Questions and answers on campaign finance

Q: What would the bill do?

A: The Shays-Meehan bill would ban unlimited "soft money" donations and would restrict broadcast advertising that mentions federal candidates in the weeks just before elections. It would also increase "hard money" individual contribution limits for Senate and presidential candidates.

Q: What is soft money?

A: Soft-money donations are unlimited and largely unregulated contributions from individuals, corporations and unions to national political parties. Originally meant to pay for party-building and voter education activities, soft money has been used more and more in recent years to cover the growing costs of political advertising, especially on television.

Q: What is hard money, and how would it be affected?

A: Hard-money donations are strictly regulated and limited to $1,000 per individual per election for House, Senate and presidential candidates. Political action committees can donate $5,000 per election. The Shays-Meehan bill would raise the individual limit to $2,000 per election for Senate and presidential candidates. Overall limits for special interest groups would be raised from $50,000 per two-year election cycle to $75,000. All increases would be indexed to inflation. Limits for political action committees would not be changed.

Q: Why is the bill controversial?

A: Because it would dramatically reduce the amount of money available to the national parties, damaging Republican efforts to maintain the GOP's slender House majority and Democratic efforts to regain a House majority. Opponents also fear it would give even more advantage to incumbents, and they say the provisions restricting "issue" advertising before elections amount to unconstitutional restrictions on free speech.

Q: What effect is it likely to have?

A: It would change the way campaigns do business, but even supporters acknowledge it is not likely to take money out of politics -- just fuel the search for new ways to raise money. For example, Democrats have come to rely heavily on soft money because most of their constituents tend to be less wealthy and give less hard money than Republican supporters.

Q: How important is money in politics?

A: Politics is a big business. In 2000, national party committees raised nearly $500 million in soft money -- nearly double the amount raised in 1996 and more than five times the amount raised in 1992. While politicians often say donations don't affect their decisions, most privately acknowledge that big donors clearly expect some consideration in return for their contributions.

Q: What does Enron have to do with it?

A: Supporters of the bill say the Enron scandal is an example of why the time is ripe for passage. They point to the millions of dollars in political donations the Houston energy giant made to Democrats and Republicans last year alone, while Enron was in trouble and looking for political support and regulatory relief. Enron was the largest contributor to President Bush's political career.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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