Chance to Vote for Sunshine

In the murky world of campaign finance, one loophole seems to lead to another. The latest tactic is to create political committees that exploit an intersection of the federal tax code and federal election law. The beauty of this lawyer’s delight is that anyone can contribute thousands of dollars anonymously to the tax-exempt committees. This defies the most basic of all campaign finance principles: that the citizens deserve, at the least, to know who is financing powerful election organizations.

The Senate has passed a bill to halt this sleazy new practice. The House should do so as well, and preferably before its July 4 recess.

These so-called 527 committees, named after the section of the tax code they hide behind, can organize themselves much like regular political action committees or independent advocacy groups, but there’s one key difference. Under IRS interpretations and a 1996 federal court ruling, the tax-exempt 527 committees are not subject to the Federal Election Campaign Act.

The abuse came to light last year with the disclosure that Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), the House majority whip, had created the Republican Majority Issues Committee as a Section 527 committee with a goal of spending $25 million on voter registration, voter turnout and so-called “issues” ads.

Political action committees also run ads like these, which are supposed to promote political positions without taking sides in a contest. The commercials cannot urge people to vote for Candidate Smith over Candidate Jones. But they can tell the public that Jones is a lousy candidate and has an anti-American voting record. However, unlike PACs, Section 527 committees do not have to report the sources of their money.

Opponents of comprehensive campaign finance reform, including DeLay, have said that the best way to clean up the system is not to limit contributions but to guarantee full disclosure so voters will know where the money comes from. The House soon will have a chance to vote on a bipartisan measure to shed light on these stealth committees. If the opponents of campaign reform honestly believe in disclosure, this will be their chance to prove it.