Bush calls for finance reform

By Yael Kohen

Daily Staff Reporter

As Arizona Sen. John McCain gains more voter support in his efforts to reform the campaign finance system, Texas Gov. George W. Bush has been persuaded to announce his own campaign finance reform proposal as the Republican rivals prepare to face off in three critical tests during the next week.

Despite Bush's announcement yesterday, the governor has been discussing the need for campaign finance reform since last summer, Bush campaign spokesman Scott McClellan said.

The proposal includes a stipulation to prevent the use of funds from a previous campaign. The effort to eliminate this "loophole" is directed at McCain, who has redirected funds left over from his 1998 Arizona Senate campaign toward his run for the presidency.

"Americans, when they contribute to a campaign, they're contributing to that campaign for that office," McClellan said.

But McCain campaign officials have defended the senator's use of his previous election funds.

"We don't see a problem with Sen. McCain's actions," McCain campaign spokeswoman Nancy Ives said.

Bush's proposal has provisions to prohibit lobbyists from contributing to federal legislators while Congress is in session and ban unions and corporations from contributing soft money to political parties. Other stipulations prevent the use of union funds to support candidates that an individual paying dues does not support, allow individuals and groups to run issue ads and require candidates to fully disclose campaign contributions on the Internet.

Bush was the first candidate to disclose all of his fundraising information on the Internet, McClellan said.

The proposal "is the standard Republican position on campaign finance reform," University political science Prof. Chris Achen said. "This is not a serious proposal."

Bush's provision preventing unions from contributing funds attacks the Democratic Party's fundraising tactics, Achen said. Similar efforts have been made by Republicans, but "it was so contentious it was dropped," he said.

Officials from the McCain campaign are skeptical of Bush's announcement, which comes within a week of the South Carolina, Michigan and Arizona primaries.

The Texas governor's plan does not include a ban on all soft money donations, which is a major difference between the proposals laid out by the two candidates, Ives said.

"His plan falls short of anything resembling reform, but Sen. McCain welcomes him to the debate," Ives said.

Bush "has been the principle beneficiary of the current campaign finance laws," Achen said.

"I think Gov. Bush is clearly feeling the heat," said Ives, who called the announcement "a last minute ploy to try to feign support for reform without putting any real muscle behind it."

"This is a sign that the Bush campaign believes that campaign finance reform is a real issue," Achen said.

McCain has been outspoken in his efforts to reform campaign finance laws as a senator and during his run for the White House.

"The Bush campaign has been very reactive in ways that have not been helpful to them," Achen said.

Rather than react to an issue that McCain vigorously supports, Achen said, it would be more effective to bring up issues such as education that McCain is weak on. Bush has been effective at reforming education in Texas, he said.

"There has been a lot of Republican criticism about the way (Bush's) campaign has been run," Achen said.