Snowe the reformer

When campaign finance reform got filibustered to a halt last fall, there was reason to wonder to what extent Sen. Olympia Snowe was torn between her interest in good government and the good graces of her party’s anti-reform leadership.

Now, with the fate of the McCain-Feingold bill to rein in influence peddling and misleading ads to be decided by an up-or-down vote within the next few weeks, a recent compromise offered by Maine’s senior senator makes her position clear. She’s in the reform camp, right where she belongs.

Snowe’s planned amendment, based on a proposal by Nathan Ornstein of the American Enterprise Institute, requires strict disclosure of the funding behind ads aired within 60 days of a general election or primary and prohibits the use of involuntary contributions from union members and corporate shareholders in soft money contributions, those unregulated campaign donations not covered by the Federal Election Campaign Act.

This does two important things. First, it addresses the rather specious First Amendment argument clung to by Sen. Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, who asserts that Americans, especially wealthy Americans, have a constitutional right to bankroll misleading campaign ads. Snowe’s proposal affirms the right to fudge the truth, as long as voters know who’s paying for the fudging.

Second, it puts labor and management on equal footing. Nonvoluntary contributions from union dues and share prices would be subject to the strict limits and guidelines of federal law. Unregulated soft money can come only from voluntary sources, such as political action committees.

This is a significant change from the amendment Snowe offered last fall, which would have placed a much greater burden on unions than on corporations. While that amendment somewhat appeased the corporation-hugging leaders in her party, it was poison to labor-friendly Democrats. The resulting stalemate was a defeat to all except those in the business of buying and selling government.

The architect of that stalemate was Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, that heavy-handed Missisippian who hates campaign finance reform and who will continue to do so until Democrats start raising more soft money than Republicans. In the aftermath of the filibuster debacle, Lott promised a straight up-or-down, majority-takes-all vote by March 6 on his motion to kill McCain-Feingold.

March 6 is fast approaching. In fact, there are rumblings that Lott may spring a quick, unannounced vote as early as this week to catch reformers by surprise. That possibility has Snowe working overtime to pull together the coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats that will be needed to stop Lott’s murderous plan and to produce the 60 votes needed to break a filibuster.

The outcome is far from certain. Lott has the power to reward friends and to punish enemies and he is not the least bit shy about using it. He may prevail again, but at least Maine will know its two senators value clean elecions over partisanship. When the drive to pass McCain-Feingold first got moving last spring, Sen. Susan Collins was the recipient of much well-deserved nationwide praise for her early, party-bucking support. This time around, it may be Snowe’s attention to the nuts-and-bolts details that puts it over the top.