Roll Call online 4-1-97
By Benjamin Sheffner
The campaign finance reform proposal sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz) and Russ Feingold (D-Wis), already struggling for support in places other than newspaper editorial pages, has an important new critic: Ross Perot's Reform Party.
The Reform Party, which has made an overhaul of the current campaign finance system one of its major efforts and got eight and a half million votes in the 1996 presidential election, has gone public with its complaints, arguing that the bill unfairly disadvantages third parties.
"It is set up so that Republicans and Democrats automatically qualify for free TV air time. It leaves the rest of us out in the cold," said Pat Benjamin, chairwoman of the New Jersey branch of the Reform Party and the national group's point person on campaign finance reform.
Reform Chairman Russ Verney said in an interview that the party would not do any advertising on the issue, but would make its activists aware of its position.
McCain-Feingold, which has a total of 20 co-sponsors (just two of them Republicans) and has been endorsed by President Clinton, grants each major-party Senate candidates a half hour of free TV time in exchange for promises to limit their total campaign spending.
The bill also has a provision to allow minor parties to receive three minutes of free time if they meet one of two criteria: win between 5 and 25 percent of the vote in the last Senate election, or submit signatures from at least 5 percent of all registered voters in the state.
Benjamin complains that those requirements are too onerous. "Not only would this be a massive expense to the candidate, but it would cost the taxpayer approximately one dollar per signature to validate the petition," she said. "This arduous process would have to be repeated each time Reform Party candidates run in Senate races -- how ridiculous!"
Benjamin further explained that California, for example, required just 89,000 signatures for the Reform Party to gain ballot access, but McCain-Feingold would mandate about 750,000 signatures for the three minutes of free TV.
She said that she has talked with Verney and that he and Perot share the same concerns.
Benjamin is working with other Reform leaders to come up with a campaign finance proposal of their own, saying that the problems with McCain-Feingold go so deep that it cannot be fixed. A fresh start is required, she said.
McCain-Feingold fails to meet what she considers the four key criteria for judging campaign finance reform proposals: enforceability, constitutionality, "leveling the playing field," and cost-effectiveness, Benjamin said.
"The emphasis [in McCain-Feingold] is on contribution limits and some way of enforcing spending limits. The question is, is that constitutional?" Benjamin asked.
She also charged that the bill, which bans soft money, is too confusing. "It would complicate the process rather than make it clearer and more enforceable," she said. "I think it's approaching the problem from the wrong end."
Benjamin said the same criticisms extend to the bill's House counterpart, which is sponsored by Reps. Linda Smith (R-Wash), Chris Shays (R-Conn), and Marty Meehan (D-Mass). Ironically, Perot and Smith have become close allies, and she was considered as a potential running mate for Perot in his presidential bid last year.
Benjamin said that she personally favors a commission dedicated to tackling the campaign finance reform effort, specifically the approach being pushed by New Jersey Rep. Bob Franks (R).
She added that shortening campaigns remains among her top goals.
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