Free Air Time: The Continuing Reform Battle

Abstract

171 IN THE SPRING OF 2002, Congress passed and President Bush signed into law the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002,1 the most comprehensive attempt at reforming federal campaign finance laws since the Federal Election Campaign Act was enacted and amended in the 1970s. Most significantly, the Reform Act bans “soft money,” the political donations from labor unions, corporations, and unlimited contributions from individuals that present the greatest potential to corrupt the workings of our government. It also puts teeth back into laws long on the books that required corporations and unions to use only limited and disclosed “hard money” contributions to finance campaign advertisements proximate to federal elections. Corporations and unions had been evading these laws by using their treasury funds to finance campaign advertisements masquerading as “issue discussion.” It took seven years to secure the enactment of the Reform Act—and the fight to ban soft money did not end with its signature into law. Indeed, we are currently waging a two-front war to protect the new law and ensure that its purposes are served. One front is at the Federal Election Commission (FEC), where a number of party-backed Commissioners have written implementation regulations that run contrary to the law’s language and intent and re-created aspects of the soft money system. My long-time Senate partner in fighting for campaign finance reform, U.S. Senator Russell Feingold (D-WI), has joined me in filing legislation to overturn the FEC’s loophole-ridden soft money rules.2 Separately, our House counterparts, U.S. Congressmen Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Marty Meehan (D-MA), have filed suit to repeal the FEC soft money rules.3 The other front is before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which is hearing the constitutional challenges to the Reform Act brought by roughly 80 separate plaintiffs, consolidated into one case, McConnell v. FEC.4 Upon appeal from the U.S. District Court, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the case. Throughout the effort to pass the Reform Act, I have often stated that this legislation is just the first step towards restoring trust and confidence in our political system and eliminating the actuality and perception of corruption in politics. Other reforms are clearly needed. Reform of the Federal Election Commission is desperately needed to ensure that federal campaign finance law is enforced by an