When the latest attempt at federal campaign finance reform floundered on Thursday, the waters were so muddied that no one but a Capitol insider could figure out exactly why.

Tuesday, July 17, 2001

When the latest attempt at federal campaign finance reform floundered on Thursday, the waters were so muddied that no one but a Capitol insider could figure out exactly why. But the message coming once again from Congress is that elected officials are mostly more than happy with the country’s cash-rich campaign laws.

A bill would have overhauled campaign contribution laws by banning &uot;soft money&uot; contributions to candidates. Soft money – just another way of saying &uot;loophole&uot; – has become the mechanism by which gigantic sums are funneled to candidates’ campaigns, driving spending on elections to new heights every two years.

Although the House legislation was sunk by a debate on procedural issues – in other words, lawmakers couldn’t even agree how to go about voting on the actual campaign reform bill – and each side blamed the other, the message is clear: Money can keep on flowing to candidates. While most politicians deny that gigantic contributions influence legislation, that position strains the credibility of the majority of Americans who will never be anywhere near wealth of the sort that national candidates have at their disposal.

It is manifestly in the interest of incumbents to keep the cash spigot open and this week’s finger-pointing between the parties served only to disguise the real message: There is no reform.