The Shays-Meehan campaign finance reform bill would reduce the direct influence of money on future elections, but the inequities favoring incumbents will remain. The measure will make issue advocacy difficult for grass-roots organizations. Shays-Meehan prevents candidates from circumventing official campaign spending limits by using soft money. This is what the Democratic National Committee did in 1996 with TV ads featuring President Clinton. The ads increased his air time without adding to official campaign expenditures.
Soft money allows unlimited contributions to political parties.
Direct contributions, or hard money, have strict limits on how much can be contributed and how much can be spent. The legislation also prevents parties from giving money to nonprofit groups to engage in local electoral and issue advocacy. The funding of these efforts to strengthen participation in political parties should not be tied to legislation aimed at large contributors. TV ads paid for by independent parties with soft money have increased dramatically in the 1990s. This qualifies as issue advocacy under Supreme Court standards and is not covered under campaign law.