The Democratic candidate for state attorney general, John Morganelli, says that incumbent Tom Corbett has “eviscerated” Pennsylvania’s campaign finance laws by mishandling a federal lawsuit.

The lawsuit, seeking to overturn the state’s ban on corporate campaign contributions, was filed last summer in U.S. District Court by a nonprofit corporation based in Virginia, the Center for Individual Freedom.

In an interview last week, Morganelli said Corbett should have defended the state law and battled the lawsuit in court.

Instead, Corbett settled, agreeing to a stipulated judgment that said the corporate-contribution ban would apply only to expenditures for “express advocacy,” as it was narrowly defined in a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court case – covering advertising that directly urges the election or defeat of candidates, using specific words like “elect” or “vote for.”

Just before the general election last November, the Virginia foundation ran more than $1 million worth of television ads promoting Maureen Lally-Green, a candidate for the state Supreme Court.

The corporation’s 30-second TV spots praised Lally-Green for “protecting children” and “cracking down on violent criminals” but never specifically mentioned the upcoming election.

Six months later, there’s still been no identification of the donors who provided the $1 million to promote Lally-Green.

“Corbett basically eviscerated Pennsylvania law by his agreement,” Morganelli said last week. “We are now stuck with this as a legal precedent. . . . The AG messed up. . . . He should never have stipulated as to what the law is. It is up to the Legislature and courts to say what the law is.”
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