Campaign Finance Reform

The General Assembly is considering a proposal to double the amount contributors can donate to all candidates running for state-regulated offices during a four-year cycle - a concept embraced by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. The legislation, which is pending in the House of Delegates and Senate, would increase the limit to $20,000. The current $10,000 limit was established in 1991. "I am sympathetic to the cause," said Ehrlich, noting that some of his contributors exceeded the limits during the campaign.

WASHINGTON -- Now that President Bush has signed the campaign finance bill into law, we'll see whether loopholes will be found around it, the courts will shoot it down or candidates will finds new ways to raise money on the Internet. It is important at this point to reflect upon some basic assumptions of most efforts to reform the campaign finance system. Most efforts have been based on two often unmentioned assumptions: that voters, who are essentially passive, cast their votes on Election Day largely because of paid advertisements, especially those on television, and that voters learn about campaign races largely from the media, especially from television.

WASHINGTON -- Not satisfied with enactment of the strongest campaign finance reform since the Watergate years, reformers are about to launch another drive to put backbone in the election enforcement agency that for years has been a pushover for errant candidates and influence-buyers. The idea is to abolish the Federal Election Commission and create a new agency led by a strong-minded independent director with the muscle to achieve real compliance with the new law. The proposal is being crafted by a task force under the aegis of Democracy 21, a pro-reform think tank headed by Fred Wertheimer, a leader in the recently successful drive to curb the flow of unregulated "soft" money into federal elections.

WASHINGTON -- In his cockier days before Congress dealt him a major defeat the other day, Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Darth Vader of campaign finance reform, liked to ridicule the bipartisan effort to bring it about. He would smugly declare that there was about as much interest in it among voters as there was in "static cling." Why he chose that particular plague of good grooming to make his point was puzzling. Now that the Senate has enacted the bill to put a lid on unregulated "soft money" donations to the parties in federal campaigns, Mr. McConnell is less flippant but just as resolute.

WASHINGTON - After an uphill climb lasting nearly seven years, the drive to overhaul federal campaign finance law to try to curb the influence of special interests succeeded yesterday with a final Senate vote of approval. The measure, approved 60-40 by the Senate, now goes to President Bush, who said last night that he would sign it into law despite objections to parts of it. Opponents of the legislation vowed to mount an immediate challenge in court. Eleven Republicans joined all but two Democrats - Sens.

Advocates for campaign finance reform, buoyed by a recent vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to ban unregulated donations to political parties, urged lawmakers yesterday to close what they believe are serious loopholes in Maryland laws regulating campaign contributions. "I don't think there's been such a bright light shining on this issue since the Watergate scandal," Del. Elizabeth Bobo of Howard County told fellow members of the House Commerce and Government Matters Committee in Annapolis.

WASHINGTON - Policing the influence of money in politics is a lot like policing the use of drugs on racehorses to enhance their performance. Every time a way to clamp down on either one is developed, the fixers come up with a new way to achieve the same end. In horse racing, it's often a new drug that can't immediately be detected. In politics, it's finding another way to funnel the green stuff into a campaign for a candidate or a particular cause. Now that the modest Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform bill has been passed by the House and sent to the Senate, where a very similar bill has already been approved, it looks like curtains for unregulated "soft" money flowing directly into such campaigns.

WASHINGTON -- For sheer hypocrisy, there's seldom been anything to match the display put on by the House foes of campaign finance reform in their failed effort to keep unregulated "soft money" flowing into the federal election system. House Majority Leader Dick Armey, who has spent years trying to kill all efforts to shut off the spigot or even reduce its flow, proposed with a straight face ending all soft money immediately, in a transparent effort to shake loose members facing tough re-election fights in November.

THE LATE, LATE SHOW Wednesday night didn't draw an Olympic-size audience, but it wasn't for lack of drama. We're talking about the one on C-SPAN, starring the U.S. House of Representatives and featuring the debate and vote on the Shays-Meehan bill, which sharply limits so-called "soft money" contributions to political parties. The show had everything: tension, mystery, histrionics, a big-star cameo appearance (Charlton Heston phoned in on behalf of the National Rifle Association) and - best of all - a happy ending.

WASHINGTON - A high-stakes showdown in Congress over campaign finance reform - postponed last summer after a House bill became trapped in a procedural quagmire - will resume tomorrow, thanks in large part to the Enron debacle. The spectacular collapse of the Enron Corp., which had given lavishly to both parties, has refocused attention on the money that oils the political system. Many who favor reform point to Enron's easy access in Washington as a symbol of how big money can corrupt the system.