Editorial: Campaign finance reform is in trouble

Republican House members who favor campaign finance reform met last Wednesday with Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., in an effort to get a vote soon on this issue. But more than 20 Republicans could not budge Hastert, who would only agree to hold a vote by September. Hastert is following the course set by former Speaker Newt Gingrich. Eventually Gingrich allowed a vote in 1998 on the measure that would ban the unregulated donations made to political parties. The bill then passed easily in the House, but Gingrich's delays ensured it came so late in the congressional calendar that the measure had no chance in the Senate, where it faced a threatened filibuster.

Republicans have tried to work with the new speaker and not embarrass him by publicly calling for a vote. But the honeymoon is over. If Republicans are sincere about overhauling the nation's campaign finance laws, then it is time for them to join with Democrats and sign a special petition that will guarantee a timely vote on this critical legislation before it meets the same fate the legislation did last year.

archive