Following the money trail that leads toward candidates in county, state and federal elections is something that can be accomplished with relative ease.

That’s not the case, however, with candidates vying for City Council seats in Muskogee — at least not any more. In order to find out who’s contributing to a municipal campaign here, one must rely on a candidate’s willingness to volunteer the information.

In this year’s mayoral race, only one candidate, John Tyler Hammons disclosed campaign contributions. He said his decision to disclose represents his commitment to open and transparent government.

“I promised to be open and transparent and honest with people, and that’s what I’ve done,” Hammons said. “If I say it, I am going to do it. I think very much that this proves I am committed to what I stand for.”

Hammons’ opponent, former Mayor Hershel McBride, declined to disclose his donor list or his campaign’s financial records. McBride, however, said his campaign for the slate of five candidates vying for City Council positions has raised “a little more than $15,000 this election cycle.”

“I started out telling people we didn’t have to report our contributions,” McBride said. “There are just too many of them (contributors) to have to go back and tell them any different.”

Candidates vying for Muskogee City Council seats didn’t always have the power to opt out of campaign contribution disclosure.

In 2001, city officials passed an ordinance that limited campaign contributions and required candidates to report those contributions. The ordinance, which mirrored the language of the Oklahoma’s Political Subdivisions Ethics Act, was passed after city officials learned that law applied to — but had not been enforced for — municipal ballot issues.

Candidates vying for City Council seats in 2002 mostly complied with the reporting requirements, but some confusion about enforcement resulted with the ordinance being repealed in January 2003.

“Since the city clerk is unable to enforce any violations to the ordinance, it is recommended to repeal the Election Ethics Ordinance,” former City Attorney Steve Cousparis is quoted as saying in the minutes of the Jan. 7, 2003, Public Works Committee meeting.

Marilyn Hughes, executive director of the Oklahoma Ethics Commission, said the state law applies only to candidates required to file with the county election board.

Because municipal candidates in Muskogee are required only to file with the city clerk, Hughes said, there is no legal authority requiring Muskogee municipal candidates to disclose campaign contributions.

McBride, who was serving as mayor when the City Council approved and later repealed the city’s election ethics laws, said the City Council felt like it wasn’t necessary to put everybody through” the reporting requirements.

“Most of them are friends and family,” McBride said of contributors to City Council candidates. “Most of them are just contributing to help — they’re not really wanting anything. People who donate to me just want to see good government.”

While city councilors may have thought in 2003 that campaign finance rules were not needed, an informal survey of Phoenix readers taken during the city’s 2006 elections showed an overwhelming majority favored reporting requirements.

Mayor Wren Stratton, who ran one campaign while the municipal election ethics laws were on the books and a second one without, said she also favors mandatory reporting.

“From the very beginning of my mayoral campaign, I told all my contributors that if they chose to give more than $199 their names would be disclosed,” Stratton said of her campaign during which no reporting was required. “To me, it was important to make public disclosure — I think it’s important to do that.”

Stratton said public disclosure is only half the solution to ensuring ethical elections. Even though a campaign contribution may be ethical, voters must follow the money trail in order to uncover any potential conflicts of interest.

“I still say — and I believe it — that the people who scream the loudest are the ones you really have to watch,” Stratton said.

McBride and his slate of candidates, two of whom have assumed positions on the City Council, have raised about five times more than his younger rival’s campaign.

McBride said the more than $15,000 raised this election cycle was spent in support of five campaigns.

“This is not the most money I’ve raised in a campaign,” McBride said.

Records show contributions to Hammons’ mayoral campaign picked up after the 19-year-old snagged more than 42 percent of the vote in the general election.

During the first 21 days of April, Hammons’ campaign raked in $1,245. That’s 16 percent more than the $1,069 contributed to the Hammons campaign in February and just $55 short of the $1,300 collected during the month of March.

McBride, who served three terms as Muskogee’s mayor and several years as ward councilor, said his campaign’s financial support is coming primarily from “business people and working people.” Hammons said he is winning support from “every man and woman.” Nearly half of his $3,600 and counting was contributed by one doctor and several other contributions from educators.

Hammons and McBride, who won almost 39 percent of the 4,363 votes cast April 1 in the city’s mayoral contest, will go head-to-head May 13 in the city’s runoff election.

Both candidates say they will promote a city government that is responsive to its citizens. In addition, McBride said he brings experience to the table. Hammons said he brings with him fresh ideas and no political baggage.