Reform challenge

Though still a favorite topic of consumer-interest groups and editorialists, campaign-finance reform has slipped from the public’s outrage list, if it ever occupied a place there. That’s too bad, because Congress is as close as it has ever been to passing meaningful reform at a time when it is sorely needed.

After several years of inaction from Congress and growing scandals involving misused campaign funds, the House passed legislation this summer banning soft money. That’s the money that can be collected in unlimited amounts and is supposed to be used for party-building events, such as get-out-the-vote drives. Often, however, it is used to help a specific candidate directly. It is one of the reasons Vice President Al Gore may be in hot water with the Justice Department.

Banning soft money would go a long way toward taking away the incentive for politicians to cater to big spenders. The theory being: No large donations, no large favors. Opponents of reform raise consitutional questions about limiting money (which they regard as speech), but donation limits on hard money — the traceable money that candidates are allowed to receive — already have been upheld as legal.

The real remaining question on the soft-money ban is, Can Senate supporters persuade several Republican senators to join Democrats and a few Republicans to support the legislation? Supporters include GOP Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, who will be called upon to cajole, nudge, importune and trade favors with colleagues who currently are on the the “No” side of the question but aren’t so far over that they cannot be reached. Just getting three or four to switch sides could be enough to scare the remainder into changing their votes out of fear of being caught on the wrong side of this issue.

The sad truth is that the volume coming from Kenneth Starr’s office easily could drown out the significance of the reform vote. Getting the public and press to focus and build pressure for reform may be more difficult than getting the anti-reform senators to change their votes.