Invitation to Corruption

IT'S GONE ON long enough. The D.C. practice, sanctioned by law, of allowing exploratory committees to collect contributions of unlimited amounts from donors, without having to disclose their identities or file reports with the Office of Campaign Finance, must be brought to a halt. The process lacks accountability, violates the spirit of campaign finance reform and invites corruption. If D.C. residents want to minimize sleaze and the influence of large amounts of unregulated money in District politics, they will insist that the D.C. Council close the dangerous loopholes in the exploratory committee law.

Money is flooding into committees formed by local figures toying with the idea of running for mayor in 2006, as The Post's Lori Montgomery and Yolanda Woodlee reported yesterday. Council member Adrian M. Fenty (D-Ward 4) has reportedly raised more than $100,000 through an exploratory committee formed to study the feasibility of his mayoral candidacy. Ward 5's Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D) claims that his mayoral exploratory committee has raised more than $125,000. They are joined in their pursuit of bucks by former D.C. Democratic Party chairman A. Scott Bolden and lawyer Michael A. Brown, both of whom have also created committees to feel out possible runs for mayor. To his credit, Mr. Fenty has made public the names of his contributors and has limited contributions to $2,000. The other three possible candidates, however, won't disclose who is giving them money, nor identify their largest contributors or the size of their largest contributions. As a result, the public has no way of knowing whether these potential candidates are receiving money from organizations or individuals doing business with the D.C. government or the D.C. Council. Who will be paying for their offices, consultants and fundraisers? They don't have to tell. Who is monitoring the ways in which these large sums are being spent? Not the Office of Campaign Finance. Who is gaining access to these potential candidates because of hefty donations? You'll never know. Current law permits this sad state of affairs.

Unregulated cash and clean politics don't mix. Any law that allows political money to be raised under a promise of anonymity should be stricken from the city's books. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), appropriately disturbed by the reported flow of large sums of undisclosed money, plans to introduce legislation this week limiting exploratory committee contributions to $2,000 -- as required for mayoral campaign committees -- and requiring reports to be filed with the Office of Campaign Finance. The disclosure provisions, in our view, should be tough, allowing no wiggle room. The public deserves to know the source of every dollar that is given. And D.C. voters should pay close attention to how council members vote on Mr. Mendelson's bill. A no vote is a yes vote for corruption.