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When President Clinton comes to town later this week, most people will be talking about his proximity to Monica Lewinsky's alma mater. What they should be discussing is that the president who will be remembered most for abusing campaign-finance laws is coming to Portland to continue the tradition. In a state that regularly congratulates itself for the cleanliness of its politics, the announcement that Gov. John Kitzhaber and Sen. Ron Wyden will help Clinton host a $10,000-per-person "soft money" fund-raiser at either the Benson Hotel or the Tiffany Center is outrageous. The fund-raiser, to be held the night before he gives the commencement speech at Portland State University, will raise money to increase voter participation among Democrats during the November election. "Soft money" is the all-too-polite name for unregulated and unlimited donations to political parties. "Hard money," by contrast, is given directly to candidates and is, by law, limited in amount. (A separate Clinton fund-raiser for Rep. Darlene Hooley is designed to raise hard money.) No one has made better use of the soft-money loophole than Clinton and his political operatives. Just a few weeks ago, for example, the media were filled with stories about the Clinton administration's role in securing a waiver allowing the Loral Space and Communications Co. to export satellites to China--satellites equipped with sensitive technology that could enable the Chinese military to improve the accuracy of its missiles. The waiver, secured despite the objections of the Defense Department, became more controversial with the disclosure that Loral, and its chief executive officer, have made $1,053,000 in soft-money contributions (the vast majority to Democrats) since 1996. Soft money would have been outlawed earlier this year had Congress approved the McCain-Feingold bill, which represented the most significant reform of our electoral system in decades. The bill has been unsuccessful at getting enough votes, but it has been supported by Clinton and, curiously enough, by both Wyden and Kitzhaber. (Wyden voted for McCain-Feingold, and Kitzhaber, according to his campaign, has supported it in principle.) So how do two men who support McCain-Feingold explain their willingness to throw a soft-money party with the biggest party animal of all? "It's an obvious question," says Curtis Robinhold, Kitzhaber's campaign manager. "But until the system changes, you have to operate within the rules of the system." Carol Butler, chairwoman of the Wyden campaign, says, "Ron is working hard to change the system. But you have to play under the rules that govern the system now." A phone call to Ed Davis, who works for Common Cause, brought this unprompted and eerily accurate response: "I know what they will say--that while the system exists, they have to work within the system. But it would be nice for them to take a stand and resist this." We couldn't agree more. As of June 3, Ron Wyden had raised $2,217,000 for
his re-election
campaign. His Republican opponent, John Lim, had raised $135,000. Federal law limits hard-money contributions to $1,000 by an individual and $5,000 by a political action committee to any one congressional or presidential candidate. |
