Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 24, 1990 TAG: 9004240082
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short
"Our federally elected officials have so rigged the process that they are impossible to unseat," said Harold Coker, a Chattanooga, Tenn., Republican who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1988.
His complaint was the central theme at a meeting of the Coalition to End the Permanent Congress, a grass-roots organization formed in protest of the 1988 elections, in which 98.5 percent of House incumbents seeking re-election were successful.
Coker was one of about three dozen congressional candidates, some seeking office this year and others having lost earlier contests, to attend the meeting.
The coalition members, representing at least 18 states, advocated a lengthy list of reform proposals. Among them were a ban on taxpayer-paid mass mailings by members of Congress; prohibiting lawmakers from accepting honoraria or speaking fees; eliminating political action committees, which contribute mostly to campaigns of incumbents; and imposing a 12-year limit on how long members can serve in the House and the Senate.
The coalition's assault on incumbency came as the Senate prepared to consider legislation to overhaul the system of financing congressional campaigns.
by CNB