Well... maybe not that campaign finance reform.

In May of 1997 Brownback mysteriously changed his mind about banning "soft money" contributions to national political parties. Never mind that this was one of the most important planks in his campaign, and the main reason some people supported him. Well, he's jerked his co-sponsorship of McCain-Feingold and says he'll introduce his own (modest) reform bill instead.

Don Simon, Common Cause: "That's not constructive. Putting out your own bill doesn't advance the ball."

Sam: "McCain-Feingold is based on an unconstitutional premise of trying to restrict political speech." Funny, he didn't raise this objection when he voted for the telecommunications "deregulation" act that tried to make it illegal to mention the name or address of a women's clinic on the Internet or in a private e-mail message.

Sam is bluntly contradicted by the New York University Law School's Brennan Center for Justice: "Closing the soft money loophole is in line with the longstanding and constitutional ban on corporate and union contributions in federal elections."

Sam's bill would require candidates to raise at least 50 percent of their funds from within the state they represent. Sam's own '96 campaign flunks this test unless you don't count $660,279 in PAC money he got mainly from from out of state.

Is it starting to become clear why Sam went soft on soft money?


Source: the Kansas City Star, "Brownback backs off 'soft money' limits," James Kuhnhenn and David Goldstein, 05/31/97
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