CC wins major grassroots lobbying victory - Common Cause - includes related articles

LAST YEAR, FOR THE first time since Watergate, the Senate and House of Representatives both passed comprehensive campaign finance reform bills that include the key elements of spending limits and clean alternative public funds. A House-Senate conference committee is now hammering out differences in the two bills and a final bill may reach the president's desk this spring. Common Cause is working for a strong and effective bill from the conference committee and is mounting a major grassroots lobbying effort to make sure President Bush signs effective reform into law (see the "Alert," page 31).

The breakthrough in the House came on November 25, when H.R. 3750 passed by a vote of 273-156. (Check the chart below to see how your representative voted.) H.R. 3750, developed by the House Campaign Finance Task Force chaired by Rep. Sam Gejdenson (D-Conn.), includes an overall spending limit, an aggregate limit on contributions from PACs, an aggregate limit on individual contributions above $200, and a system to provide matching funds for small individual contributions. Matching funds are particularly important in providing new resources for challengers and replacing special-interest campaign contributions.

The House bill fails to address effectively the soft money problem, which is bringing huge Watergate-style contributions back into federal elections. Common Cause is urging members of the House-Senate conference committee to support the Senate's position, which would ban soft money abuses in federal elections.

The passage of H.R. 3750 would not have been possible without strong leadership in the House by Gejdenson and Rep. Mike Synar (D-Okla.), the work of our coalition allies, and -- as with Senate passage of reform bill S. 3 in May -- an outpouring of grassroots political activity by Common Cause members.

CC MEMBERS PLAY KEY ROLE

In the five weeks before the House vote, CC members made more than 6,000 phone calls to representatives' offices urging support for the bill. Washington Connection volunteers at CC headquarters mailed thousands of postcards to members and coordinated a letter-to-the-editor campaign aimed at local newspapers. Activists questioned representatives on H.R. 3750 at town meetings.

The successful grassroots campaign involved the entire Common Cause organization: National Governing Board members, state chairs, state and national staff, volunteers and activists, and CC members who kept the pressure on their representatives by calling right up until the vote.

CC/Texas Executive Director Suzy Woodford told an aide to a Texas representative that the congressman had pledged on his 1990 candidate questionnaire to support reforms that included spending limits and alternative resources. When the staffer expressed surprise, Woodford faxed a copy of the congressman's questionnaire. He voted for the bill.

One CC member from New Jersey took the challenge posed by a postcard from the national office and ran with it. The card asked activists to phone five CC members to enlist them in the grassroots effort; she kept at it until she had phoned about 70 members.

A Common Cause Magazine investigation and a study by the Campaign Finance Monitoring Project revealed the political contributions and influence of more than 200 health industry PACs. Washington Connection volunteers recruited activists to attend town meetings on health care organized by Democratic House members and ask representatives how health care reform can be achieved given the $60 million the health industry's PACs have contributed to members of Congress over the past 10 years.

One indication of the level of grassroots activities taking place was a letter one CC activist received from a North Carolina representative. In response to a letter seeking his support for H.R. 3750, the congressman wrote, "I have decided, in light of the many letters and phone calls received from constituents, to support the bill when it is debated on the House floor."

CC President Fred Wertheimer said, "We still have much work ahead, but for now the entire CC community deserves thanks for a terrific job and for showing the kind of determination that is essential to winning this difficult battle."

COPYRIGHT 1992 Common Cause Magazine
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