Filing fee fight taken up by Democrats

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders paid a lower filing fee to get on the 2016 Democratic primary ballot in Arkansas than any Democrat running for the state House that year.

The Democratic National Committee restricted states to a $2,000 filing fee for presidential candidates in 2016, state party spokesman Reed Brewer said. The party charged Arkansas House candidates $3,500 each the same year, party records show.

Members of the party's newly formed Filing Fees Committee, which met by telephone conference Saturday, discussed the pros and cons of reducing the fees.

Clay County Democratic Chairman Ethan Williams, one committee member, suggested cutting the fee to $1,500 for state House candidates and $2,500 for state Senate. Quick calculation by party Treasurer John Unger and others concluded, in the House races' portion, the party would have to field 128 candidates for the 100 House seats to make up the lost revenue.

It would be counterproductive even if such an increase in candidates were possible, committee Chairwoman Betty Pickett said. Far more money plus time and effort would go into having to compete in Democratic primaries than a fee reduction would save, she said.

Beyond that, such an increase would more than double Democrat candidates for state House, she said. Anything close to such an increase is unrealistic, she and other committee members said.

Committee member Rep. Vivian Flowers, D-Pine Bluff and others at the meeting noted the state party's other fees are substantially lower than other states, particularly the fees the Democrats charge for access to databases of information on likely Democratic voters. That fee is $250 in Arkansas and $5,000 in Florida, she said.

Committee members acknowledged lowering the fees has support among party rank and file. Options it will consider recommending to the state committee, which will make the final decision, include revamping its procedure for filing by petition or lower fees for first-time candidates.

"For the party of the working people in one of the poorest states in the country to have the highest filing fees is just wrong," state Sen. Greg Leding, D-Fayetteville, said in a telephone interview Tuesday. Leding's urging, both person-to-person and through social media, helped force the issue, Brewer said.

"I would say in a lot of ways he's the highest profile figure in lowering the fees, but he's not alone," Brewer said of Leding.

The Democratic Party of Arkansas named the fee committee May 1. Proceeds from the filing fees vary greatly from election year to election year, depending on how many seats the Democrats contest and how many candidates enter the party's primary.

Those fees raise roughly $300,000 each primary election cycle, Brewer said. The party did not provide figures for its yearly state budget, but committee members said Saturday fees make up a substantial part of the party's money for general operations. Unger said during the meeting that state party staff were third from the bottom in average pay for state parties across the country.

The state's Republican Party has no similar debate going on in its camp, spokesman Stephen M. Houserman said. A fee schedule from the state GOP shows its filing fees are higher than the Arkansas Democrats on average.

Filing fee proceeds wouldn't be easily replaced, said Sen. Keith Ingram, D-West Memphis, said in a telephone interview Thursday. Ingram is the leader of the Democrats in the Senate and a member of the new filing fee committee.

"It is good to have this discussion," Ingram said. "I respect those within our party who have raised this point -- but show me where the party is going to make up the revenue."

The 12-member committee on fees is scheduled to meet again Tuesday. The public can't address the committee, but those interested can watch or listen to committee deliberations through the committee's web page or by telephone.

"We expect this to be the biggest fight at the state committee meeting" on June 1 in Hot Springs, Brewer said. That is where the party will take the filing fee committee's recommendation and reach its decision, he said. The fee committee was comprised to include, so far as possible, equal representation of the state's four congressional districts, he said.

"The filing fee is one of the smallest things a candidate has to raise money for in a campaign," Ingram said.

Leding agreed any viable candidate would have to raise far more money than is needed for the party's filing fee, but raising it on short notice if the candidate hasn't decided to run weeks in advance of filing deadlines is a barrier to recruitment that should be removed, he said. Established candidates like him have no trouble raising the fee, but newcomers do, he said.

"The party does need the money, but raising it by filing fees is counterproductive," Leding said.

Recruiting candidates to run when the party is a small minority in the Legislature is difficult enough without charging prospects thousands of dollars for the privilege, he said.

State party staff are taking an information-only approach to the issue and the work of the committees, Brewer said.

"One thing that has been agreed to is that we need to do a much better job of making people aware of the benefits candidates get from the fees they pay," he said. That includes support of and coordination between campaigns by the state party.

A 2015 study by the National Conference of State Legislatures found an average filing fee of $3,333 for an Arkansas legislative candidate. The average in California was $953 for legislative candidates. After Arkansas, the next highest fee was less than half as much: $1,633 in Florida.

But most states require filling fees to go to that state's government, not to parties, according to Leding, Ingram and National Conference of State Legislatures statistics. Those fees to states are set by laws, not parties. So most states have no option to raise funds by fee.

"Only 33 states even have a filing fee, and most of those are $250 or less," Leding said.

NW News on 05/26/2019