Saturday, June 2, 2001

Campaign reform fails once again

AUSTIN - For the third consecutive legislative session, Texas lawmakers failed to pass meaningful campaign finance reform. And once again, Texans are the big losers in the Legislature's inability to compromise on the issue.
   Lawmakers said they were committed to reforming the system - and it was one of House Speaker Pete Laney's main goals for this session.
   ''There has been a national focus on campaigns and elections in the past year,'' Laney told lawmakers on the opening day in January. ''There is concern over the amount of money needed to run for public office and where that money comes from.''
   Campaign-finance reform is sorely needed in Texas, which has no limits on the amount of contributions, weak disclosure laws and even weaker enforcement of the rules. For example, the maximum penalty for a candidate who fails to file the required contribution reports is a Class C misdemeanor, punishable by a $500 fine. Such a fine is a mere pittance for campaigns that rake in hundreds of thousand of dollars.
   Though Texas requires candidates to file reports about contributions, there are huge loopholes in the current law, such as campaigns only having to list donors by name and address. And statewide candidates aren't required to file reports in the last 10 days of a campaign, which is often when the big money rolls in.
   The end result of the current law is that voters aren't as informed about who's supporting and funding candidates.
   Lawmakers considered various campaign-finance proposals during the session. Efforts to limit the size of donations to state politicians and to provide public funding of judicial races died early in the session.
   Nevertheless, it appeared that lawmakers would pass a measure to require politicians to identify the employer and occupation of their largest donors. This would help the public better identify money from special interests.
   Other provisions would have made candidates report large donations in the final days of a campaign, require financial disclosure by out-of-state political action committees and forbid candidates from raising money if they don't file a report.
   But House and Senate negotiators could not agree on a compromise in the waning hours of the session. It's a shame, too, because state Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, worked hard this session with Democrats, Republicans and various interest groups to get the bill passed.
   And all there is to show for the work is a lot of partisan bickering and hard feelings.
   Governor blames House leaders
   Gov. Rick Perry said the failure of the House and Senate to agree on a campaign finance reform bill was one of his biggest regrets of the session. He blamed the House leadership for killing the legislation.
   Laney had a different take on the situation. ''I stand by the decision of House (leaders) to reject a bill that did not represent true reform but would have weakened current law by opening new loopholes for the nondisclosure of campaign money,'' he said. Laney also pointed out that, while Perry said he supported campaign-finance reform, he made no effort to push the bill through.
   Instead of pointing fingers, it would have been more productive if Laney and Perry had talked about a plan to overcome their differences in the interim and pass campaign finance reform next session.
   The purpose of campaign finance reform is to hold politicians more accountable for their actions. No matter who's to blame, the Legislature's failure to pass campaign finance reform sends a message that Texas politicians don't want to be accountable.
   ''At a time when the Congress and vast majority of states are moving forward on campaign reform, the Texas Legislature's inaction is a silent vote for the status quo, which is no campaign reform,'' said Fred Lewis, chairman of the Texas Open Campaigns Coalition. ''We believe strongly that a compromise could have been worked out if there was the will to pass this legislation.''
  
  
  
  

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Ty Meighan is chief of the Scripps Howard Austin Bureau. You can reach him by phone at (512) 334-6640 or by email at meighant@scripps.com.

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