PUSHING HARD TO AX SOFT MONEY HOUSE MEMBERS FIGHTING FOR BAN.Byline: Bill Hillburg Washington Bureau WASHINGTON - With the stench of the Enron debacle in their nostrils and their pockets already filling with re-election cash, some Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, members of the House of Representatives will try Tuesday to push for campaign finance reform Campaign finance reform is the common term for the political effort in the United States to change the involvement of money in politics, primarily in political campaigns. . A measure by Reps. Christopher Shays Shays , Daniel 1747?-1825. American Revolutionary soldier and insurrectionist who with a band of armed men raided a government arsenal in Springfield, Massachusetts, to protest the state legislature's indifference to the economic plight of farmers , R-Conn., and Martin Meehan Martin Meehan may refer to either of the below-referenced individuals:
Similar legislation passed the Senate last year. The House bill was shelved by Republican leaders until a move by 218 members recently forced it back onto the floor. ``Soft money poisons the system, just look at the donations from Enron,'' said Rep. Steve Horn, R-Lakewood, the only local Republican to join the region's Democrats in signing a discharge petition A discharge petition is a means of bringing a bill out of committee and to the floor for consideration without a report from a Committee and usually without cooperation of the leadership. Discharge petitions are most often associated with the U.S. that forced the upcoming debate and vote. ``This is our best chance in a decade to enact reforms.'' Horn and other supporters of reform argue that soft money, ostensibly os·ten·si·ble adj. Represented or appearing as such; ostensive: His ostensible purpose was charity, but his real goal was popularity. designated to help parties build their organizations and get out the vote, has instead been used by special interests to gain undue influence over the political process. There is no limit on soft money donations. Individual and political action committee giving to candidates, known as hard money, is capped under federal election laws. ``I think that anything that undermines the people's First Amendment rights is wrong,'' said Rep. David Dreier David Timothy Dreier (born July 5, 1952), American politician, has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since January 1981, representing California's 26th congressional district (map). He was first elected to the U.S. House at age 28 in 1980. , R-Covina. He and other opponents of the reform bill say the soft money ban would be an unconstitutional restriction on donors' free speech rights. They also believe the loss of soft money support would hurt both political parties. Dreier instead favors full and instantaneous disclosure of all campaign donations, including soft-money giving, and would also require corporations and unions to let their shareholders and members decide which candidates their political action committee dollars should support. Rep. Adam Schiff
Adam B. Schiff (born June 20 1960) is an American politician. He first served in the California State Senate. , D-Pasadena, embraced campaign reform after winning the costliest House race in history. ``I wanted to turn my expensive race into a vehicle for reform,'' said Schiff, who spent $4.3 million in his 2000 victory against GOP incumbent James Rogan, who shelled out $6.8 million. Schiff said soft money and attack ads sponsored by special interests were more of a hindrance than a help in his 2000 race. ``You lose control of your campaign,'' he said. ``The parties and special interests were running ads that had nothing to do with the issues involving Adam Schiff and Jim Rogan. ``These outside and party groups have their own agendas. I also was accused of running a dirty campaign because of ads and other tactics that I had had nothing to do with. People can't tell the difference between campaign and soft money ads.'' Schiff recalled one radio ad, paid for by a group bankrolled by the drug industry. It urged listeners ``to call Adam Schiff and tell him to stop scaring senior citizens.'' The ad attacked Schiff for supporting a Medicare drug benefit for seniors. It did not mention Rogan or endorse him, as required by current federal election rules. Under the reform proposal, such ads would be banned from the airwaves within 60 days of a general election and 30 days of a primary. This week's campaign reform showdown comes as local House incumbents, already bolstered by a reapportionment reapportionment: see legislative apportionment. that created supposedly safe new seats, have begun to pile up hard money for their re-election efforts. Reformers hope the soft money ban will open the door for more changes, including banning well-funded House members from sharing campaign cash - including money from ``leadership PACs'' they control - with political allies and allegedly buying their way into key party positions. ``Leadership PACs are a real evil,'' said Horn, who has refused all PAC contributions to his campaigns, and only accepted contributions from private individuals. Dreier, who topped all local incumbents by having more than $2.5 million in hard-money campaign cash on hand as of Dec. 31, defended the status quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy. . ``If you can successfully make the case that your ideas and leadership are worthy of support, you get it,'' said Dreier, chairman of the House Rules Committee and former co-chairman of the GOPAC GOPAC Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption GOPAC Grand Old Party Political Action Committee leadership PAC. ``I'm proud of my support.'' Soft money is the product of 1979 finance reforms that also placed limits of $1,000 per election on individuals contributions and a $5,000 cap on giving to political action committees. The Federal Election Commission and watchdog groups recently reported that soft money totals skyrocketed from $86 million in 1992 to $500 million in 2000. As of Dec. 31, Republican party groups had raked in more than $65 million in soft money for this year's campaigns, up 76 percent from the 1999 total. Soft dollars represented 46 percent of their fund-raising total. Democrats' soft money take was more than $38 million, up 22 percent from 1999 and accounting for 54 percent of their total war chest. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a survey by the Center for Responsive Politics "The Center for Responsive Politics is a non-partisan, non-profit research group based in Washington, D.C. that tracks money in politics, and the effect of money on elections and public policy. , a Washington watchdog group, California topped all states in recent soft money giving to the GOP, with $15 million in donations, including $3.7 million from Southern Californians. Californians also gave Democrats $12.6 million, including $3.6 million from the Greater Los Angeles area The Greater Los Angeles Area, or the Southland, is the agglomeration of urbanized area around the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. There are two "official" definitions—the Los Angeles metropolitan area consisting only of the Los Angeles and Orange . The state ranked third - behind Washington, D.C., and New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of - as a source of soft money for Democrats. Public Disclosure, another campaign watchdog group, reported that local major soft-money donors included Motown mogul Berry Gordy, who gave $270,000 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (commonly referred to as the "D triple C," or the "D-Trip") is the Democratic Hill committee for the United States House of Representatives, working to elect Democrats to that body. on Nov. 15; and Haim Saban of Saban Entertainment (``Power Rangers''), who gave $150,000 to the DCCC DCCC Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee DCCC Delaware County Community College DCCC Derbyshire County Cricket Club DCCC Davidson County Community College (Lexington, North Carolina) DCCC Durham County Cricket Club on Dec. 21. CAMPAIGN 2000 CASH LIST These are the amounts of campaign cash on hand as of Dec. 31, as reported by Southern California congressional incumbents and challengers. Note: most challengers had not made initial campaign finance reports by Dec. 31. FLUSH INCUMBENTS David Dreier, R-Covina: $2,515,657 Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands: $1,269,228 Ed Royce, R-Fullerton: $1,205,672 Howard Berman, D-Mission Hills: $965,666 Elton Gallegly, R-Oxnard: $854,046 Henry Waxman, D-Los Angeles: $552,350 Brad Sherman, D-Woodland Hills: $441,168 Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita: $358,132 Jane Harman, D-Redondo Beach: $343,341 Adam Schiff, D-Pasadena: $222,670 Dana Rohrabacher, R-Huntington Beach: $121,557 STRAPPED CHALLENGERS Robert Levy, GOP vs. Sherman: $16,176 Gerrie Schipske, Democrat vs. Rohrabacher: $2,244 Note: Totals are as of Dec. 31, 2001, and as reported by the Federal Election Commission on Feb. 4. SOURCE: Federal Election Commission CAPTION(S): box Box: CAMPAIGN 2000 CASH LIST (see text) |
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