wfn.org | Seek election campaign finance reform

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3008 notes).

Note 3008 by UMNS on June 12, 1996 at 15:46 Eastern (4191 characters).

SEARCH:   election, campaign, finance, reform, Congress

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Contact:  Joretta Purdue                          294(10-71){3008}
          Washington, D.C.  (202) 546-8722            May 12, 1996

Varied group seeks reform
in election campaign financing

by Shanta M. Bryant*

     WASHINGTON (UMNS) -- On the one-year anniversary of "The
Handshake" agreement between President Bill Clinton and House
Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) to reform campaign finances, a
diverse group called on the U.S. Congress June 11 to pass proposed
legislation to "clean up Congress."
     The group -- including religious leaders, lawmakers, advocacy
groups and average citizens -- asked Clinton and Gingrich to act
on an agreement they made and shook hands on at a public forum in
New Hampshire. Their agreement was to form a bipartisan commission
to work toward campaign finance reform.
     Mark Harrison, a United Methodist Board of Church and Society
program director, related that congressional leaders who accept
large campaign contributions often are obliged to support the
issues of their donors.
     "As the United Methodist Church advocates for a number of
issues, we often run into powerful special interest groups with
big bucks that influence legislation against what we are
attempting to achieve," Harrison said.
     The Bipartisan Clean Congress Act would reduce special
interest contributions, develop spending limits, establish free
and reduced-cost broadcast time and ban Political Action Committee
(PAC) contributions.
     According to Ann McBride, president of Common Cause, a
citizens' lobbying organization that seeks accountability in
government, the proposed act is the first bipartisan campaign
finance reform legislation to be introduced jointly in the Senate
and House of Representatives.
     A coalition of religious organizations, including the Board
of Church and Society, sent a late-May letter to senators urging
their support of the proposed bill.
     The religious leaders wrote that congressional members must
lead in all efforts to restore public trust in the election
process for public officials.
     "The erosion of public faith in our electoral system leads to
the current corrosive public cynicism that extends beyond the
elections process to the government in general," the letter
stressed.
     Critics of the present campaign financing structure say that
pertinent issues -- including health care and environmental
legislation, welfare reform, gun control, Medicaid and Medicare --
have been "hijacked" by major corporations, lobby groups and
wealthy contributors.
     "You need both hands to get the job done," said Linda Smith
(R-Wash.), a sponsor of the House legislation. "Right now, members
of Congress have one hand on the voting button and the other hand
extended for special interest cash."
     Frank McConnell, the New Hampshire resident who asked the
nation's leaders the question about reforming campaign financing,
said that instead of a commission, President Clinton and Speaker
Gingrich should enact the proposed congressional campaign reform
laws.
     Congressional candidates from both political parties are
holding "big-donor soft money fund-raisers" and have courted
industries, including the gambling industry, for millions of
dollars, lamented McBride. She said there is still time for
Congress to enact real reform this year.
     Harrison added that the passage of proposed legislation would
"level the playing field so that the everyday person will have a
say." He urged United Methodist to contact their representatives
and implore them to pass the Bipartisan Clean Congress Act (Senate
Bill 1219 and House Bill 2566).
                              #  #  #
     * Bryant is associate editor of Christian Social Action and
program director of communications for the United Methodist Board
of Church and Society.   

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