Campaign Reform’s Minefield

A solid majority of House legislators has indicated support for a comprehensive bill to clean up the corrupt system by which political campaigns are financed. House leaders should have rolled out the red carpet and rushed it to a vote. Instead, they rolled the bill--by Reps. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Martin T. Meehan (D-Mass.)--through what Shays rightly calls a “minefield.”

The GOP presented dozens of “killer amendments” to thwart the bill’s passage by dividing the coalition that supported it. Miraculously, Shays and Meehan managed to defeat most of those amendments last week, and on Monday their bill comes up for a final vote. So will some toothless alternative bills that do nothing to rein in unregulated contribution to the political parties, so-called soft money, which was at the heart of the 1996 campaign finance abuses.

That’s why legislators should solidly support Shays-Meehan even though one officious amendment did get tacked on: a prohibition against political contributions by immigrants who are legal permanent residents of the United States but not citizens.

The amendment was intended to dissuade legislators with large ethnic constituencies like Reps. Xavier Becerra (D-Los Angeles) and Robert Matsui (D-Sacramento) from voting for campaign finance reform. Matsui and Becerra should vote for Shays-Meehan anyway, knowing full well that the amendment will be thrown out in court for its violation of 1st Amendment rights.

If Shays-Meehan passes Monday, as most Capitol Hill observers expect, the responsibility for completing campaign finance reform will fall to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, who has said he has no plans to bring to a vote the legislation’s Senate counterpart, which he earlier sidetracked with a filibuster. Lott should reconsider or move aside: He is standing in the way of the public’s best interest and of Congress’ clear will.