In Case You Missed It: 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.

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