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Road Testing Campaign Finance Bill By Helen Dewar Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, March 31 1997; Page A01 Handsomely arrayed against the backdrop of Boston's historic Faneuil Hall and this city's Liberty Bell, the settings could not have been more auspicious for the launching of a drive to "renew American democracy" by overhauling its widely abused campaign financing system. But the rhetoric, sparse crowds and deja vu from two decades of false starts sent another message: the enormousness of the task facing these latter-day revolutionaries as they try to mobilize the country behind legislation sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell Feingold (D-Wis.) to set new limits on campaign contributions and spending. So dispiriting are the reports out of Washington about prospects for the bill that speakers felt compelled to deny it is dead before it has had its first hearing. "You folks don't look like you're here for a wake," Feingold said last Tuesday in welcoming about 100 supporters in Boston, who applauded eagerly, as if to celebrate the reported sign of a pulse. As the Boston-to-Philadelphia foray indicated, leaders of the campaign finance effort face a kind of political Catch 22: Without a public outcry, members of Congress are reluctant to revamp a system under which incumbents can and usually do raise more than their challengers, ensuring their reelection in most cases. But, with what many lawmakers describe as a widespread public cynicism about prospects for reform, it is difficult to arouse voters to bring the kind of pressure on Congress that it will take to force action. "It's got to come from outside Washington . . . and it won't be easy," said McCain. Even the almost daily disclosures of abuses from last year's elections have failed so far to create a groundswell of demands for action, although McCain insists there are signs of mounting anger over the scandals and a resulting increase in pressure for a legislative fix. "People do care," said Ann McBride, president of Common Cause, which helped organize the drive's kickoff. "They just don't know how their voice is going to be heard over the din of money in Washington." There is another problem, according to former senator Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), who is also taking a key role in the drive. "People don't see the connection between campaign finance reform and their own lives," he said. Bradley intends to try to draw that connection by reminding people that tax breaks and subsidies for special interests that contribute to lawmakers' campaigns mean higher taxes for everyone else. A young passerby at the Boston rally personified the challenge. "Politicians: all sound, no action," he huffed, moving on after pausing only a few seconds to hear the drift of the rhetoric. So did Jackie Johnson, a visitor from New York, who shook her head and said, "Money is always going to talk in Washington." To break out of the box, Common Cause and other citizen activist groups, including Campaign for America, founded by investment banker Jerome Kohlberg, have organized Project Independence, which the Boston-Philadelphia roadshow was designed to launch with a big splash of historical symbolism. Its aim is to collect 1,776,000 signatures on behalf of McCain-Feingold by July 4, which President Clinton has set as the target date for passage of a campaign finance bill -- a deadline that, like most others in Washington, will most likely be missed. There are 7,500 volunteers at work on the drive, soon to be joined by 10 professional organizers, according to McBride. More road trips are planned, including one soon in California. Through a coalition of clergy who have joined the drive, about 100,000 congregations also will participate, the Rev. John A. Buehrens, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, told the Boston rally. Kohlberg is working on the business community, finding more support among retired executives than those who are still working. Of the latter group, he said, "They don't want to lose their clout." So far, the reaction has been encouraging, McBride said. When McCain mentioned the project's toll-free telephone number on the Don Imus radio show, there were so many calls the phone line was overwhelmed. In addition, Clinton has tapped elder statesmen from both parties, former vice president Walter F. Mondale (D) and retired senator Nancy Kassebaum Baker (R-Kan.), to lead a parallel effort to rally public and congressional support for legislative action. Mondale and Kassebaum Baker have appeared on television, written an editorial page piece and now plan to set up a small staff to lay plans for more activities, working in conjunction with the McCain-Feingold coalition, Mondale said. Kassebaum Baker said possibilities include recruiting former colleagues, academic figures and well-known personalities, even basketball coaches, and tapping into networks of local service groups. What all the groups must deal with is the public's sense of defeatism about the problem, Mondale said in an interview late last week. "I believe people are very upset but they don't believe anything can be done," he said. "When you describe how bad things are, what the public hears is that it's hopeless." Clinton, who has endorsed McCain-Feingold and made campaign finance reform a centerpiece of his second term agenda, plans to continue to speak out on the issue, according to White House officials. Like Bradley, Clinton has been trying to frame the issue in a way that connects with people's lives. By reducing special-interest influence on Congress, "campaign finance reform . . . will help us balance the budget, fight crime, extend health care to our children, protect our young people from the dangers of tobacco," Clinton said in a statement read at the Boston rally. Within Congress, the signs are ambiguous, at best. Reformers were heartened when Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) was forced by restive Republicans to broaden the scope of an investigation of campaign funding abuses to include some legal activities -- such as unrestricted "soft money" donations to political parties -- that the McCain-Feingold bill targets for elimination. They were further encouraged when Lott, who is no fan of McCain-Feingold, later said he anticipated hearings on campaign finance legislation shortly after the Senate returns from recess April 7, hoped for committee action by early May and wanted the legislation to address a long list of problems, including soft money. But the bill remains hampered in the Senate by its meager support among Republicans. Aside from McCain, its only GOP cosponsor is Sen. Fred D. Thompson (R-Tenn.), whose significance is enhanced by the fact that he is chairman of the committee that is running the campaign finance probe. While some believe prospects for early action are better in the House, many Republicans there are rallying behind a diametrically opposing approach embodied in a bill sponsored by Rep. John T. Doolittle (R-Calif.). Doolittle's bill would strengthen public disclosure requirements while repealing existing contribution limits, freeing individuals and political action committees (PACs) to give as much as they want to candidates, parties and political committees. By contrast, McCain-Feingold, in addition to banning the unlimited soft money, would eliminate or limit PAC contributions and offer free and discounted television time as well as cut-rate mailings to candidates who agree to abide by voluntary spending ceilings, restrict use of their own wealth and raise a designated sum in their own states. While the McCain-Feingold team scoffs at the Doolittle bill as moving in the wrong direction, the bill illustrates the absence of consensus on Capitol Hill. And it is not the only sign of conflicting pressures. Both the Boston and Philadelphia rallies were picketed by advocates of public financing for congressional campaigns, including one who was dressed as a cat and carried a sign saying, "McCain-Feingold is fine for fat cats." McCain and Feingold say public funding is so controversial that its inclusion in their bill would doom the legislation. It is the very volatility of Congress that keeps hope alive for the McCain-Feingold forces. Issues, such as lobbying reforms and a ban on gifts to members of Congress that passed in the last Congress, suddenly develop a momentum of their own and become unstoppable. Even Watergate, they note, was slow to ignite the country and prompt legislative reforms. © Copyright 1997 The Washington Post Company Back to the top Go to Campaign Finance Report | Go to National Section