George Bush's position on 527s

527s/Campaign Finance Reform: Campaign finance reform was a serious issue in political contests prior to the 2002 passage of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill. Since McCain-Feingold passed, neither presidential candidate is talking about campaign finance reform in general. The one issue that has presented itself in this election is the use of 527 political organizations and their role in the election. 527s are named for the tax code they fall under and are organizations that are able to raise money to advertise for or against a candidate without being held accountable under the McCain-Feingold act. The Federal Election Commission had the opportunity to force 527s to fall under the bill, but chose not to do so in the 2004 election.

George W. Bush:

Description of candidate's position: Bush supports the McCain-Feingold bill and believed that the bill would regulate 527 groups. He opposes the Federal Election Commission's decision to delay addressing the issue of 527s for the 2004 election. Bush argues that the McCain-Feingold bill is failing because it does not regulate 527's.

Quotation from the candidate: "I'm denouncing all the stuff being on TV of the 527s. That's what I've said. I said this kind of unregulated soft money is wrong for the process. And I asked Senator Kerry to join me in getting rid of all that kind of soft money, not only on TV, but used for other purposes, as well. I, frankly, thought we'd gotten rid of that when I signed the McCain-Feingold bill. I thought we were going to, once and for all, get rid of a system where people could just pour tons of money in and not be held to account for the advertising. And so I'm disappointed with all those kinds of ads. August 23, 2004, link.

Assessment of the proposal:

Positive: John McCain, United States Senator and co-author of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill, believes that the FEC should take action to eliminate 527 political advertisements under the campaign finance reform laws. He states that "the Federal Election Commission has one last chance on Thursday to act responsibly and adopt regulations to prevent groups from illegally spending soft money to influence federal elections".

Negative: Anthony Corrado, Visiting Fellow of Governance Studies and Thomas E. Mann, Chair and Senior fellow of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institute explain that, although McCain-Feingold was designed to reform campaign finance, it was not designed to fix all campaign finance issues. More specifically, they argue that "the decision by the Federal Election Commission to defer action on new rules to constrain the activities of so-called 527 political organizations is being portrayed as an utter collapse of the new McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. In fact, nothing could be further from reality".

Comparison: George Bush wants to ban all 527 groups from advertising for either political candidate. Kerry, however, does not condemn the 527 advertisements nor is he willing to speak publicly about his overall position on 527s. Both Bush and Kerry support the McCain-Feingold legislation as it currently exists. Bush is willing to extend the legislation to 527s and Kerry does not take a position on it.

Link to Kerry's 527 issue brief.