77
Two men who went to court to challenge state laws that limit campaign spending contributions can each contribute $2,500 to a noncandidate political action committee that supports traditional marriage, the right to life and physician-assisted suicide, a federal judge ruled this week.
Jimmy Yamada, of A-1 A-Lectrician Inc., and Russell Stewart went to court because state campaign spending laws would have limited their contribution to Aloha Family Alliance to $1,000 for the upcoming general elections.
State law limits contributions to a noncandidate committee from single donors to $1,000 per election. So if the donor contributes $1,000 for the primary election and another $1,000 for the general, a person can contribute up to $2,000 for an election cycle.
Yamada and Stewart did not contribute to the PAC for the primary election.
U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright ruled yesterday that Yamada and Stewart can contribute $2,500 to Aloha Family Alliance for the upcoming general election as long as AFA makes only independent campaign expenditures.
Seabright’s order does not allow anybody else to exceed state campaign spending limits or addresses Yamada’s and Stewart’s challenges of other state campaign spending laws. The order comes in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January that said government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections because it would be a violation of constitutional free speech guarantees.
