Wertheimer: “Reported Possible “Compromise” on McConnell Rider Would Destroy Candidate Contribution Limits”

 

According to an article in today’s Washington Post on the omnibus spending legislation currently being negotiated:

Campaign finance could be another area of compromise. Conservatives worry that the proposed changes would give greater electoral control to mainstream party leaders. Aides said the campaign finance rule could possibly be adapted to ease those concerns by including language that would allow the rule to apply to potential third party committees that might be created in the future.

This so-called “compromise” would have the effect of destroying the candidate contribution limits enacted to prevent the corruption of federal officeholders.

The so-called “compromise” rider is an unmitigated disaster and certainly does nothing to make an already unacceptable McConnell rider in any way acceptable. The “compromise” proposal is the path to a much greater destruction of the campaign finance laws by Senate Majority Leader McConnell than he is already attempting.

The approach being proposed would allow candidates to legally coordinate with – in other words effectively control – the spending of unlimited contributions by Super PACs and the spending of unlimited and secret contributions by nonprofit “social welfare” groups.

In other words, this proposal is the same as effectively allowing unlimited contributions to be given directly to a candidate. In essence, the proposal would allow a candidate to completely bypass the $2,700 limit on the amount a donor can give to a candidate for an election.

President Obama, House Democratic Leader Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Reid must stop the McConnell amendment in its tracks and without any compromises. They simply must not join with McConnell in destroying the nation’s campaign finance laws.

The President and congressional Democratic leaders also must block the three other damaging campaign finance riders pending in the appropriation legislation from being included in the omnibus spending bill enacted into law.

In the last Congress, a last minute campaign finance rider snuck into the Chromnibus appropriations bill and signed into law did enormous damage to the party contribution limits.

President Obama, House Democratic Leader Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Reid must not allow any further damage to be done to the campaign finance laws by accepting any campaign finance riders in the omnibus spending bill enacted this year.