By Sarah Phelan
Moments after this week’s edition of the Guardian went to press, I got through to “notorious campaign attorney Jim Sutton,” as we describe him in this week’s article about campaign finance.
I’d been playing phone tag with Sutton since last week, wanting to ask him about all the accrued funds, or outstanding debts in this year’s election, and their role in hiding the identity of donators from the voting public, until after the election.
A master of the ins and outs of campaign law, Sutton, came across as charming and witty, as he told me about the Sutton Law Firm and its role in political campaigns:
Jim Sutton
“We are a law firm. We bill for our services—and we fully expect our clients to pay in a prompt way,” said Sutton, pointing to the fact that the City law had been amended, so that candidates have to pay off their debts within 180 days of the election.”
But the amended rule that Sutton refers to does not apply to ballot measure committees—groups that raise and spend money in support of or opposition to specific measures on the ballot.