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For Immediate Release
September 22, 2004 |
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Campaign Finance Reformers Introduce Bill
to Close 527 Loophole
Washington, D.C. - Today, Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Russ
Feingold (D-WI), Joe Lieberman (D-CT) and Congressmen Christopher
Shays (R-CT) and Mary Meehan (D-MA) introduced the 527 Reform
Act, legislation to close the 527 loophole.
“For 30 years, the FEC has allowed 527 groups to channel
soft money into federal elections, clearly violating the letter
and spirit of the 1974 campaign finance law,” Shays said.
“By bringing 527 groups working to influence federal
elections under the same set of rules as every other political
committee, the 527 Reform Act does the job the FEC has failed
to do.”
“527 organizations are an end-run around campaign finance
laws as well as a direct assault on our democracy,” Lieberman
said. “We started the job to close the loophole in 2000
by requiring 527s to disclose their donors. We knew it wasn’t
enough. Now it’s time to finish the job and get unlimited
soft money out of the system. The voice of millions of average
Americans should not be reduced to a whisper because they
can’t afford the price of the pulpit.”
“This year, the FEC has looked the other way while 527s
have played by their own rules, evading the campaign finance
laws to flood the airwaves with attack ads paid for with soft
money. Thirty years of election law and Supreme Court opinion
have made clear that 527s, which exist to influence federal
elections, are political committees and should be regulated
as such,” Meehan said. “But the FEC has failed to
enforce the law and has actually gone out of its way to open
a special loophole for 527 groups. This bill is part of a
two-front approach to uphold the law and close the 527 loophole.
Last week, Rep. Shays and I filed suit against the FEC for
failing to do its job. This bill further clarifies existing
law to guard against the FEC’s attempts to undermine
it.”
The bill will:
· Require 527s to register as a political committee
with the Federal Election Commission;
· Set a minimum allocation formula for political
committees, which have both a federal and non-federal account;
and
· Limit contributions by individuals to non-federal
(soft money) accounts of political committees (from which
the non-federal portion of allocable spending can be paid)
to $25,000 per donor, per year. Corporations and unions cannot
contribute to such accounts.
“This legislation ensures all groups acting to primarily
influence the federal elections play by the rules Congress
passed and the Supreme Court upheld, rather than allowing
some to operate in a parallel world of election law anarchy,”
Shays said.
Contact: Sarah Moore,
202/225-5541
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