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CRACKING
THE CODE
“Some would call that government subsidy,” Painter said. “I
don’t. I think that’s a taxpayer’s
money. It’s not the government’s
money. And my view is that if you
pay taxes, you ought to be able to
designate some of that money for
the process of choosing who is going to spend the money.”
All the new energy around campaign finance reform notwithstanding, the effort still faces an
uphill battle.
“I think it will probably take
some critical issue or scandal or
monumental event to move Congress to actually act on this, because the record low approval rating, all the other frustrations voiced
by the American public, really
doesn’t seem to be moving this,”
Rep. O’Rourke said.
Indeed, Congress created much
of the current campaign finance
regulatory system after the Watergate scandal, and the McCainFeingold reform legislation passed
immediately following the Enron
scandal in 2002.
“It’s not an implausible final
step,” said Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee,
referring to waiting for a moment
of public outrage. “It’s probably the
easiest step of all.”
HUFFINGTON
10.27.13
But sometimes even scandal isn’t
enough to facilitate change. There
was, after all, a push for reform in
2009 and 2010 as well, following
a global financial meltdown that
many traced back to the financial
industry’s influence in Washington.
That effort came up short.
This is where the divide between
the new and old reformers comes
into stark relief. While the new
class of reformers are focused on
selling a “bold” bill to gr