Straight Talk on Campaign Finance \"Reform\"

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By Rep. Bob Barr

Special to Roll Call Daily

For those of us who care deeply about the Constitution and the principle
of freedom of speech, it was heartening to hear Sen. Mitch McConnell
(R-KY) tell the American people this weekend that he believes at least
40 Senators also care about those principles. That\'s enough to stop
so-called campaign-finance \"reform\" dead in its tracks.

For all the shameless rhetoric, political pandering and baseless New
York Times editorials in support of such \"reform\" legislation, what
this debate really comes down to is the value we place on our
constitutional freedoms and the extent to which we are willing to
protect them from those seeking political advantage at their expense.

Unfortunately, freedom lost last week, when 240 House Members, including
41 Republicans, decided that protecting their place in Congress and
standing in the eyes of The New York Times was more important than
protecting the Constitution. They fell prey to the hypocritical
preaching of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and the ivory-tower editorial
writers at our national newspapers.

Ultimately, it is obvious they realized the best way to ensure
re-election was to silence any voices of opposition. In doing so, they
put politics ahead of principle, and their own self-interests ahead of
the people they were elected to represent.

This was wrong, and I sincerely hope McConnell and his allies will be
successful in exposing the hypocrisy of the \"Straight-Talk Express\" as
a deliberate effort to silence talk by anyone other than wealthy
candidates, incumbent politicians and editorial writers. The legislation
is designed specifically to boost the candidacies of multimillionaire
politicians, like McCain, who can fund their own campaigns, while
silencing citizen organizations, such as the National Rifle Association
and Right to Life, which rely on millions of grassroots, voluntary
donors.

In fact, speaking of hypocrisy, one could not help but notice the irony
last week as McCain and Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT), his House
counter-part, rallied against \"Washington special-interests\" before
the television cameras, while employing a Washington special-interest
organization, Common Cause, to draft their legislation behind the
scenes.

The sheer audacity of this effort was matched only by their attempts to
link the Enron scandal as a reason to support their legislation. Only in
Washington could massive campaign contributions to politicians of both
parties from a company mired in scandal such as Enron serve as a call
for \"reform\" legislation that does not even address such contributions
or scandal.

If McCain is truly sincere about giving the American people \"straight
talk,\" he should finally be clear about what his legislation entails.
Under his bill, Americans could actually be sent to jail for airing
their thoughts on a particular candidate or policy issue. Our First
Amendment right to free speech will be replaced with new clauses: \"Free
speech except for the 90 days before an election\" and \"Except if you
have sufficient personal wealth to buy TV air time yourself.\"

Unfortunately, McCain and his good friends in the national media have
not been \"straight\" with the American people on this issue for several
years, so I\'m not holding my breath for them to change now. I am,
however, fully supporting efforts by McConnell to kill this bill in the
Senate or, ultimately, before the Supreme Court. Fortunately, America\'s
Founding Fathers are on our side. I hope President Bush is too.

***Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA) serves on the Government Reform Committee.***