Editorial: Campaign finance bill clears a hurdle

Thursday, Sept. 16, 1999 | 10:13 a.m.

The vote Tuesday on campaign finance reform wasn't even close, as Republicans joined Democrats to produce a 252-177 margin to ban the use of "soft money," the unlimited contributions that businesses, unions and wealthy individuals make to political parties in an effort to skirt federal election laws placing limits on donations to candidates.

The bill now heads to the GOP-controlled Senate, which last year refused to allow a vote. It's easy to understand why the Republican leadership gets indigestion when reform is mentioned: The Associated Press reports that the Republican National Committee chairman and the head of the House GOP campaign committee met with lawmakers last month and told them that Republicans had a $40 million advantage in soft money over Democrats in the last election. This is a time, though, when Republicans should set aside partisan concerns and do the right thing. If Congress fails to reform campaign finance laws it will deepen the public's cynicism that only big-money interests are listened to by lawmakers.