Statement by Campaign Finance
Reform Analyst Derek Cressman Who Will Be Testifying in front of the Rules Committee
on Wednesday
"U.S. PIRG applauds Vice
President Gore's promise to support a ban all soft money and for his novel approach
to campaign finance reform as laid out in his recent proposal for a campaign
endowment fund. Although the details have not been specified, Gore's proposal
offers a unique model for reforming political campaign funding and could decrease
the dependency of candidates on large donors and wealthy special interests.
Whether Al Gore is the best messenger for reform is beside the point. What the
reform movement needs is new ideas and Vice President Gore's proposal is a potential
starting block for change.
This is not only a critical
time for all campaign finance reform advocates to reaffirm the call for real
reform measures, but also to vocally denounce phony proposals that would make
the problem worse. Although Gore's proposal is a step forward, the Vice President
has not commented on the Senator Hagel's recent bill (S. 1816) that would triple
all contribution limits and cap national soft money contributions at $60,000.
U.S. PIRG and the reform community have called upon both Vice President Gore
and Governor Bush to oppose the Hagel bill.
The Hagel bill offers no
remedies for our ailing campaign finance system. Allowing the largest donors
to triple their contributions is no cure for a system already awash in money.
Instead contributions should be lowered to an amount ordinary citizens can afford.
All reformers should oppose this anti-reform proposal."
