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Mrs. Wilhelmina (Billie) Roberts, active in campaign finance reform in Missouri, donated the records of Missourians for Honest Elections to the Western Historical Manuscript Collection - University of Missouri-St. Louis, August 29, 1977. At the donor's request, the collection is called Missouri Campaign Spending Reform Records.
Missourians For Honest Elections, a bipartisan state-wide citizens' committee, organized in 1974 to place before the people of Missouri a campaign finance and disclosure proposition by means of an initiative petition. The disclosure of Watergate in the summer and fall of 1973, as well as the failure of the 1974 Missouri legislature to pass a new law controlling the influence of money in election campaigns, served as a stimulus for the citizens action.
The group obtained more than 110,000 signatures supporting the petition and then drafted Proposition 1, the Campaign Finance and Disclosure Law. By an overwhelming 78 percent majority, the voters of Missouri approved Proposition 1 on November 5, 1974. When it was codified into the Missouri statutes, its official title became Chapter 130, Election Campaign Expenditures.
Under the new law, political campaign contributions and expenditures were subject to stipulated limits; candidates, committees, and political parties were required to file statements on receipts and expenditures before and after elections; and a six-member Elections Commission was empowered to audit reports and enforce the act.
For the next three years, MHE continued to function as a citizen, watch-dog group for election reform. They monitored the Missouri Elections Commission, lobbied in the Missouri General Assembly, worked for needed improvements in the law, and kept the public and press informed. MHE ceased to be an active organization following the adjournment of the 1977 General Assembly which failed to act on legislation making necessary revisions to the 1974 campaign law. In December, 1977, the Missouri Supreme Court ruled the 1974 Campaign Finance and Disclosure Law unconstitutional on the grounds the law's expenditure limitations, disclosure requirements, and penalty provisions violated constitutional rights to freedom of expression and privacy.
SCOPE AND CONTENT
Missouri Campaign Spending Reform Records (1969-1977) document Missourians for Honest Elections (MHE) involvement in election campaign finance reform from 1974-1977. It also contains Wilhelmina Roberts' own personal lobbying effort for passage of a campaign reform bill in the Missouri 77th General Assembly. When that legislature failed to act in 1974, Mrs. Roberts helped to organize the initiative petition drive and became an active participant in MHE. Mrs. Roberts has attached explanatory notes to much of the material in the collection giving her interpretation of what took place.
The collection consists of correspondence, working papers for Senate and House bills, court files of law suits, speeches, memos, minutes, manuals, press releases, rules and resolutions, candidates reporting forms, newsletters, articles, and newsclippings. The material is arranged alphabetically by subject within three series: The 77th General Assembly, Missourians for Honest Elections, and the Missouri Elections Commission.
The 77th General Assembly series, 1973-74, predates the organization of MHE. The records include bills and journals from the special session of the General Assembly called by Governor Christopher Bond in December, 1973, in consideration of campaign financing legislation. The 1974 regular session of the legislature continued to focus on the election reform issue but also failed to act. The collection contains drafts of the Campaign Spending Bill and its final version from the House and Senate, Senate and House amendments and substitutes, House journals, Roberts' testimony to legislative committees, research information on campaign financing, and newsclippings.
The bulk of the collection falls in the Missourians for Honest Elections series. Material used for the initiative petition drive, as well as the working draft and final version of Proposition 1, document the successful effort of the citizens' group to bring an initiative petition to the ballot. Proposition 1 was only the second statutory initiative to be placed successfully before the voters in Missouri since the establishment of the process in 1908. Included in the collection is a 1975 Master's thesis by Lucinda Simon of Occidental College, Los Angeles, California. Chapters three and four of her thesis, "The Progressive Movement as a Framework of Analysis for Contemporary Political Reform Efforts: The Missouri Experience," review the Missouri legislature's action and inaction leading to the organization of MHE, and their subsequent successful Petition Drive and passage of Proposition 1 in 1974.
Much of MHE's series relates to the group's work in the legislature to clarify the controversial elements of the law. Working drafts of bills and their final versions, amendments, substitutes, testimonies, correspondence, and newsclippings document the effort MHE made to make the new finance campaign law effective. Confusion in the interpretation of the scope of the 500 dollars exemption provision of the law led to MHE's decision in January, 1976, to test in court the interpretation of the disclosure law by the Missouri Elections Commission. The collection contains the legal files of this lawsuit which include briefs, petitions, testimony, decisions, and the appeal of MHE's unsuccessful effort to have the Commission's interpretation set aside.
The Missouri Elections Commission series reflects MHE's interest in the development of the Commission's Manual of Instruction for Candidates and the Rules regarding the requirements of the law. The series also includes legal files of several lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the Campaign Finance and Disclosure Law: Chamberlain vs. MEC; State of Missouri vs. Ladue School Board; and Labor's Educational and Political Club - Independent vs. John C. Danforth, Attorney General of Missouri. These files are not complete but do include the appeals of Chamberlain and LEPCI to the Missouri Supreme Court.
SERIES DESCRIPTION
SERIES 1 - 77TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY, Folders 1-23
Research information on campaign financing, drafts and final versions of campaign spending legislation, Senate and House amendments and substitutes, testimony, and newsclippings. Arranged alphabetically by subject.
SERIES 2 - MISSOURIANS FOR HONEST ELECTIONS, Folders 24-97
Correspondence, minutes, memos, newsletters, press releases, speeches, drafts and final versions of House and Senate bills, amendments and substitutes, journals, legal files, and newsclippings. Arranged alphabetically by subjects.
SERIES 3 - MISSOURI ELECTIONS COMMISSION, Folders 98-125
Manuals, rules, minutes, correspondence, legal files, and newsclippings, arranged alphabetically by subject.
FOLDER LISTING
BOX 1 (127016)
Series 1, Missouri's 77th General Assembly
1. Comments regarding legislation: James C. Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State.
2. House Action, 1974 - Campaign Spending Bill: Draft No. 1
3. House Campaign Spending Bill: Draft No. 2, 1974
4. House Campaign Spending Bill: Draft No. 3, 1974
5. Ho-use Campaign Spending Bill: Draft No. 4, 1974
6. House Campaign Spending Bill: Draft No. 5, 1974
7. House Amendments, 1974
8. House Bills, 1974
9. House Conference Committee, 1974
10. House Journals, 1974
11. House Substitute for HCS for HB Nos. 1064, 1282, and 1510, 1974
12. House Substitute for HCS for HB Nos. 1064, 1282, and 1510, 1974
13. House Substitute Amendment for HS for HCS for HB Nos. 1064, 1282, and 1510, 1974
14. House Miscellaneous, 1974 (outlines, drafts, substitutes not heard)
15. Newsclippings, 1974
16. Research Information on Campaign Finance, 1974
17. Roberts' Correspondence, 1974
18. Roberts' Testimony to Legislative Committees, 1974
19. Development of Senate Substitute, 1974
20. Senate Amendments to HCS for HB No. lo64, 1282, & 1510, 1974
21. Senate Bills, 1974
22. Senate Substitute for HCS for HB No. 1064, 1292, & 1510 (Cason Drafts), 1974
23. Special Session, 1973 - House & Senate Bills
Series 2, Missourians for Honest Elections (MHE), 1969-1977
24. Bar Association of St. Louis, 1974
25. Common Cause, 1974-1976
26. Correspondence (General), 1974
27. Correspondence (General), 1975
28. Correspondence (General), 1976-Jan. 1977
29. Correspondence (Missouri Election Commission), 1975
30. Correspondence (MHE Steering Committee), 1974-1976
31. Editorials, 1974
32. Executive Committee Meetings (Ravas' Notes), 1974-75
33. Filing Deadline Issue, 1974
34. Financial Reports, 1974-76
35. Incorporation Papers, 1975
36. Initiative Petition Drive, 1974
37. Initiative Petition Drive, 1974, (Newsclippings used in classroom displays)
38. Initiative Petition Drive, 1974, Opposition to
39. Lawsuit, 1976: MHE vs. MEC (Missouri Elections Commission)
40. Lawsuit, 1976: MHF vs. MEC
41. Lawsuit, 1976: MHE vs. MEC
42. Lawsuit, 1976: MHE vs. MEC
43. Lawsuit, 1976: MHE vs. Missouri Elections Commission (MEC)
44. Lawsuit, 1976: MHE vs. MEC
45. Lawsuit, 1976: MHE vs. MEC
46. Lawsuit, 1976: MHE vs. MEC
47. Lawsuit, 1976: NHE vs. MEC
48. Lawsuit, 1976: MHE vs. MEC
49. League of Women Voters, 1974-76
50. Appeals to Commission 500 dollars Exemption Ruling
51. Bills Attacking Initiative Procedure
52. Committee Classification Testimony
BOX 2 (127017)
53. Newsclippings
54. Senate Bill No. 472: Amendments, Substitutes
55. Senate Bill No. 472: Kirkpatrick's Attack on Bill
56. Senate Bill No. 472: Legislative History
57. Senate Bill No. 472: Letters to Senator John D. Schneider
58. Senate Bill No. 427: Suggested Changes
59. Senate Bill No. 427: Testimony
60. House Select Committee
61. Senate Bill No. 476
62. Senate Bill No. 476: Analysis of House Vote Analysis of Bill by Commission
63. Senate Bill No. 476: Correspondence
64. Senate Bill No. 476: Editorials
65. Senate Bill No. 476: House Action
66. Senate Bill No. 476: Material Given Handlers of SB No. 476 in House
67. Senate Bill No. 476: Newsclippings
68. Senate Bill No. 476: Press Releases
69. Senate Bill No. 476: Substitutes, Amendments
70. Senate Bill No. 476: Veto by Governor Christopher Bond
71. Survey of Candidates Filing
72. House Bill No. 496
73. House Committee Substitute for SB No. 442
74. House Committee Substitute for SB No. 442
75. Newsclippings
76. Paste up of a Bill to Revise Chapter 130
77. Senate Bill No. 282
78. Senate Bill No. 442
79. Senate Bill No. 442
80. Senate Bill No. 442: Amendments
81. Senate Bill No. 442: Miscellaneous Material relating to development of bill
82. Senate Bill No. 442: Newsclippings re: Special Interest Spending for Handlers of SB No. 442
83. Memos, Memorandum 1975
84. New Democratic Coalition, 1974, 1976
85. Newsletter, 1975-1976
86. Press Release, 1974
87. Press Release, 1975-1976
88. Proposition No. 1, 1974 (working drafts and final revision)
89. Proposition No. 1, and Chapter 130, Election Campaign Expenditures, 1974
90. Proposition, No. 1, 1974, Endorsements of
91. Proposition Parties, 1975
92. Roberts' Award (St. Louis Newspapers Guild Page One Award), 1974
93. Robertst Correspondence, 1975-1977
94. Robertst Speeches, 1974-77
95. Roberts' Work Files, 1969-1974
96. Simon, Cindy: Master's Thesis, 1975, 'tthe Movement as a Framework of Analysis of Contemporary Political Reform Efforts: The Missouri Experiencet'
97. Speakers Material, 1974
Series 3, Missouri Elections Commission
98. Annual Report, 1975-76
99. Campaign, Reporting Forms, 1975-76
100. Candidates Committee Manual, 1975
101. Committees, 1976
102. Fran Frueh, 1975
103. Chanberlain vs. MEC, 1976
104. Chamberlain vs. MEC, 1976 (Appeal to Missouri Supreme Court), 1976
105. Chamberlain vs. MEC, 1976 (Appeal to Missouri Supreme Court), 1976
BOX 3 (127018)
106. Labor's Educational and Political Club Independent (LEPCI) vs. Danforth, 1976
107. Labor's Educational and Political Club Independent (LEPCI) vs. Danforth, 1976
108. Labor's Educational and Political Club Independent (LEPCI) vs. Danforth, 1976
109. Lavor's Educational and Political Club Independent (LEPCI) vs. Danforth, 1976
110. Labor's Educational and Political Club Independent (LEPCI) vs. Danforth, 1976
111. MEC vs. Francis Brady, 1976 State of Missouri vs. School District of the City of Ladue, 1976
112. Manual of Instructions, 1975 Coments, Correspondence re: Manual
113. Manual of Instructions, 1975 Drafts and Final Version
114. Manual of Instructions by Secretary of State Kirkpatrick, 1975 Abridged Manual, 1976
115. Minutes, 1975
116. Newsclippings, 1976-77
117. Primer on Missouri's Campaign Finance Law: Merritt M. Beck
118. Rules 1975
119. Rules, 1974-1975 (Correspondence, Comments Re: Rules)
120. Rules, 1975 (Correspondence, Comments Re: Rules)
121. Rules, 1976 (Correspondence, Comments Re: Rules)
122. Rules, 1976 (Correspondence, Comments Re: Rules)
123. Rules, 1977
124. Rules: Draft of Revised Rules Under Senate Bill No. 58
125. Supreme Court Nominations to MEC, 1976
STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MISSOURI RESEARCH CENTER-ST. LOUIS
222 THOMAS JEFFERSON LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS
ONE UNIVERSITY BOULEVARD
ST. LOUIS, MO 63121
(314) 516-5143