Campaign reform bill limits free speech

Few would deny that allowing special interests to "buy" elected officials' support is a horrific abuse of our trust. Officials are elected to serve all of their constituents, not simply those who can afford to pay for support. The heat has most recently been on President Clinton for "renting" stays in the historic Lincoln Bedroom of the White House to large contributors. This is inexcusable.

Equally inexcusable, however, are the abuses by Republicans and Democrats in Congress. A survey done by the Center for Responsive Politics shows that those officials consistently voted in the interests of their biggest donors on 42 selected issues, including farming subsidies, timber salvage, oil export, and telecommunications.

Numerous other examples are in the papers almost daily because such conduct is rampant. For our own protection, we must now firmly instruct our officials to make laws to hold themselves to higher standards.

We can see that people will reach the standards set for them. We have shown politicians that we expect them to be crooked, and indeed they often are corrupt. A better way is to contact them, so they know that we are paying attention, and insist that they represent our concerns on whatever legislation is before them. It follows that if expecting less has failed, expecting more can only be an improvement.

For example, to oppose this campaign reform bill, I called the Capitol at 1-800-962-3524, and left a message of protest with the office staff of my senator, McCain. I also contacted him with an explanation via e-mail at Senator_McCain@mccain.senate.gov.

Completing both actions took me about 10 minutes. Even if McCain does not respond (though his office staff sometimes does), he has been made aware that his actions are being monitored. This is far more powerful if numerous constituents do the same thing.

We can see, then, that the job of reforming politics is one for both ourselves and our officials. Therefore, the key problem with the McCain campaign reform bill is truly that we are partially removed from the process.

In particular, his bill has a provision which limits "issue advocacy" in terms of narrowing its definition, and restricting related expenditures in important time periods. Currently, only "express advocacy" of candidates is regulated.

McCain justifies placing restrictions on "issue advocacy" as well because he claims that many commercials labeled as such are really veiled "express advocacy" to elect or defeat certain candidates. Perhaps this section of the bill is designed to appear as a plea for a much needed dose of civility and practicality, but the hidden cost is too high.

In effect, the regulations he would impose would prevent groups from exercising their free speech rights through the distribution of issue-related voter guides, etc. This hurts us all, whether we wish to protect red squirrels or pre-born babies, taxes or trade. One of our best tools for enacting legislation we support is allying with people of the same mind to elect candidates who respect their constituents.

Citizens enabling themselves through advocacy are in a world apart from businesses, like the tobacco and defense industries, which "donate" through political action committees (PACs), often trying to protect their business interests at a high cost to society. Beneficial reform recognizes this important difference, and does not restrict appropriate citizens' rights. Rather, it eliminates the true problem of inappropriate bribery by businesses.

Therefore, the general spirit of McCain's campaign reform bill should be preserved and used in future reform efforts. Meanwhile, we need to keep our wits about us and protest flawed bills like this one.

Kristen Roberts is a pre-education sophomore who believes that the right to free speech, used intelligently, results in a society able to sort enduring truths from dated lies. Her column, 'Life in Balance,' appears every other Thursday. Her homepage can be found at http://www.u.arizona.edu/~knr.

By Kristen Roberts (columnist)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
March 6, 1997