House passes bill to nix ‘dark period’

Under current State Ethics Commission regulations, there’s a time between the pre-primary and pre-election disclosure reports known as the “dark period.” For about three weeks, there’s no knowing who is dumping money into campaigns. That is, not until the next deadline — June 10 for the primaries, Jan. 10 for the general election. It’s been a big, gaping hole in the disclosure process.

If you recall, in 2008, Howard Rich, his shell corporations and lackeys backed up the Brinks truck to the “hit list” candidates — plus a few Democrats — during the dark period before the primaries. It allowed these candidates to run around, saying they are no man’s puppet. Then — whoop! — strings appear and the dancing starts, but we don’t find out until after the election. It’s a calculated move, one to hide the virtual purchase of the General Assembly.

Wednesday, the House passed H. 3066 in a vote of 108-1 to put a halt to this practice. If it makes it into law, candidates would have to file 48-hour notices of contributions during the dark period, just like Federal candidates. It would go into effect right after being signed by the Governor, but we doubt that it would be fast-tracked to a degree to where the Senate would pass it, and the bill gets signed, before the dark period starts for this year’s primaries.