[Mb-civic] Chipping Away at Campaign Reform - David Broder - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Chipping Away at Campaign Reform

By David S. Broder
Thursday, September 1, 2005; Page A29

Despite what you may have heard, it's not true that Democrats and 
Republicans in Washington can't agree on anything.

In July, they united in passing a $286 billion transportation bill that 
busted through President Bush's supposed spending ceiling and provided 
goodies that almost every member of Congress could brag about at home.

If there is one cause that motivates the politicians more than the 
pursuit of pork, it is the protection of their own custom-made 
districts, shaped by computers and backroom negotiations to spare them 
the inconvenience of competition on Election Day.

California is the prime example of this bipartisan conspiracy to 
entrench incumbents. The largest delegation in the House -- 53 members 
strong -- is almost completely insulated from involuntary change, thanks 
to a deal the delegation's key Republicans negotiated with the 
Democratic legislature in Sacramento when lines were being drawn after 
the 2000 Census.

But Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has threatened to upset the 
cozy arrangement by sponsoring a November ballot initiative that would 
take redistricting authority away from the legislature and hand it to a 
panel of retired judges.

Naturally, the California representatives, regardless of party, see this 
as a threat. With Schwarzenegger free under California law to raise 
millions to support this and other initiatives, the House members wanted 
to raise a kitty to fight him.

But they ran into a little snag. The campaign finance law they passed in 
2002, known as the McCain-Feingold bill, banned federal officials from 
soliciting unlimited "soft money" contributions "in connection with any 
election." That meant that while Schwarzenegger, as a state official, 
could go for the big money, these poor members of Congress whose careers 
were in jeopardy would be limited to a few thousand bucks per donor.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/31/AR2005083102598.html?nav=hcmodule
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