Vote for Real Campaign Finance Reform

This week the House will vote on campaign finance reform. Reps. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Martin Meehan (D-Mass.) have proposed a bill that bans unlimited contributions from corporations like Enron, labor unions and the wealthiest Americans.

Opponents of reform have offered an alternative to Shays-Meehan that makes a bad system worse. Rep. Robert Ney’s (R-Ohio) bill only limits these so-called soft-money contributions in paltry ways and then reroutes them through state parties, where they can be spent without limitation.

Other representatives argue that Shays-Meehan does not do enough--that it has been weakened over the course of deliberation. The Shays-Meehan bill is strong enough to stop corporate interests from having coffee meetings in the White House and to stop multimillionaires’ overnight arrangements in the Lincoln Bedroom. Shays-Meehan is neither weak nor insufficient.

Now is the time tell Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) to support real reform by voting for Shays-Meehan. Now is not the time to abandon real reform by voting for the Ney red herring or to sabotage reform by voting for “poison pill” amendments designed to destroy the legislation.

Sen. John McCain

R-Ariz.