MissCatholic
Sr. Member
Posts: 2,424
|
 |
« on: April 06, 2005, 11:17:58 AM » |
|
Sen. Russ Feingold, whose name has become synonymous with campaign finance reform, is raising both his profile and thousands of dollars with his new leadership political action committee.
Feingold, D-Wis., is using the PAC to pay for political travel and to make contributions to fellow Democrats as he tries to help the party regain the Senate next year.
The PAC, the Progressive Patriots Fund, is also likely to pay political dividends for Feingold, especially if he decides to run for president in 2008. The travel is getting him exposure among voters and media outside Wisconsin, and the PAC's contributions will earn him gratitude from influential Democrats.
Rick Wiley, executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party, criticized Feingold, co-author of the landmark McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law, for setting up the PAC.
"The poster child of campaign finance reform now establishes a leadership PAC. He talks out of both sides of his mouth," Wiley said. "For Feingold to be out there railing about special interest money — his leadership PAC's coffers will be filled with special interest money."
But Feingold said there was no inconsistency in setting up the PAC.
"If it's used properly, for these kind of purposes, it's a positive for the political process, not a negative thing," he said.
He argued that the contributions are limited in a way that does not "corrupt" the political process, and are used to support progressive causes, not "big-monied" interests.
The 2002 McCain-Feingold law not only did not tighten limits on PACs, it arguably made them more important by banning soft money, the large unregulated donations by corporations, unions and wealthy individuals.
Government watchdog groups said there was nothing inherently wrong with Feingold setting up the PAC.
"At this point, leadership PACs are so commonplace that it's not at all surprising," said Larry Noble, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington.
Noble, a former general counsel for the Federal Election Commission, said there is some question about whether leadership PACs should have been allowed in the first place.
"Because they really are a way for members of Congress to, in effect, increase their contributions," he said. "But they are allowed, they are legal. They are now part of the political landscape."
Feingold said he decided to set up the PAC after Democrats from around the country urged him to take a more active role in helping the party turn things around.
As of Feb. 28, the latest report on file, Feingold's PAC had raised $57,000 from about two dozen contributions, most from Florida and New York. Although the March report is not due until April 15, Feingold's campaign manager, George Aldrich, said it will show the PAC has raised about $100,000 through March 31.
The latest report shows no money from political action committees, although Feingold said that he would not eschew such contributions.
Last week, Feingold used the PAC money to pay for his trip to Alabama as he continued his crusade to reach out to people in "red states" — those leaning Republican — and make Democrats more competitive across the country.
Feingold built a national following among progressives with his work on campaign finance reform, and by casting the only vote in the Senate against the USA Patriot Act, the post Sept. 11 law that expanded the government's surveillance and prosecutorial powers.
He was emboldened by his showing in last year's Senate race, when he won re-election by 11 percentage points in a state that Democrat John Kerry barely carried.
Several Web sites have sprung up urging Feingold to run for president. Although the ostensible purpose of Feingold's travel is to make Democrats more competitive, he won't rule out a presidential race in four years. But he said that wasn't the purpose of the PAC.
"This is my effort to try to be a part of the national effort to turn the Democratic Party around," he said. "To use a sports analogy, if we ever were in a rebuilding time, this is it."
|
