Key Week for Campaign Reform

A coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans in the House of Representatives has hung together this year despite daunting odds to keep alive the prospect of campaign finance reform. If the supporters can maintain unity for a week or so they’ll have a fair shot at passage of the Shays-Meehan reform bill, despite efforts by House leaders to drown it in a swamp of proposed amendments and competing bills.

All citizens who want their votes to count, who want to diminish the stench of influence money in politics, should demand that their representatives support Shays-Meehan. It is by no means a sweeping overhaul, but it would be a major step in the right direction.

The reform measure, sponsored by Reps. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Martin T. Meehan (D-Mass.), faces another swarm of hostile amendments, possibly today. If Shays, Meehan and their stalwarts can ward off this latest attack, they might finally get a long-sought final vote on the bill next week.

The major provision of the bill would do away with the “soft money” loophole in the campaign reform law of 1974. That measure allowed political parties to raise unrestricted amounts of money for party-building purposes such as voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives. The goal was commendable, but opponents pried open loopholes that let political parties spend such funds directly for national campaigns, trashing a law that limits individual donations to candidates to $1,000 per person.

Earlier this year, the Senate used a filibuster to kill a similar reform bill sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell D. Feingold (D-Wis.). So what would happen if the Senate returns from its August recess to suddenly face Shays-Meehan, the House-passed version of the McCain bill? Anti-reform Senate leaders might be hard-pressed to mount another filibuster against a reinvigorated drive for reform, especially in the middle of a national election campaign.

Just a few months ago, congressional leaders were certain they had safely buried campaign finance reform legislation. But this is an issue that will not die. Ordinary voters know that without reform, special favors for powerful interests will remain a too common element of national politics.