Democratic leadership sells out

[Nathan Newman]

And buried the "marriage penalty" extension.  Saving $1 trillion for the
public sector is not bad for two days work by the Dem leadership.

Since I don't think McCain-Feingold matters much, I'll take the trillion
dollars.  But you can harp on this silly marginal campaign scuffling for
position.

Nathan Newman

nathan at newman.org     http://www.nathannewman.org
http://www.nathannewman.org/log/  (News & Views WebLog)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter K." <peterk at enteract.com>
To: <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
Sent: Friday, June 14, 2002 11:58 AM
Subject: Democratic leadership sells out

[Yes, they did block repeal of the estate tax after prodding from
citizens groups, but...]

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/14/politics/14DONA.html

Sponsors Assert Soft Money Ban May Be Diluted
By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.

WASHINGTON, June 13 - The ban on unrestricted political donations to the
national political parties
enacted by Congress earlier this year could soon be significantly weakened
by regulators at the
Federal Election Commission, the four authors of the legislation say.
...

But supporters of the law say they are much more upset with Democratic Party
officials, who they say
are urging the commission to gut the law - despite the party's embrace of it
in Congress.

In a letter sent today to the chairman of the Democratic National Committee,
Terry McAuliffe, the
president of Common Cause, Scott Harshbarger, said, "You and other party
leaders cannot take public
credit for enacting important reforms supported by the American people on
the one hand, while
sending your lawyers into court and into the F.E.C. to undermine the law, on
the other."
...

A longtime advocate of campaign finance reform, Fred Wertheimer, the
president of Democracy 21,
added that it was an "extraordinary spectacle to see Democratic Party
lawyers hard at work to drive
huge loopholes into the new landmark campaign finance law that the
Democratic leaders they represent
played a central role in enacting just months ago."
...

Mr. McCain acknowledged that such a Congressional review would face a "very
tough" fight. But he
added that this dispute had also added momentum to potentially restructuring
the election
commission.