To cap or not to cap Utah political campaign donations

The notion of capping state campaign donations stirred debate Thursday among members of the Governor’s Commission on Strengthening Democracy.

Commission member Bruce Hough, a Republican national committeeman, said individual and corporate campaign gifts are a form of free speech and should not be limited in any way. Instead, he supports rapid and transparent disclosure of receipts and expenditures.

Doug Wright, a talk-show host for KSL-Radio and a member of the commission, disagreed with dismissing the idea of caps too quickly.

Wright argued that the commission would be remiss if it didn’t explore the idea of caps on campaign donations. He reminded members that the commission had been tasked with finding out why Utahns fail to engage in the electoral process and voter turnout continues to decline.

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