Still, doubts persist. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) said he is so troubled by "reports of very large contributions to exploratory committees" that he has drafted legislation to require the committees to follow campaign finance rules. Under the bill, which Mendelson said he plans to introduce this week, mayoral exploratory committees would be prohibited from accepting any contribution larger than $2,000 and would be required to file reports with the Office of Campaign Finance.
"In my view there is no distinction between somebody who is thinking about running and somebody who is campaigning," Mendelson said. "If I ask you to give me a buck to explore whether to run, I'm asking you to support my candidacy."
Adrian M. Fenty attends an exploratory fundraiser in Mount Pleasant. Since Fenty has yet to officially call himself a mayoral candidate, money from such events does not have to be reported.
(Marvin Joseph -- The Washington Post)
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As chairman of the Committee on Government Operations, Orange will be responsible for holding hearings on Mendelson's bill. He declined to comment on the legislation, saying he hasn't seen it yet. But he defended the law, saying it benefits people trying to oust entrenched incumbents. Without the promise of anonymity, Orange said, big-money donors would never take a chance on a challenger.
"When I first ran, way back in 1990 against [council Chairman] John Wilson, I didn't know anything about exploratory committees, and I couldn't get a campaign contribution from anyone. No one was going to give a contribution against John Wilson. People were not going to give contributions or openly campaign against Marion Barry when he was mayor, either. And that's why this system was put in place," Orange said.
Mendelson and others worry about the lack of accountability, however, especially when the person exploring candidacy also is a public official.
Fenty, who voluntarily has made the names of dozens of his contributors public, said he supports Mendelson's bill. He said he is already limiting contributions to $2,000 to honor "the spirit of campaign finance laws."
"You have to have some limit," Fenty said. "Otherwise, there's too much potential for elected officials to be bought."
Orange said he has raised more than $125,000, and Bolden said he has raised more than $60,000. Neither would identify their biggest donors or the size of their largest contributions. Brown said he has raised an insignificant sum.
Orange, whose council committee oversees most city contracts, said he doesn't think his exploratory effort has accepted money from "anybody that has business before my committee." He noted that no D.C. exploratory committee ever has been publicly accused of wrongdoing. His own effort, he said, is operating in accordance with the law.
It's unclear who wrote that legislation or when it took effect. Sterling Tucker, who served on the council in mid-1970s after the city won home rule, said he believes it was lifted directly from federal statutes.
In general, exploratory committees have been rare. In 1981, at least two challengers formed exploratory committees while deciding whether to challenge Barry, then mayor. In 1998, community activists formed a draft committee for Williams that ultimately transferred about $32,000 to his mayoral campaign. Williams was the city's chief financial officer during the draft effort and was not involved in the fundraising.
Political observers say the committees are popular this year in part because two powerhouse politicians -- Williams and council Chairman Linda W. Cropp (D) -- have yet to decide whether they will run in 2006. By establishing exploratory committees, weaker candidates can use money raised outside the confines of campaign finance limits to build name recognition and establish themselves as serious contenders.
"It's a way to begin a campaign without announcing," Tucker said. Most "have already decided they're going to run. They're not kidding anybody."
Some of the contenders seem to have trouble toeing the line between "exploring" and "campaigning." Bolden, for instance, said in an interview last week that donors have pledged $150,000 "to the campaign."
"Ooh, I'm sorry," he said, correcting himself. "I mean, to the exploratory effort."
At the Jan. 8 fundraiser at the home of Bill and Cynthiana Lightfoot, Fenty committed a similar election-law faux pas while addressing supporters. "We're running for -- I mean, we're thinking about running for this position," Fenty said, as the crowd erupted in laughter. He stood stone-faced amid chants of "Run, Fenty, run!"
"It was definitely a slip of the tongue. I know the law," Fenty said later. "The minute I formally decide to run, I will go down to campaign finance and file."
