Campaign Finance Rally Held in Boston

As the House of Representatives prepared to consider campaign finance legislation this past week, Common Cause sponsored a public political forum on the steps of Faneuil Hall in Boston on Monday morning.

In front of full patriotic regalia and tidy posters created by the event’s organizers, four of Congress’ leading proponents of campaign finance reform—Sen. John S. McCain (R-Ariz.), Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), Representative Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) and Representative Christopher Shays (R-Conn.)—publicly pleaded for legislators to reform what the four proponents described as a faulty system.

McCain and Feingold, both veterans of the Senate’s campaign finance reform debate earlier this year, supported Meehan and Shays as they sought to gain publicity for their House colleagues’ own campaign finance reform bill.

The Shays-Meehan legislation was the House of Representatives’ version of the Senate’s McCain-Feingold bill. Among its provisions, the bills would ban so-called “soft money” contributions to political parties.

A common pledge of taking power from special interests and placing it back in the hands of common citizens ran throughout all four speeches.

Meehan and Feingold were the most animated in their speeches, pounding their fists and shouting their demands for reform.

Meehan expressed concern that the House Republican leadership would attempt to significantly alter the bill when it came to be presented. He expressed concern that such modifications might destroy the reform effort.

“We don’t need any amendments that will take away our fragile coalition,” Meehan told the crowd.

Shays emphasized that immediate public action was needed to push members of the House to support the Shays-Meehan bill.

“We can win if the American people pay attention this week,” Shays said.

After making their speeches, the four responded to several questions from the media.

McCain responded to criticism that was leveled against him the previous day by House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas). Armey had accused McCain of inappropriately trying to influence votes of members of Congress by sending letters requesting support for the Shays-Meehan bill.

McCain defended his action, saying that he had followed a common practice for gathering support on Capitol Hill.

During the approximately 30 minute rally, the four members of Congress demonstrated a great camaraderie, participating in frequent hand-shaking, back-patting and embracing.

The crowd, estimated by the Associated Press at around 200 people, included a handful of students from the Harvard Summer School.

—Anthony J. Gilbert and the Associated Press contributed to the reporting of the story.