Campaign caps now doubled in DA's race

The district attorney's race is about to potentially get even more interesting.

Thanks to a hefty contribution that Dan McCaffery - one of six candidates - contributed to his campaign committee Monday, the city's millionaire's provision has officially kicked in.

That means that for the rest of 2009, the contribution limits are now double what they were: $5,200 for individuals and $21,200 for political committees and others.

The news that the higher caps are in place was announced at this afternoon's meeting of the Philadelphia Board of Ethics, which oversees city campaign finance rules.

McCaffery gave $50,000 to his committee on Dec. 31, and gave another $200,000 on Monday. City rules state that the doubling provision is triggered when and if a candidate gives his campaign total contributions of $250,000 or more.

Two other bits of news from the ethics board meeting:

First, it turns out that another DA candidate, Michael Turner, threatened recently to sue the Ethics Board over the First Amendment constitutionality of what is known as "the confidentiality rule" in the city's ethics code. In response, the board today approved a resolution, 4-0, to narrow the interpretation of the rule, by defining who it applies to, what it applies to, what it doesn't apply to, and when it applies.

Second, the board this morning requested a "non-confidential, public opinion" from the city solicitor's office about whether employees of the Board of Revision of Taxes whose salaries are paid by the Philadelphia School District are or are not city employees. "We seek this advice so we can determine the scope of employees who are subject to...political restrictions and the ethics code," executive director Shane Creamer said.

The assumption until now has been that the school district-paid employees are not subject to such city rules, but Creamer said he is aware of no case law or formal opinion stating so. This request, of course, comes on the heels of the Inquirer's series of stories documenting how the BRT is a problem-plagued jobs bank for the politically-connected. The district pays the salaries of 78 BRT workers, an arrangement concocted years ago so to shield those workers from political activity rules that apply to city employees.

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