wfn.org | Speakers connect social ills to campaign finance concerns

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

June 16, 2000 News media contact: Joretta Purdue ·(202) 546-8722·Washington
10-71B{277}

WASHINGTON (UMNS) - Individual taxpayers and families are paying the high
cost of several social ills, and political campaign contributions from four
industries are part of the problem, according to representatives of
social-action organizations.

Two United Methodists were among several speakers at a June 15 press
conference who spoke out about issues related to tobacco, guns, gambling and
alcohol regulation. The press conference was hosted by Common Cause, a
non-partisan citizens' organization, and coincided with the group's release
of "Paying the Price," a study of trends in political contributions and
lobbying costs. It details how much money each member of Congress has
accepted from those various industries from Jan. 1, 1993, through Dec. 31,
1999.

"The General Board of Church and Society, the international social justice
and advocacy agency of the United Methodist Church, is very concerned when
money from companies or organizations that sell or promote tobacco, alcohol,
gambling or guns is given to political parties or politicians," said the
Rev. Thom White Wolf Fassett, the board's top staff executive, in a
statement brought by the Rev. Erik Alsgaard.

Alsgaard told of the contest between gambling interests in Michigan and
opponents, including United Methodist individuals and organizations. The
denomination opposes gambling. In three referendums, gambling opponents
successfully defeated a move to create casinos in the Detroit area. However,
after an expensive advertising and lobbying campaign, the gambling industry
won the fourth referendum with 51 percent of the vote.

The changes wrought by that vote have had public and private consequences,
Alsgaard said. Two of three planned casinos are open, but the third is not.
Detroit, which has built its budget on the expectation of three being open,
has experienced a $1 million shortfall, he said. In January, an off-duty
policeman ran up a one-day debt of between $15,000 and $20,000 and shot
himself to death at a blackjack table, Alsgaard added.

United Methodist layman Michael K. Beard, president of the Coalition to Stop
Gun Violence, said the upcoming election would be a chance to see which is
more powerful - the millions of dollars from the gun lobby or the million
moms who vote, a reference to the Million Mom March on Mother's Day. The
march, aimed at stopping gun-related violence, has become an ongoing
campaign.

"Americans are demanding responsible action from our elected representatives
to reduce firearm death and injury," Beard declared. "Yet, instead of
enacting the will of the overwhelming number of people who support tough gun
control laws, Congress has become beholden to the gun lobby and its money."

Matthew L. Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, observed
that tobacco is the biggest lobbyist among the four social concerns
represented at the press conference. "Since 1997, Big Tobacco's lobbying
operations spent $120.5 million, more than twice as much as the gun lobby,
the gambling lobby and the alcohol lobby combined," he said.

Myers stressed that in the current Congress, four riders have been attached
to four separate pieces of legislation by four different committee chairs in
attempts to cut off funding for the Justice Department's work in recovering
millions from the tobacco companies. The department is trying to recover
money for health-related expenses incurred by government agencies such as
Medicare.

"The good news is that fewer members of Congress are taking tobacco money,"
Myers said. However, contributions to political parties - which are
unlimited - "have skyrocketed and have become even more partisan," he said.
These "soft money" contributions averaged $2.68 million for each of the two
congressional election cycles at the beginning of the decade but soared to
$6.1 million for the each of the 1995/1996 and 1997/1998 cycles, he said. 

This year's tobacco industry soft money contributions, already approaching
$2 million, are more skewed than in earlier election cycles, with 86 percent
of the contributions going to the Republican Party -- more than six times as
much as to Democrats, he said.

"Money in politics matters in people's everyday lives," declared Scott
Harshbarger, president of Common Cause. One way Americans "are paying the
price of a corrupting campaign finance system is in terms of public health,"
he said. He cited the costs of treating smoking-related illnesses, deaths
from handgun violence, expenses to society from problem gambling and
thousands of deaths from alcohol-related traffic accidents.

Harshbarger noted one overriding statistic: More than $268 million in
campaign and lobbying expenditures were made since 1989 by tobacco, gun,
gambling and alcohol interests. "If you look at what has happened in
Congress on these issues - which is not a lot, by and large - it looks like
this money has had a tremendous impact."

The study is available at the Common Cause Web site: www.commoncause.org.
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United Methodist News Service
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