McCain gently scolds Bush for soft money funds

Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain cautiously criticized Gov. George W. Bush yesterday for failing to join Vice President Al Gore in embracing a challenge to forswear the use of unregulated "soft" money in the upcoming election.

But McCain, speaking on CNN's "Late Edition," directed his toughest comments at Gore's "disgraceful and reprehensible" behavior in chasing so-called soft money for the Democratic ticket during the 1996 election.

His remarks underscore the potential danger that campaign financing issues pose for both candidates in Tuesday's presidential debate.

Gore is vulnerable because of his association with 1996 campaign finance abuses by his party and Bush because he opposes the ban of unlimited donations of soft money from wealthy individuals.

The Arizona Republican's delicate treatment of Bush's rebuff indicates that McCain understands the authority he has to call Bush to task - and that he's hesitant to do so during these pivotal days before the candidates' first debate.

The unwillingness of McCain, one of campaign finance reform's poster boys, emphasizes how political considerations protect soft money despite all of the campaign rhetoric calling for its abolition.

The parties have raised record amounts of soft money this year. Data released from the Federal Election Commission at the beginning

September showed that the parties had already received $252 million in soft money donations, $12 million more than they received in the whole election cycle in 1996. And those figures did not include the most recent months of contributions.

McCain and Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), the Democratic standard-bearer for campaign finance reform, challenged all candidates for federal office to follow the example of the candidates for the New York Senate seat, Republican Rep. Rick Lazio and first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, a Democrat. Following a challenge by Lazio, the two candidates agreed to direct their parties and independent supporters not to use soft money - the large unregulated checks from wealthy individuals, corporations, labor unions and independent groups - to pay for advertisements to try to influence the race.

So far the response to the McCain-Feingold challenge has been slow.

But Gore, who has admitted that he is an "imperfect messenger" for campaign finance reform, wrote McCain and Feingold on Wednesday: "I agree with you that our campaigns should act now, jointly, to end this scourge and clean up the system now.

"There really is no excuse for tolerating things as they are, when leaders of both parties could join with you two to change things right now," he wrote.

Bush stonewalled, saying he did not "trust" Gore. He questioned Gore's credibility on the issue because of his role in the Democratic Party's 1996 fund-raising abuses, when the Democratic National Committee illegally accepted foreign money (and had to return it) and the White House was roundly criticized for offering sleepovers in the Lincoln bedroom and other privileges for big soft-money contributions.

Bush has repeatedly criticized Gore for failing to give adequate explanations for attending a fund-raising event at the Hsi Lai Buddhist temple in Hacienda Heights, Calif., which led to the conviction of a fund-raiser for illegally disguising donations from that event.

"I didn't agree with Governor Bush's decision, but I also agree with Governor Bush there is a credibility problem," McCain said on CNN.