This past Wednesday, even as Democratic Presidential candidates Al Gore and Bill Bradley were debating in Los Angeles over which was the stronger supporter of campaign finance reform, the California Democratic Party was pouring $500,000 into the campaign to defeat
the campaign finance reform measure—Prop. 25—on the same March 7th ballot.
This should come as no surprise. Most seasoned observers agree that the Democrats in Congress only vote for campaign finance reform because they know that the Republicans will kill it for them. But with the shocking prospect of campaign reform actually passing in California, the Democrats have been forced to unmask themselves, and pour all their efforts into defeating the measure.
The $600,000 directly contributed to No on 25 by Democratic campaign committees has been reinforced by $1.6 million in union money and nearly a million more raised by Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, the chief fundraiser for the No side. Republican interests have not given a penny to the No side, instead relying on the Democratic Party to kill hated reform for them.
Win or lose, our campaign for Prop. 25 provides the long-awaited “smoking gun,” proving once and for all that the Democrats are just as strong opponents of reform as Republicans, and are just as much addicted to the $100,000 or $1 million contribution checks, which would be banned by our measure.
Incidentally, from the beginning of my campaign reform effort, most of my conservative and Republican friends have strongly criticized the measure, claiming it sharply tilts the political playing field toward the Democrats and the big unions. Perhaps these friends
will now be so kind as to call the Democrats and big unions to persuade them of that fact, so they stop spending millions to defeat an initiative which benefits them so much.
Democrats Move Against Prop. 25
Los Angeles Times, Saturday, March 4, 2000