Mar 23, 2007 -- Reform Groups Urge Senate Rules Committee Members to Support Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act

Enclosed for your information is a letter reform groups sent today to members of the Senate Rules Committee, urging the Senators ''to support S.223, the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act, and to report a clean bill without any 'poison pill' amendments when the legislation is considered at the Senate Rules Committee markup scheduled for March 28, 2007.''

The reform groups include the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG.

According to the letter, ''S. 223, sponsored by Senators Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS), would require electronic filing of the campaign finance disclosure reports filed by Senate candidates under federal campaign finance laws. It is non-controversial legislation with strong bipartisan support and 29 additional co-sponsors.''

The letter adds, ''Currently, all federal candidates, party committees and federal PACs are required to file their campaign finance disclosure reports electronically -- with the sole exception of Senate candidates who still are filing paper reports.''

The letter continues, ''The only purpose served by the exception for Senate candidates is to deprive the American people of timely and meaningful public information to which they are entitled about the campaign finance activities of Senate candidates during critical periods of their elections.''

The letter states, ''We strongly urge you to vote to ensure that citizens have the same access to campaign finance information about Senate candidates that they currently have regarding all other federal candidates that file federal campaign finance disclosure reports.''

March 23, 2007

Dear Senator,

Our organizations strongly urge you to support S.223, the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act, and to report a clean bill without any ''poison pill'' amendments when the legislation is considered at the Senate Rules Committee markup scheduled for March 28, 2007.

The organizations include the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG.

S. 223, sponsored by Senators Russell Feingold (D-WI) and Thad Cochran (R-MS), would require electronic filing of the campaign finance disclosure reports filed by Senate candidates under federal campaign finance laws. It is non-controversial legislation with strong bipartisan support and 29 additional co-sponsors.

Currently, all federal candidates, party committees and federal PACs are required to file their campaign finance disclosure reports electronically -- with the sole exception of Senate candidates who still are filing paper reports.

The exception from filing electronic reports provided for Senate candidates makes no sense, has no legitimate basis and is indefensible.

The only purpose served by the exception for Senate candidates is to deprive the American people of timely and meaningful public information to which they are entitled about the campaign finance activities of Senate candidates during critical periods of their elections.

We strongly agree with the recent testimony of Senator Feingold on S.223 that ''There is no excuse for keeping our own campaign finance information inaccessible to the public when the information filed by House and Presidential candidates, PACs, parties, and even 527 organizations is readily available almost immediately.''

We also strongly agree with the recent statement made by Senate Rules Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) that Senators ''should refrain from holding the bill hostage over the campaign finance battles that have been going on for years'' and that ''this is exactly the type of good government law that the Senate could adopt as a stand alone measure.''

It should be clear to everyone that any effort in the Rules Committee or on the Senate floor to use S.223 as a Christmas tree to attach any kind of campaign finance change unrelated to electronic filing is a formula for killing this legislation.

It is also a formula for continuing to keep the American people in the dark about the campaign finance activities of Senate candidates during critical periods of their elections.

Our organizations strongly urge you to oppose any amendments to S.223 that are unrelated to electronic filing and to vote to report a clean bill to the Senate

We strongly urge you to vote to ensure that citizens have the same access to campaign finance information about Senate candidates that they currently have regarding all other federal candidates that file federal campaign finance disclosure reports.

Campaign Legal Center
Common Cause
Democracy 21
League of Women Voters
Public Citizen
U.S. PIRG