"Shadow" Democrats

02/19/2004

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/Editorial+%2F+Commentary/F70DE6098B0C1A1D86256E3F00370D2B?OpenDocument&Headline=%22Shadow%22+Democrats

IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG for Democrats to find a way around the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law that they had championed so fervently. They are trying to skirt the law's main provision outlawing big, soft-money contributions.

Liberal activists and labor unions are setting up "shadow" groups to take the soft-money contributions that political parties no longer can receive. These shadow groups then use the contributions for the same purposes that the political parties did before the law: political ads and voter registration.

They are called "527 groups," named for their Internal Revenue Service designation. Already, one of these groups - America Coming Together - has shown up in Missouri registering "progressive" voters for the fall election. That group and others have registered more than 32,000 new voters since July in St. Louis and St. Louis County.

Another 527 group made its presence known in the Iowa caucuses with a down-and-dirty TV ad attacking former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. With a picture of Osama bin Laden on the screen, an ominous voice-over warned that Dr. Dean was unprepared to deal with a dangerous world. The ad was paid by Americans for Jobs, Healthcare and Progressive Values. It turned out that this 527 group was three people, a former congressman from Ohio, a former staffer for Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and a former fund-raiser for Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo.

It's unsurprising that Democrats have tried to find a way to tap into soft money. Republicans are much more effective than Democrats in raising the hard money contributions limited to $2,000 per person. President George W. Bush already has raised $133 million in hard money, on his way to $200 million. He plans to blow the Democratic presidential candidate out of the water by summer. In the past, Democrats made up part of their hard money deficit with soft-money contributions to the party from labor unions, Hollywood liberals, trial lawyers and other wealthy donors. Now they hope that the 527 groups can use unlimited contributions for anti-Bush ads.


The new political fund-raising technique shows the difficulty of devising a campaign finance law that is at once effective and does not violate the First Amendment. Democracy 21, which championed McCain-Feingold, has asked the Federal Election Commission to keep the 527 groups from using soft money in federal elections. The FEC's lawyer agreed, triggering a strong reaction from more than 300 liberal and conservative nonprofit groups. Those groups feared they could be prevented from criticizing government policies during election campaigns.

Hypocrisy is busting out all over. Liberals who provided the bulk of support for McCain-Feingold are looking for ways around it. The Republican Party, which was unenthusiastic about McCain-Feingold, now wants to keep the 527 groups from using soft money. The GOP chairman of the FEC, Bradley Smith, pointed this out Wednesday. "If Republicans think they can win by silencing their opponents, I think they are going to lose," he said.

The FEC decided Wednesday to put off a final decision. It should take great care before squelching political speech.