West Virginia voters will lose access to donor employer data under new campaign finance law

At the beginning of next year, voters will no longer be able to see if groups of people who work for the same company are contributing to a politician’s campaign.

West Virginia lawmakers passed legislation this year redacting employer information from registered political donations more than $250.

Previously, if a dozen employees of “Rick’s Pork” donated to politicians who later awarded a lucrative bacon contract to the business, each donation would list the company. Under the new law, the public would only know that the donations came from various butchers.

During legislative debate, Democrats said that not having this information would reduce transparency about who is funding politicians and how they might stand to benefit.

“Less information is not better,” said Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, during a committee meeting last month.

The legislation also redacts the residential address of donors. Garcia agreed with redacting addresses to prevent doxxing, but said removing a person’s employer was overkill.

He said sometimes legislation affects only one employer. Under the new law, the public would be unable to see if people who work for that employer are supporting specific politicians.

“This is secretive,” he said.

The Secretary of State’s Office will still collect a donor’s street number, street address and their employer. But this information would be redacted from campaign finance statements released to the public.

Supporters argue that they are making the change to address a rise in political violence and harassment. In debate, they’ve told anecdotes of harassment they’ve received or heard about from others.

“We’re not hiding anything,” said Sen. Mike Azinger, a Republican from Wood County and the bill’s lead sponsor, adding that the internet makes it much easier for people to find and misuse personal information.

“We’re trying to protect employers from harassment that happens in horrible ways, often that 30 years ago wasn’t even contemplated,” he said.

By listing only a donor’s occupation, the state will be less transparent about how a person makes their money. Someone listed as an “attorney” could be a lawyer who represents natural gas companies, who focuses on people injured in 18-wheeler crashes or who defends doctors in medical malpractice lawsuits.

The public would be able to see that consultants are funding a particular politician, but not that they work for a pharmaceutical or power company.

“I don’t think it’s necessary to have that information of where they work,” said Del. Mike Hornby, R-Berkeley, during a committee meeting last month while debating a House version of the new law.

The legislation has been passed by wide margins in both the Senate and House and was signed by the governor. It takes effect after the general election later this year.

Del. Sean Hornbuckle, D-Cabell, said, “This is going to allow, again, yet more money to be put into politics and make it harder for it to be traced.”

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This story was originally published by Mountain State Spotlight and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.