Start with reform

With new supporters, a filibuster-beating head count and momentum on his side, Sen. John McCain says he will make campaign finance reform the Senate’s first business after the presidential inauguration. President Bush, though cool on the subject, would do well to listen to the Arizona senator on this one.

So would the senator’s Senate colleagues. Not because campaign reform is intrinsically more important than any of several other items that could go first, such as prescription drugs coverage or education. As a matter of public perception, though, there is nothing more vital.

The nation has just been through an extraordinarily expensive campaign and an unbelievably ugly aftermath. For reasons too familiar to require elaboration, the public now has reason to question not just the extent to which money influences politics, but the essential fairness of the actual voting process. It will only get uglier as investigations of voting practices proceed – not just in Florida – and as lawsuits alleging constitutional violations mount. It is likely that those investigations and lawsuits will reveal a lot of sloppiness and some measure of outright fraud and intentional illegality by local and state elections officials of both parties.

Neither Congress nor the White House can undo the damage already done, neither should even attempt to cover it up or minimize its importance. What they must do is act vigorously to correct the deep flaws now exposed. Some of this, such as modernizing creaky old voting procedures, will take time and a considerable public investment.

But in just 18 months, the nation will again be in the midst of another election campaign, this one for the control of Congress. The creaky old procedures will still be with us, so it is crucial that the voters of 2002 be assured that progress is being made, that Congress recognizes the need for reform in all aspects of American elections.

The McCain-Feingold campaign finance legislation can provide immediate assurance. It has been thoroughly debated the last two Congresses, it has been held up only by procedural shenanigans. The widely endorsed Snowe-Jeffords amendment addresses the important issue of advocacy ads. The lingering question of whether the money of union members and shareholders can be used without their explicit consent can be answered another day.

President-elect Bush’s coolness toward reform may have more to do with unfamiliarity with the subject than with staunch opposition. True, the decision to fund inaugural events with large donations of up to $100,000 is a misstep, but the pledge made by Commerce Secretary designate Donald Evans that he will separate donor lists from Commerce trade missions and policy decisions is a welcome sign that at least some in the new administration recognize the problem. Gov. Bush campaigned as a Washington outsider – that is no reason to ignore the sound advice of insiders such as Sen. McCain.