Quinn should return campaign money

From the Daily News:

Legislation passed in 2007, Local Law 34, lowered the maximum political contributions from those doing business with the city to $400. But due to a loophole, officeholders like Quinn could hold on to the maximum $4,950 donations from those doing business with the city received under earlier rules.

In the spirit of making local citywide elections more transparent, Local Law 34 also established a database intended to prevent even the appearance of a link between governmental decisions and large campaign contributions. This new law was designed to hinder, if not end, the age-old, transactional “pay-to-play” politics that had favored the few for so long at the expense of the many.

But the Council, led by Quinn, ended up subverting the intention of this law — by not making it retroactive.

Why would the Council allow incumbents to keep money received under limits it judged to be more than 10 times too high, potentially undermining this good- government reform?

I smell a rat here. The speaker gave herself and anyone else lucky enough to have raised lots of money under those old rules a huge head start in the 2013 mayoral race.

I used the database set up by the law — and Quinn’s public disclosures — to find at least $250,000 in campaign funds she has raised for this election cycle under the old rules.