Senator Scoffs at Clinton Push for Reform

A leading Republican opponent of campaign finance legislation that is backed by President Clinton accused the White House on Saturday of trying to divert attention from its own fund-raising scandals.

“Bill Clinton and Al Gore advocating campaign finance reform is like Bonnie and Clyde endorsing banking reform,” Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Saturday in the weekly Republican radio address.

In an unusual move, the White House made available to radio stations a response to McConnell’s address that Clinton taped after delivering his own weekly radio address.

“For five years now, we have watched the bipartisan effort to reform our campaign finance laws die at the hands of a filibuster in the United States Senate,” Clinton said. “I hope this year will be different.”

Clinton urged the Senate to pass legislation sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.), calling it “a strong bill that would curb the power of special interests and increase the confidence of the American people in our campaign finance system.” The bill is supported by all 45 Democrats but only four Republicans in the 100-member Senate.

At a Florida Democratic convention in Tampa, meanwhile, Vice President Gore also challenged Republicans in Congress to support campaign finance reform.

McConnell reiterated the GOP position that the McCain bill, which would ban unlimited donations to national parties and regulate campaign activities by outside groups, is “blatantly unconstitutional.”