Baldacci backs election process study Maine congressman awaits introduction of campaign finance reform bill

WASHINGTON – U.S. Rep. John E. Baldacci has taken the initiative to support legislation that would revamp the federal election process in the aftermath of the controversial vote in Florida.

Baldacci, who is co-sponsoring a measure drafted for Rep. Peter A. DeFazio, D-Ore., is the only member of the Maine delegation – in the opening weeks of the Congress – to push any legislation as a sponsor or co-sponsor. His name is affiliated with three measures.

Ironically, Baldacci had touted a fourth measure – campaign finance reform – as the first initiative he would undertake, saying he would co-sponsor a bill with Reps. Marty Meehan, D-Mass., and Christopher Shays, R-Conn. However, nearly two weeks after his public support for the measure, it still had not been introduced by any member.

“I don’t know why that happened,” said Baldacci spokesman Doug Dunbar on Monday. “I don’t know if it didn’t get numbered or didn’t get introduced or what.”

The bill (HR 57) that Baldacci put his name on first would set up a 12-member Federal Election Review Commission to study the federal election process and make recommendations to Congress. The measure is pending before the House Administration Committee along with a plethora of similar bills introduced primarily by Democrats.

Baldacci also has decided to support a measure by a conservative Rep. Ralph M. Hall of Texas to amend the Social Security Act to allow workers who reached age 65 after 1981 and before 1992 to choose either lump-sum payments over four years totaling $5,000 or an improved benefit computation formula. The proposal is part of the way the government is managing Social Security in the aftermath of 1977 amendments to the law. That bill is before the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Budget Committee.

The third measure backed by Baldacci would amend the Public Health Service Act, Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to bar group and individual health plans from imposing treatment limitations or financial requirements on the coverage of mental health benefits. The bill also would limit the coverage of substance abuse and chemical dependency benefits if similar limitations were not imposed on medical and surgical benefits.

That bill, sponsored by Rep. Marge Roukema, R-N.J., is pending before Ways and Means, as well as the House Energy and Commerce Committee and House Education and the Workforce Committee.

The goal of the election commission would be to study the Electoral College, its impact on presidential elections and whether it should be retained. The bill would require the panel to study the proportional allocation of electors within states.

In Maine and Nebraska, electors are allocated by congressional district rather than statewide in a winner-take-all system.

The panel also would have as its charge studying:

. Voter registration, including same-day registration, universal registration, motor voter registration and the accuracy of voter registration rolls;

. Ballot access, including hurdles parties must overcome to be placed on ballots, the role of mail-in balloting and the distinction between mail-in and absentee balloting;

. Ballot design and technology, including the impact of the design, advantages and disadvantages of technologies (including voting through the Internet), the feasibility of uniform national ballot design and the use of foreign language ballots;

. Election-Day polling-place issues, including closing times, number and accessibility of polling places, training of poll workers and voter education;

. Feasibility of changing to multiple-day elections, weekend elections, early voting options and limiting campaign activities (including advertising and fundraising);

. The funding of federal elections also would come under study.

The yet-to-be introduced campaign finance measure – the so called Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act – still has Baldacci’s support, Dunbar said. It is designed to offer a House version parallel to Senate legislation promoted by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Russ Feingold, R-Wis.

The legislation is designed to curb the flow of so-called soft money to political parties and to crack down on campaign advertisements that evade regulations by “pretending” to be advocacy messages, Baldacci said.

“Campaign finance reform legislation is long overdue,” Baldacci said Jan. 3 in promoting his support for the Meehan-Shays plan. “I am hopeful that its time has finally come.”