Brown Assails Bush Plan as ‘Fat Cat’ Aid
Democratic National Committee Chairman Ron Brown denounced President Bush’s campaign finance reform proposals Thursday as the “fat cat protection act of 1989” as he sought to regain control over what traditionally has been a Democratic issue.
Brown called for partial public funding of House and Senate races and for the setting of spending ceilings on these contests. In a sharp reversal of past partisan roles, Brown found himself defending political action committees as a Republican president was calling for the elimination of corporate, union and trade association PACs.
If “you eliminate PACs, you eliminate the opportunity of a lot of small donors to contribute effectively to a campaign,” Brown said Thursday after a speech to the Center for National Policy.
Seven years ago, it was GOP leaders who made this argument: PACs provide “a wonderful service in offering new opportunities for people to participate in the political process,” Republican Rep. Bill Frenzel of Minnesota declared in June, 1982.
Brown said he would support some limits on the amount of money that labor, corporate and trade association PACs can give.
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