Backers of a bill to close a campaign-finance loophole that allows some former elected officials to hold on to campaign cash indefinitely said Thursday that the purpose of their proposal is to instill public trust in the election and campaign process. “This bill addresses a loophole that I think is inadvertent but significant,” Republican Assembly Minority Leader Pat Hickey, co-sponsor of AB178, said Thursday in testimony before the Assembly Committee on Legislative Operations and Elections. The bill would require anyone who qualifies as a candidate to dispose of unused campaign funds within two years if he or she doesn’t actually …