Enron Renews Interest In Campaign Finance
By Kelly Field
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23–With members of Congress rushing to return campaign contributions they received from Enron Corp., the authors of a perennial bill to ban “soft-money” contributions say they’re confident that this will be their year.
Rep. Marty Meehan (D-5th), co-sponsor of the Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform bill, said the Enron debacle has reinvigorated his cause by renewing the debate on influence peddling in Washington. Enron was one of the nation’s biggest political contributors, giving more than $5.77 million to campaigns over the past 12 years, much of it in unregulated, unlimited soft money.
Critics say that Enron and powerful auditing agencies like Arthur Andersen “bought” access to the administration and Congress, using their campaign contributions to achieve electricity deregulation, lax auditing standards and corporate tax breaks.
“Enron was a classic reminder of how soft money buys access and undermines public confidence in democracy,” Meehan said.
Enron “put a human face” on the bill, said Jeff Cronin, a campaign finance reform advocate with Common Cause. “It showed that influence-peddling isn’t a victimless crime.”
Though the Senate approved a similar bill last year, the Shays-Meehan measure has stalled in the House, where Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) has refused to consider the bill unless he is compelled to by a discharge petition signed by an absolute majority of the House. The petition is now only three signatures shy of the 218 it needs to force a vote, with Rep.Corrinne Brown (D-FL) citing the Enron case as she added her name to the list of signers.
Hastert conceded yesterday that the bill’s supporters are likely to reach their goal. He also indicated that he wouldn’t resort to extraordinary measures to block the petition effort. “I think eventually it’s going to happen,” he said in an Associated Press interview. “Nobody is going to suborn the rules of the House.”
Meehan said he expects to receive the remaining signatures “within” a week, pointing to 10 members who have supported campaign finance reform in the past and are now on the fence. One of these members is Congressman Charles Bass (R-N.H.), who has said he would sign the petition if the Speaker refused to bring the bill to the floor under the regular order.
“I plan to meet soon with [Hastert] and urge him to bring the bill to the floor for a fair vote,” Bass said. “But I am not ruling out signing the discharge petition.”
Bass is the only New Hampshire member to support the bill, and one of only 19 House Republicans to do so. All of the Massachusetts members have signed the discharge petition except Democrat Richard E. Neal, who has committed to being the 218th signatory if only two more signatures can be obtained. Neal, like Bass, opposes the use of discharge petitions, said William Tranghese, Neal’s press secretary. But “he made an exception because the issue is so important.”
President Bush has denied that Enron exerted any influence over his administration, saying that government officials rejected appeals from Enron’s leaders to bail out the company. But proponents of campaign finance say that the Enron scandal has tarnished the government regardless, causing an erosion of public confidence in the political system.
The Shays-Meehan bill, supporters say, would help Congress distance itself from the Enron scandal.
“Members of Congress are going to want to put some daylight between themselves and the finance system that contributed to this problem,” Common Cause’s Cronin said.
Published in The Eagle-Tribune, in Lawrence, Mass.
