WHILE THE REST of the nation is consumed with the chaos in Florida, back in Washington it's business as usual -- with the president signing a new
law that gives away more than $60 billion in tax breaks to some big-time
campaign donors such as Boeing and General Electric, each of which contributed
$1.5 million in the 2000 election cycle alone.
The law -- "The FSC Repeal & Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act of 2000"
-- allows American companies to avoid paying taxes on 15 to 30 percent of
their export profits. This boondoggle passed despite the fact that similar
export subsidies had already provoked the wrath of the European Union, which
called on the World Trade Organization to hit the United States with $4
billion in trade sanctions. Apparently, our politicians' worship of free trade
stops at the water's edge of huge campaign contributions.
No wonder donations from special-interest groups increased by 80 percent
since 1996 -- the rate of return is to drool over. For instance, the finance
industry "invested" $66 million in the last election cycle. On Thursday, it
reaped a hefty dividend when the Senate passed a bill that will make it harder
for consumers to declare bankruptcy and will add billions of dollars to the
bottom line of banks and credit-card companies.
Which is why the raising of money -- soft, hard and poached -- continues
unabated. After raking in record-breaking totals for our endurance-testing
presidential campaign, George W. Bush and Al Gore haven't missed a beat,
hitting up donors to help pay for the election-without-end. Bush has raised
close to $7.5 million since election day to help defray his legal expenses,
while Gore has taken in $3.3 million. Bush has also begun receiving soft-money
donations to help finance his transitional transition office -- just one more
thing to sell off to the highest bidder.
So, what is to be done? Well, Sen. John McCain has promised that "we will
have blood all over the floor of the Senate until we accede to the demands --
not the wishes, the demands -- of the American people to be represented in
Washington again." He has vowed to "take any action necessary" to eliminate
the "corrupting influence of soft money." This may have to include outright
defiance of the man McCain endorsed for president, an avowed opponent of the
bill.
"This system cannot endure," said Sen. Robert Torricelli, D-N.J., of our
electoral process. "It will undermine confidence in our democracy." He's
clearly failed to notice that confidence in our democracy -- as expressed by
the 87 million people who didn't bother to vote and the 60 percent who did
vote but are "disgusted" by politics -- is already undermined. And it will not
be restored just by replacing some outdated Votamatic machines.
Torricelli, the Democrats' fund-raiser extraordinaire, and Sen. Mitch
McConnell, R-Ky., the Human Roadblock to Campaign Finance Reform, are co-
sponsoring a bill that would create a federal commission to upgrade voting
methods across the nation, with $100 million earmarked to implement its
recommendations. That's the ratio in the kind of democracy McConnell and
Torricelli want to preserve: $60 billion for corporate fat cats and $100
million for electoral reform, which they hope will slake the people's thirst
for more fundamental reform.
Florida has proven beyond a shadow of doubt that the way we vote doesn't
work -- and is indeed a threat to our democracy. Washington proves every day
that the way we finance our campaigns doesn't work. What kind of crisis will
it take for us to do something about this even greater threat? After all, it's
what happens between election days that's the real problem.
©2000 San Francisco Chronicle
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