Campaign finance faces vote

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – Citing Enron as evidence for their cause, supporters of campaign finance legislation won their long fight Thursday to force a House vote on curbing the influence of big money in politics.

“Campaign finance reform will finally get a fair vote,” said Rep. Christopher Shays, a Connecticut Republican who has long defied his party’s leaders on campaign finance legislation.

Democrats rejoiced, too, having put up the vast majority of the 218 signatures needed on a petition to force the bill to the floor. “As the Enron storm clouds roll in, the public’s tolerance for this soft-money system is growing increasingly thin,” said Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass.

Enron, a bankrupt Texas energy trading firm, donated millions to politicians and had access to senior administration officials and members of Congress.

No date was set for a debate on the bill, which would impose the most far-reaching changes in the nation’s political finance system since the Watergate overhaul of a quarter-century ago.

“We want to deal with the issue as expeditiously as possible and provide a fair forum for it to be considered on the House floor,” said Terry Holt, a spokesman for Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas. Some Republican officials said they expected a vote as early as February or March.

House supporters have tried for months to force the bill onto the floor through a legislative petition that requires signatures of a majority of all House members, 218. Such petitions rarely succeed, largely because lawmakers of the majority party are reluctant to support initiatives that essentially usurp their leaders’ right to set the legislative agenda.

In all, 20 Republicans bucked their own party’s leadership and signed the petition, joined by 197 Democrats and one independent.

Opponents claim a ban on soft money ban would be unconstitutional because it would infringe on First Amendment rights of free speech.

The two parties raised almost $500 million in soft money in the two-year period that ended on Dec. 31, 2000, and an additional $133 million during 2001. As an additional indication of the importance of soft money, Democrats solicited millions in pledges last year to finance construction of a new party headquarters in the nation’s capital.

The Senate passed a similar measure last year, 59-41, capping a long struggle by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Russell Feingold, D-Wis.

After that vote, House Republican leaders said they still opposed the bill but agreed to bring it to the floor for a vote. They sought to siphon off support, however, by backing an alternative that would limit soft money without banning it.

Enron’s lead auditor from the Arthur Anderson accounting firm invokes his Fifth Amendment right when called to testify before the House Energy Committee. Page B4.

Copyright ©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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