Mississippi Advisory Opinions November 21, 1995: AGO 000010872 (November 21, 1995)

AGO 000010872.

Dear Mr. Ford:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your letter of request and has assigned it to me for research and reply. Your letter states:

"Thank you very much for your official opinion of October 4, 1995, regarding contributions for positions in the State Legislature. However, I respectfully request that your office reconsider this opinion for the following reasons:

My request for the opinion was prompted by an earlier opinion issued by your office on Section 97-13-15, Mississippi Code of 1972, which limits annual corporate contributions to political parties and does not address an annual limitation on candidates.

Because of the unique nature of the office of Speaker, I am concerned that perhaps I should be maintaining separate campaign funds -- one for the Speaker campaign and another for the House District 18 campaign. I feel that contributions and expenditures in either campaign fund should be reported under Section 23-15- 807, as is being done now.

Therefore, I resubmit the following questions to you and request an official opinion:

(1) Is a candidate for the office of Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives a 'candidate' as defined in Section 23-15-801(b), Mississippi Code of 1972?

(2) Should separate accounts be kept for the campaign funds?"

As a matter of clarification, Mississippi Code Annotated, Section 97-13-15 (Revised 1994) limits contributions to candidates for public office by corporations organized under the laws Mississippi or qualified to do business in Mississippi to one thousand dollars ($1,000).

Title 23, Chapter 15, Article 23, Mississippi Code Annotated (Revised 1990) is the statutory law on the disclosure of campaign finances.

Section 23-15-801 defines certain words and terms that appear in the campaign finance laws. It provides in part:

"(a) 'Election' shall mean a general, special, primary or runoff election.

(b) 'Candidate' shall mean an individual who seeks nomination for election, to any elective office other than a federal elective office ... .

It is the opinion of this office that the reporting requirements of the above cited law applies to candidates who are seeking nomination for election or election to an office in either a general, special, or primary election. It is our further opinion that the election of the Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives is not an election that fits the above statutory definition of "election". Therefore, in response to your first question, we are of the opinion that while the reporting of contributions to aid in a campaign for Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives is good public policy in that it discloses the source of those funds, a state representative seeking that position is not a "candidate" for purposes of the campaign finance disclosure laws.

In response to your second question, we stated in our opinion to you of October 4, 1995 that "care must be taken to insure that corporate contributions in excess of the statutory limit of Section 97-13-15 ($1,000) and in support of a campaign for the office of Speaker of the House are not utilized in a separate campaign for state representative or another public office" and "(i)f any funds contributed in support of a campaign for the office of Speaker of the House are subsequently expended in the furtherance of a campaign for election to a public office to be determined by the vote of the general electorate, Section 23-15-807 requires the reporting of the receipt and expenditure of said funds when in excess of certain prescribed amounts depending on the office being sought". It appears that maintaining separate accounts would be helpful in maintaining compliance with the disclosure laws.

Sincerely,

MIKE MOORE ATTORNEY GENERAL By: Phil Carter Special Assistant Attorney General PC:sm