Gallegly Faces Dilemma Over Finance Reform

U.S. Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) is coming under pressure to break with his party’s leadership by bringing a major campaign finance reform package out of mothballs for a vote.

The Shays-Meehan bill would curtail soft-money contributions--unlimited donations from labor unions and corporations that are sent to political parties to benefit candidates.

Backers of the reform measure say soft money is increasingly a corrupting force in American politics, allowing special interest groups to skirt contribution limits and exert undue influence.

A study by public interest group Common Cause found that $63 million in soft money flowed to Democrats and Republicans in the 1992 election cycle; by 2000, soft-money contributions jumped to about $600 million.

Gallegly had signed on as a co-sponsor of the legislation by Reps. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Martin T. Meehan (D-Mass.), but House leaders last year blocked the legislation from going to a full vote.

Advocates can force a vote, but only by getting a majority of the House to sign a petition calling for such an action. To date, supporters have 214 of 218 needed signatures. Gallegly’s is not among them.

Gallegly did not return phone calls for comment.

If proponents pressure him to sign the so-called “discharge petition,” reform advocates say, Gallegly could face a backlash from party leaders, threatening his committee memberships or pet legislation, including Ventura County projects.

If he doesn’t sign, they say, they will paint him as a hypocrite in this year’s reelection campaign.

“The acid test here, if you call yourself a supporter of reform, is you’ve got to sign the discharge petition,” said Matt Keller, legislative director for Common Cause. “It is the only way to bring this bill to the House of Representatives.”

An eight-term incumbent, Gallegly doesn’t need soft money to pad his own campaign war chest. He raised just more than $1 million in his last campaign, with less than $6,000 coming from Republican Party funds.

But some of Gallegly’s large corporate contributors have also been significant soft-money contributors on the national stage. These include Bank of America; SBC Communications; committees representing Realtors, home builders and automobile dealers; and Thousand Oaks-based Amgen Inc.

Gary Jacobson, a professor of political science at UC San Diego, said it is probably not in Gallegly’s best political interest to sign the petition.

Not Much Public Interest in Reform

“There’s really little evidence that voters get excited one way or another about whether individual members support campaign finance reform,” Jacobson said.

Additionally, Jacobson doesn’t believe that curtailing soft money will stop massive special-interest spending in the long run; corporations will find another way to route the money.

And although Democrats might try to attack Gallegly for failing to sign the petition, Jacobson said that could backfire if the Democratic Party pours soft money into the campaign of Gallegly’s opponent in the general election.

That opponent, Thousand Oaks public relations consultant Fern Rudin, acknowledged that she probably would take soft money if the Democratic Party offered it.

“Am I going to take that kind of money from major corporations? No,” she said. “Am I going to take money that could be a conflict of interest to what I’m going to do in Washington? No.

“But I don’t see money coming from the Democratic Party as being the same thing. They’re the people who asked me to run, and I have a responsibility.”

At the same time, Rudin said Gallegly’s reluctance to force a vote on a measure he co-sponsored should be a campaign issue.

“If he thinks he co-sponsored the legislation in error, let him say so,” she said. “But for him to not say anything is not living up to one’s responsibility.”

Bill’s Co-Author Backs Gallegly

One person who is not putting pressure on Gallegly to sign the petition is fellow Republican Shays.

He said Gallegly had always qualified his support of the legislation, saying he favored some reform but not every aspect of Shays’ plan.

“Elton has been a wonderful supporter of campaign finance reform, but he doesn’t pretend to be totally 100% for it,” Shays said. “If my choice is to have him sign the petition or vote for the bill and against any bad amendments, my choice would be the latter.

“I don’t want someone who has signed the petition to then go to leadership and say, ‘I know you’re unhappy that I signed the petition, but now I’ll make you happy by supporting bad amendments,’ ” Shays said.

“I don’t want to win the battle and lose the war.”