Sen. Ima Luddite (R)
Who's the anonymous senator derailing a bill for electronic filing of campaign finance reports?

Thursday, April 19, 2007

THE U.S. SENATE hit a pothole on the road to modernity on Tuesday. A request for unanimous consent by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) for a bill that would require candidates for the Senate to file campaign finance reports electronically was blocked by an anonymous Republican senator hiding behind Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who announced the move. Would that this Luddite had the courage of his or her convictions to explain publicly said opposition to 21st-century custom.

The last time we wrote about the need for this common-sense advance, there was fear that Ms. Feinstein would not get a quorum in the Rules and Administration Committee, which she chairs, to vote the bill out. That hurdle cleared, she sought passage by unanimous consent. That's when Mr. Alexander stepped forward to object on behalf of another senator.

What could be the fear? It's not as if senators would be alone in this practice. Filing campaign finance reports electronically is standard for candidates for the House of Representatives and the White House. Political parties, political action committees and "527" groups have to do the same. The point is to make it easier for the public to see who is giving to whom and how the money is being spent. In our up-to-the-minute world, the Senate's insistence on maintaining its cumbersome obstacle course of disclosure procedures, which starts by sending the paper forms to the Senate Office of Public Records, makes no sense.

"This is exactly the type of good-government law that the Senate could adopt as a stand-alone measure," Ms. Feinstein said. She's right. All in favor ought to be given a chance to say yea. All opposed ought to have the guts to come forward and explain their antipathy to sunshine.