On Free Speech, Is John McCain's Motto "Do As ISay, Not As I Do"?

WASHINGTON (February 6) ­ As the new Congress gets underway, powerful members of Congress have introduced new "campaign finance reform" bills that contain multiple provisions to restrict the ability of advocacy groups such as NRLC to communicate with the public about the actions of public officials on legislation. The restrictions include pre-election restrictions on broadcast "issue ads," and other restrictions that apply year-round to both print and broadcast communications. The bills also restrict the ability of groups such as NRLC to directly lobby elected officials regarding pending legislation.

On January 22, Senators John McCain (R-Az.) and Russell Feingold (D-Wi.) introduced the latest version of their omnibus "reform" bill. Like earlier versions, it contains multiple restrictions on free speech about politicians. NRLC is preparing a legal analysis of the bill, which when completed will be posted on the NRLC web site at www.nrlc.org under "Federal Legislation: Free Speech and Campaign Finance Reform." That site already contains extensive critiques of earlier versions of the bill, which are largely applicable to the new bill.

The Senate is scheduled to take up the McCain-Feingold bill in the last half of March. (See Action Alert on McCain-Feingold bill, back cover.)

On January 31, Reps. Chris Shays (R-Ct.) and Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) reintroduced a bill (HR 380) very similar to the Shays-Meehan bill that passed the House on September 14, 1999, over NRLC's opposition. Critiques of the 1999 Shays-Meehan bill also are available on the NRLC web site, and an updated analysis of the new bill will be posted when it is available.

For the benefit of journalists who cover the "campaign finance reform" issue, NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson has prepared a memorandum titled, "John McCain: Is His Motto 'Do As I Say, Not As I Do'?" The memo outlines four areas of divergence between practices that McCain has said are pernicious or corrupting, and what McCain himself actually does or has done in the recent past - - including activities intended to advance the McCain-Feingold bill itself.

What follows is a brief summary of the subjects addressed in Mr. Johnson's memo:

(1) At a January 29 event in Little Rock, sponsored by certain special-interest groups in an unsuccessful attempt to pressure Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ar.) to support the McCain-Feingold bill, McCain spoke indignantly about "anonymous" political attacks during last year's campaign. McCain apparently trusted that journalists would not remind viewers or readers of the most notable example of an anonymous political attack during the 2000 campaign season: the recorded "Catholic Voter Alert" telephone message disseminated by McCain's own campaign, with his approval, prior to the Michigan presidential primary. The script for that "smear" communication (which is reproduced in the memo) contained no identifying information whatever. Moreover, when questioned by journalists, McCain and his staff for days denied any responsibility for the phone campaign.

(2) During the early presidential primary season, McCain and his staff told various interest groups and journalists that he had dropped his attempts to regulate issue advocacy (e.g. "issue ads"). For example, in a letter to NRLC affiliates on January 13, 2000, presidential candidate McCain urged consideration of various arguments in his favor, including "the fact that the issue advocacy restrictions are not included in my campaign reform legislation."

Those assurances were written on water. The newly introduced McCain-Feingold bill (S. 27) contains an array of restrictions on the ability of issue advocacy groups to communicate with the public about the actions of public officials or to communicate with elected officials regarding pending legislation - - including restrictions that apply to both print and broadcast communications, all year round. One such restriction applies to communications that are deemed to be "of value" to a Member of Congress - - which would include, for example, ads that express approval of a bill that a lawmaker is sponsoring.

Nevertheless, McCain himself is working closely with various nonprofit advocacy groups that are expending funds to advance the McCain-Feingold bill--including the recently formed Americans for Reform (www. americans4reform.com), the contact person for whom is a former press spokesman for McCain's presidential campaign. Americans for Reform and Common Cause are directing a lobbying campaign that includes "town meetings" in states of targeted senators. It certainly appears that these groups are expending funds on activities that these and other members of Congress feel are "of value" to them politically.

(3) In 1996, the senators who voted to kill the McCain-Feingold bill were criticized by special-interest groups such as Common Cause, and by editorial writers, for being "against reform." But perhaps McCain should apologize to those senators, because they preserved a freedom that McCain himself is now vigorously exercising.

The centerpiece of the 1996 McCain-Feingold bill was a complete ban on federal political action committees (PACs). The January 30 Washington Times contained a report on the current fundraising drive by McCain for his own PAC, "Straight Talk America," for the stated purpose of influencing Congress to pass the latest version of his bill.

(The ban on PACs has been dropped from more recent versions of the bill. But is "campaign finance reform" whatever McCain and his allied special-interest groups proclaim it to be at any given moment?)

(4) The McCain-Feingold bill would prohibit any member of Congress from endorsing the fundraising efforts of any nonprofit advocacy group that spends any of the money on any "public communication" - - print, mail, telephone, or broadcast - - that "attacks" or "promotes" a member of Congress or other "candidate," at any time of any year. This would obviously include ads or mailings that focus on legislation pending in Congress, and this provision would effectively prohibit any pro-life member of Congress from endorsing the fundraising efforts of NRLC or NRLC affiliates. Yet McCain himself does this - - not only by lending his name to lobbying groups that support his "reform" bill, but also by raising funds for Citizens Against Government Waste, a group that regularly praises and criticizes members of Congress.

The full memo, "John McCain: Is His Motto, 'Do As I Say, Not As I Do'?" is available on the NRLC web site under "Federal Legislation: Free Speech and Campaign Finance Reform." It is also available by fax or e-mail (please specify preference for file in Microsoft Word or WordPerfect) on request to the NRLC Federal Legislative Office, (202) 626-8820, Legfederal@aol.com