2 move to regulate campaign $

CITY COUNCILMEN Bill Green and Jim Kenney are considered to be potential candidates in the 2015 mayoral race, and both seemed to have that in mind when each introduced legislation Thursday related to campaign contributions.

Green introduced a bill that would increase mandated reporting of political contributions to include those who distribute material that includes a candidate's name or likeness. The bill would require a disclosure statement with the Board of Ethics that includes the names and amounts of contributions of anyone who gave $100 or more to a candidate or committee within a 12-month period.

"Currently, it is possible to spend money and not have to disclose where the money came from until after the election is over and that doesn't make a whole lot of sense," said Green. "Transparency is the key to fair elections."

Green said he was thinking ahead to 2015, adding that it's "important for everybody to know who is trying to influence a city election."

For his part, Kenney introduced a bill that would close a loophole in the law that Green reportedly exploited. Green got $30,000 from soda mogul Harold Honickman in 2012, according to WHYY's Newsworks.org. Currently, the cap on individual contributions to candidates is $2,900, but Green hasn't officially declared his candidacy or filed a nominating petition.

Kenney's bill would prevent such a large contribution from an individual by adding incumbents to contribution limits.

Green said he is not influenced by any contribution, large or small.

Kenney said the bill had nothing to do with any particular Council member. "I don't think that anybody who collected excess contributions did anything wrong," he said. "Their interpretation of the law can be justified; however, we want to make sure that we make the law clear, that it is not our intent to be able to collect $30,000 $40,000, $50,000, $60,000, $100,000 a pop."