policy alternatives before them. And it deters corruption, or the appearance of, by shining light on who gave large sums of money to get who elected.

In McCutcheon v. FEC, Justice Antonin Scalia said it best, Requiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters civic courage, without which democracy is doomed. A society that campaigns anonymously does not resemble the home of the brave. Utahns need to start talking about real campaign finance reform before it pollutes Utah politics any further.

Lauren Howells is a JD/MBA candidate at the University of Utah and is currently the Karen Shepherd Fellow with the Alliance for a Better Utah.

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