Discharging democracy
San Francisco Chronicle
Saturday, January 26, 2002
IT TOOK the Enron scandal to shame
the House of Representatives into
taking action on campaign-finance
reform.
For too long, opponents of a ban on
"soft money" have tried to fog up the
windows with phony arguments about
how money equals speech and how
politicians are not really influenced by
big campaign donations.
Meanwhile, money flowed to the
parties in increasingly large
increments, and of course it had an
influence on policy. Corporations, labor
unions and other interest groups were
not just giving the money to be good
citizens. Whether it was extortion or
bribery, "soft money" -- donations
funneled through the political parties
to avoid the dollar limits and clear
disclosure trail on direct contributions
-- has become a price of admission to
Washington policymaking.
Even the most oblivious politician can
sense the outrage in the Enron
scandal. Enron sprinkled about $6
million on Washington politicians in
the last decade or so, about half of it as
soft money. It exercised clout in the
Clinton administration, and gained
even more when George W. Bush, a
longtime buddy and political
beneficiary of former Enron CEO Ken
Lay, became president. It helped shape
the composition of the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission. Its executives
had private meetings with Vice
President Dick Cheney about energy
policy. Former Enron folks occupy
highest levels of the administration.
Would history have been different if
Enron had not invested millions in the
influence game? Would FERC have
been more aggressive in doing its job?
Would the Securities and Exchange
Commission have asked more pointed
questions -- and sooner? Would
Congress or the White House have
tightened loopholes that allowed Enron
to avoid paying taxes in some of its
most prosperous years?
We'll never know. But do know that the
foul smell of Enron's coziness with the
political class helped prompt a few
more holdout legislators to sign a
discharge petition this week that will
force a House vote on a soft-money
ban, overriding the wishes of the
Republican leadership.
Discharge petitions are extremely rare,
but this move was hardly a profile in
boldness. It was a matter of politicians
finally hearing the pounding at the
door, growing louder.
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