Editorial: McConnell’s attacks take toll on reform

Thursday, Oct. 21, 1999 | 9:23 a.m.

In the end, Sen. Mitch McConnell's crusade to block campaign finance reform was successful. The Kentucky Republican spared no weapons in his arsenal to defeat the plan that would ban soft money, the unregulated contributions that corporations, unions and the wealthy make to political parties. This summer McConnell sent threatening letters to executives belonging to the Committee for Economic Development, a business group supporting campaign finance reform, in an effort to strong-arm them into renouncing their views.

Then last week McConnell took to the floor of the Senate and unleashed a personal broadside against Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. McConnell attacked the co-sponsor of the reform legislation for suggesting that money has had a corrupting influence in politics. Most people -- even those who oppose limits on campaign fund-raising based on constitutional concerns -- acknowledge that big contributions have had a corrosive effect on politics, encouraging the cynical belief that politicians ignore those who don't make large contributions. McConnell insults the intelligence of the American people when he insists that the existing torrent of donations hasn't been damaging.

Campaign finance reform had widespread support in the House -- 252 to 177 -- and a majority in the Senate backed similar legislation, but proponents couldn't muster the 60 votes in the Senate needed to end a filibuster. Instead the current broken-down system will continue to spin out of control, as special interest groups with huge amounts of cash will be able to bend the political system to their advantage.