Campaign finance reform becomes a crucial platform issue
Kelly Coleman
Pittsburgh Standard
The controversial 2000 presidential
election brought out many questions about the way we elect a President.
One of the hottest issues debated was campaign finance reform.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ), who was
beaten out of the Republican Party candidacy by George W. Bush, has
sworn to continue the fight for campaign finance reform. Senator Russ
Feingold (D-WI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS) have joined McCain to create the
Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2001, also known as the
McCain-Feingold-Cochran campaign reform bill. This bill would ban soft
money contributions, restrict how much money corporations and unions
could spend on campaign advertisements, and strengthen election laws.
Soft money is money that is
unregulated by election laws and should be used for state and local
voting efforts. Because the money is unregulated, it creates a loophole
in election laws. Some politicians take advantage of this loophole and
use soft money to almost completely fund their campaigns. Because these
soft money contributions are not regulated, the American public is often
left in the dark about whom is funding a presidential campaign, and how
much they are contributing. In an effort to close the soft money
loophole, the McCain-Feingold-Cochran bill would prohibit corporations,
labor unions, and wealthy individuals from donating soft money to the
national political parties. Federal candidates would also be banned
from raising soft money. State political parties could continue to
accept soft money contributions, but these funds could not be used to
support or oppose a candidate running in a national election.
Corporations and labor unions are
currently able to advertise their support for or against a federal
candidate by buying radio and television time for “Phony Issue Ads.”
These ads usually highlight one candidate’s mistakes or achievements,
but do not directly ask voters to vote for or against any federal
candidate, which makes them immune to federal election laws. Under the
McCain-Feingold-Cochran bill, corporations and labor unions would be
unable to spend their treasury funds on radio and television advertising
for any federal candidate within 60 days of a general election.
Non-profit organizations can run these advertisements as long as the
money used to fund them comes from individual contributions.
This bill would also strengthen
election laws by clarifying how labor unions are allowed to spend agency
fees paid by non-union members. These non-union members would have the
option of having their fees refunded if they were being allocated for
political purposes. The McCain-Feingold-Cochran bill would also prevent
immigrants to the US from contributing to any federal, state, or local
elections.
What does this mean for us as
students? Because most students do not have the financial means to
contribute large amounts of money to federal candidates, we are more
likely to invest our time in the candidate we support. Students often
join non-profit organizations and get involved on a more grass-roots
level of campaigning. The ability of non-profits to advertise so close
to election time without the competition of corporate or union
advertisers seems to give them a stronger voice in support of or in
opposition to federal candidates. However, whether or not non-profit
organizations can afford to buy a substantial amount of radio and
television airtime within 60 days of a general election is another
issue.
