Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 5, 1995 TAG: 9511030072
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: G-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
``Something really is going to happen this Congress,'' exudes Ann McBride, president of Common Cause, which has lobbied for years to reduce the polluting influence of special-interest and political-action-committee money in the political process.
McBride's optimism may be premature. Next year, after all, is a presidential and congressional election year. Federal lawmakers have never shown a strong willingness to unfeather their own nests.
Still, there's actually a campaign-reform bill that is actually undergoing hearings in the House of Representatives. The measure is pushed by freshmen legislators, many of whom campaigned on a reform platform, and they are threatening rebellion if congressional leaders resort to their usual tricks to block serious consideration of proposed changes.
More important, Congress can't help but notice, via opinion surveys, that the public is in a mood to rebel if Washington continues to stall on limiting the role of money in politics.
The freshmen's initiative has picked up bipartisan support from some senior lawmakers, and has at least gained the attention of congressional nabobs Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole.
On Thursday, House Speaker Gingrich asked President Clinton to join him in creating a bipartisan commission to address not only campaign-finance reform, but also broader matters such as the decline of political parties.
Another study commission? That won't satisfy the pledge to get on with reform, made this past summer by Gingrich and Clinton at a joint appearance in New Hampshire.
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Dole has asked aides to draft reform legislation that can be introduced on the Senate side.
Momentum is no guarantee, of course, that campaign-finance reform won't end up - again - at a dead end. But it's a lot better than standing still.
by CNB