WASHINGTON – As the campaign finance debate continues into its second week, Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins are continuing to press for changes in the law that they say would re-establish the public’s confidence in politics.

“I believe we have an obligation to rid the system even of perceived corruption,” Snowe said on the Senate floor last week. “Any perception that the laws we pass here are somehow tainted only serves to undermine confidence in the system, and ultimately in citizen participation in the process.”

Seen by their colleagues as co-leaders in promoting campaign finance legislation, Snowe and Collins are co-sponsors of the McCain-Feingold bill that seeks to ban unregulated soft-money donations to political parties.

“The fact of the matter is,” Snowe said, “that this money was never intended to help federal candidates for office. It was intended to help to build the strength of parties.”

Already a major part of McCain-Feingold is a provision that Snowe and Sen. James M. Jeffords, R-Vt., first proposed several years ago.

The Snowe-Jeffords provision would require disclosure of individual donations of more than $1,000 for interest group broadcast advertisements that mention the name of a federal candidate and run 30 days before a primary or 60 days before a general election. It would prohibit the use of union or corporate treasury money to pay for these ads.

“These are broadcast ads that masquerade as informational or educational but are really ‘stealth advocacy’ ads for or against candidates,” Snowe said.

A study conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that while “some of the spots focus on legislative issues such as the Patients’ Bill of Rights and prescription drug coverage for Medicare, the majority make claims about candidates.” In addition, the study found that candidates appear in a majority of so-called issue ads and that 84 percent of these ads attack rather than defend a candidate’s record.

“They were attack ads, my friends. Not informational, not comparing records, but attacking,” Snowe said, adding that the people “who clearly run campaign ads” should be required to “play by the campaign finance rules.”

In line with Snowe’s efforts, Collins also has worked on raising disclosure requirements for ads sponsored by the candidates.

The Senate voted last week to add Collins’ “Stand By Your Ad” amendment to McCain-Feingold. The amendment would require that televised political advertisements include a clearly identifiable picture of the candidate and a statement of the candidate’s sponsorship of the ad. In radio ads, candidates would have to identify themselves and the office they are seeking and state that they approved the ad, if they want to qualify for discounted advertising rates.

Snowe and Collins said their amendments do not violate the First Amendment to the Constitution. “It’s not speech rationing, but information – information that the public has a right to know,” Snowe said.

Both senators admitted their amendments will not make McCain-Feingold a “perfect bill,” but said they hoped their efforts will “help elevate the political debate and help curb some of the egregious negative ads that offend all of us,” Collins said.