Posted on: Monday, June 27, 2005

EDITORIAL
Campaign law 'fix' is anything but that

It has often been argued that campaign spending reform is nearly impossible. Good ideas are advanced, but those most affected, the lawmakers, immediately construct the loopholes necessary to get around them.

A case in point: The Washington Post reports that a new bill — with a most deceptive name — is making its way through the U.S. House.

It is called the "527 Fairness Act of 2005." It allegedly is about bringing fairness to the regulation of groups such as MoveOn.Org or Swift Boat Veterans (called 527 organizations after the section of the IRS code) that pump massive amounts of unregulated money into the political process without any oversight or control.

To level the playing field, the bill's authors say, Congress should eliminate the limits imposed today on individual contributors.

Hogwash. The fix, if one is needed, is to bring the 527 groups under the same rules that apply to others.

We assume Hawai'i Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Ed Case will see through this idea and help stop it in its tracks.