KENNETT, Mo. -- Just about every Missourian knows that so-called soft money is the cash contributed to specially created political campaign funds to hide donations from the glare of publicity and any existing laws and rules governing election spending.

What most Missourians don't know, however, is that their state has become one of the nation's largest havens for this kind of campaign chicanery that effectively keeps voters in the dark and journalists from uncovering who is contributing how much to which candidates.

The reason for this closely guarded dark secret is that until the Washington-based Center for Public Integrity came along, no one had ever made the monumental effort required to tabulate the amount of under-the-table cash slipped to candidates, both during election years and even the off-years.

The principal players in this scandalous subterfuge are the candidates themselves and their state political party organizations, which are generally scot-free to create the kind of hidden haven desired by those intent on reaping benefits from the election of this or that office seeker. After all, contribution limits and restrictions by state party committees must be enacted by state legislatures, whose members are greatly indebted to the same groups that sponsor -- and pay for -- their campaign expenses. A member of the General Assembly who receives a $25,000 or $100,000 contribution from his state party committee is not about to commit political hara-kari.

To make matters even worse, the average Missourian has no inkling of the shocking abuses that exist in his own state nor does he realize how extensive this elusive practice of hiding campaign spending has become in our state. Our unofficial motto -- "I'm from Missouri. You've got to show me" -- is a joke since no one is showing us how rampant spending abuses have become nor do we have any idea where these millions of dollars come from. And the very last thing we ever know is whether the dollars donated by special interest groups to our elected officials have had any influence in how the politicians conduct the public's business once installed in office.

Now perhaps you believe these warnings are unwarranted, so you need to know that when it comes to hidden, under-the-table contributions, Missouri has become the virtual Mecca of Malignant Money in the United States, where laws governing contributions to state party committees are virtually nonexistent. And I mean exactly that.

Among the five major contribution sources for political campaigns, Missouri has absolutely no restrictions on state party committees on all five. Specifically, Missouri has no limits on the amount of dollars contributed by national party committees to their counterparts in our state. Missouri has no laws dealing with individual contribution limits to its state party groups. Missouri has no limits on money spent by state Political Action Committees, and it has no limits on corporate contributions to state party organizations. It also has no limits on union contributions to state party committees, which in turn distribute their hidden, under-the-table dollars any way they choose. Missouri's restrictions are so loose state committees can even withhold funds to use for favored future candidates, and since restrictions are so sparse, as far as I know they can even distribute the money to their own state committee members and let them disburse it some way.

In the event you believe that since Missouri is only the 17th largest state in the nation I am exaggerating the danger to our state's electoral system, I'm quite certain you will be as shocked as I was when the first-ever study of this hidden source of unregulated and unreported campaign money was disclosed the other day. In the 2000 year campaign and election cycle, contributions to the two state political party committees in Missouri amounted to $25.8 million. No kidding. I hope you realize that this amount was spent by individuals who are virtually free of any restrictions on where their money comes from or where it goes.

Missouri ranked eighth in total spending by state parties in last year's campaign -- but the top seven states are considerably larger than our own. And here's another chilling fact: Despite the fact there are seven states that spent more money than our state parties, Missouri ranked second among the 50 states in per-capita spending. New York was the nation's highest state campaign spender.

In states where even a modicum number of restrictions and disclosure rules exist, contributions were far less than in such anything-goes states as our own. Soft money raised and spent in larger states, such as Massachusetts, Virginia, New Jersey, North Carolina, Indiana, Georgia and Washington, to name only some, was considerably less than was raised and spent in Missouri.

What is clearly, and urgently, needed are more effective rules and laws governing Missouri's virtually unlimited and untraceable political donations. If not, the shocking campaign abuses in last year's election cycle will seem like child's play the next time a state campaign comes around.

By then your vote may count for absolutely nothing.

~Jack Stapleton is the editor of Missouri News and Editorial Service.