Public Citizen On John McCain's Record Of Reform

"Regardless of how many lobbyists are working on his campaign or raising money for him, John McCain has fought for 14 long, hard years for reforms that seriously limit lobbyists' power ... He has fought for campaign finance reform, limits on gifts and travel from lobbyists, and extensive public disclosure of lobbyists' activities -- all of which limit the influence of lobbyists and the companies that hire lobbyists in Washington, D.C." -- Public Citizen

One Thing Overlooked In Flap Over McCain And Lobbyists: His Record On Reform
Public Citizen
Press Release
February 26, 2008

On many issues, Public Citizen disagrees with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). We won't itemize them here; suffice it to say that Sen. McCain got a 15 percent rating in Public Citizens most recent congressional voting scorecard.

On one issue -- good government -- we agree. Public Citizen has worked for 30 years on lobby and campaign finance reform. Until the mid-1990s, we suffered a number of defeats because incumbent members of Congress don't want limits on the money system on which they depend. The fight for good government reforms has been led by a few members of Congress -- Sens. McCain and Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.), Rep. Christopher Shays (D-Conn.), former Rep. Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) and a few others, including Sen. Barack Obama in 2006 and 2007. Without them, the recent laws would not have been enacted despite all the hard work of good government groups.

However, we are compelled to note something that has been lost in the recent criticism of Sen. McCain's association with lobbyists: Regardless of how many lobbyists are working on his campaign or raising money for him, John McCain fought for 14 long, hard years for reforms that seriously limit lobbyists power. He has fought for campaign finance reform, limits on gifts and travel from lobbyists, and extensive public disclosure of lobbyists' activities -- all of which limit the influence of lobbyists and the companies that hire lobbyists in Washington, D.C.

Consider that McCain:

· Joined mostly Democratic colleagues as one of the original co-sponsors of the Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, which increased disclosure of lobbying activities and expenses for organizations that lobby on their own behalf or hire outside lobbyists, and boosted penalties violating the act. He led the floor battle on this act.

· Pushed through the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act of 2002. He started working on it with Sen. Feingold in 1996 to limit soft money -- unlimited contributions that corporations, unions and other organizations could donate to political parties to circumvent hard money limits on contributions to candidates. From the start, their efforts were opposed by large moneyed interests, incumbents in both parties and those who felt spending limits impinged on free political speech. As a result of this work, Sen. McCain was shunned by some in his party.

· Is a well-known foe of pork-barrel spending and earmarks, regularly highlighting the most wasteful expenditures item by item in one bill after another during Senate floor consideration, much to the consternation of many lobbyists.

· Called for an investigation into the proposed acquisition of Boeing air tankers and continued to press the matter. One Air Force employee, who negotiated a job with Boeing while negotiating the sale, went to prison.

· As chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs in 2006, held hearings and issued a report uncovering many aspects of the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Since then, Justice Department investigations have resulted in three members of Congress going to prison, three others indicted and more than a dozen placed under investigation. The information he uncovered was instrumental in bringing about the 2007 lobbying law.

· Promoted lobbying and ethics reform legislation in the 109th Congress.
In 2007, he supported sweeping lobbying and ethics reform legislation.

That law:

· Prohibits lobbyists from giving gifts or travel to lawmakers;

· Increases the civil penalty for violating the Lobbying Disclosure Act from $50,000 to $200,000 and imposes a five-year criminal penalty for violations;

· Requires quarterly lobbyist disclosure filings;

· Requires lobbyists to file information about their activities electronically, to be placed in a searchable database available to the public;

· Requires lobbyists to reveal when they bundle more than $15,000 semi-annually for any elected official, candidate or leadership political action committee, and disclose their own contributions; and

· Requires Senate, presidential and vice presidential candidates to pay charter rates for airfare when using non-commercial jets to travel.

Has agreed to accept public funding in the 2008 general presidential election if the Democratic nominee does also, and promises, if elected, to make reforms in the presidential public funding system a priority.

Curbing the influence of money in politics is a top priority for Public Citizen because it is the only way to ensure that the people's voice is heard in Washington. More needs to be done, including upgrading the presidential public funding system. We also must have public financing of congressional elections, as proposed by Sens. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), to restore democracy to the people. On this issue, Sen. McCain has not yet taken a position.
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