Opinion ID: 150472
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Do the Bans on Contractor Contributions Further a Sufficiently Important Interest?

Text: As set forth above, the Connecticut General Assembly enacted the CFRA's ban on contractor contributions in response to a series of scandals in which contractors illegally offered bribes, kick-backs, and campaign contributions to state officials in exchange for contracts with the state. The ban was designed to combat both actual corruption and the appearance of corruption caused by contractor contributions. See Green Party I, 590 F.Supp.2d at 303. Such an anticorruption interest, see Citizens United, 130 S.Ct. at 903, 130 S.Ct. 876, has been recognized as a legitimate reason to restrict campaign contributions. Beginning with Buckley, the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that laws limiting campaign contributions can be justified by the government's interest in addressing both the actuality and the appearance of corruption. 424 U.S. at 26, 96 S.Ct. 612; accord McConnell, 540 U.S. at 143, 124 S.Ct. 619 (Our cases have made clear that the prevention of corruption or its appearance constitutes a sufficiently important interest to justify political contribution limits.). The record before us, moreover, shows that the General Assembly had good reason to be concerned about both the actuality and the appearance of corruption involving contractors. Connecticut's recent corruption scandals showed that contributions by contractors could lead to corruption. And it took no great leap of reasoning to infer that those scandals created a strong appearance of impropriety in the transfer of any money between contractors and state officialswhether or not the transfer involved an illegal quid pro quo. The scandals reached the highest state offices, leading to the resignation and eventual criminal conviction and imprisonment of the state's governor. They were, as a result, covered extensively by local media and garnered the attention of national media outlets as well. See Green Party II, 648 F.Supp.2d at 307 n. 9 (providing examples of newspaper articles covering Connecticut's corruption scandals). Thus, corruption spurred by state contractors became a salient political issue in Connecticut, and there arose an appearance of impropriety with respect to all contractor contributions. See Meadow Decl. ¶ 30 (May 24, 2007) (describing a public opinion poll in which 76% of Connecticut voters believed that campaign contributions Governor Rowland received influenced him in awarding government contracts). Accordingly, we conclude that the CFRA's ban on contractor contributions furthers sufficiently important government interests. See Beaumont, 539 U.S. at 162, 123 S.Ct. 2200. There is sufficient evidence in the record of actual corruption stemming from contractor contributions, and in light of the widespread media coverage of Connecticut's recent corruption scandals, the General Assembly also faced a manifest need to curtail the appearance of corruption created by contractor contributions.