Representative Marty Meehan (D-MA) spoke to students Tuesday in support of the Shays-Meehan bill which centers on a ban of soft-money. On Wednesday, the Senate passed a synthesis of the Shays-Meehan bill and the McCain-Feingold bill, another campaign finance reform bill which originated in the Senate.
This is the last stage a bill must go through before it reaches the President.
The current campaign finance system includes a loophole allowing corporations, unions, and wealthy individuals to contribute large, unregulated amounts of soft-money to political parties, but not directly to candidates, Meehan said.
“The soft money system has had an insidious effect on our democracy,”said Meehan.
Meehan identified the narrow margins present in Congress and the shrinking differences between Democrats and Republicans as the impetus for the burgeoning influence of money within the past ten years.
“We now focus on raising huge sums of money to pay for 30 second television commercials … Federal officials pick up the phone and ask special interests for money,” Meehan said.
The culmination of corporate influence was revealed most recently through the Enron scandal, said Meehan. “Enron had unfettered access to both sides of the aisle,” he said.
