★ AMERICA VOTES 2004 ★
Bush stands by Patriot Act, Kerry less vocal
Bank account information, bookstore records
and wire-tapping among civil liberties questioned
BY GABE BRADLEY
NEWS FREELANCE EDITOR
The effort to find an effective bal
ance between homeland security and
civil rights has proved a complicated
and important issue in this election
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season. The controversial USA Patriot
Act passed in the immediate after
math of the terrorist attacks of Sept.
11 is a particularly complicated as
pect of this debate.
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This 342-page law greatly expands
the authority of law enforcement
agencies to investigate terrorist activ
ities. Critics say the law allows law
enforcement officers to engage in
such “sneak and peak” activities as
wiretapping and investigating library
records of innocent citizens without
judicial oversight.
Proponents of the Patriot Act say
that it merely gives law enforcement
officers the same resources to inves
tigate terrorism that they’ve been us
ing to investigate drugs cases and or
ganized crime for years.
Candidates’ varying positions on
the Patriot Act have been one of the
points of debate in the campaigns
this year.
Presidential race
The Patriot Act is currently set to ex
pire at the end of 2005. In the first presi
dential debate, President George W.
Bush said it’s “vital that the Congress re
new the Patriot Act which enables our
law enforcement to disrupt terror cells. ”
Sen. John Kerry has been less vo
cal about the issue. Although he orig
inally voted for the law in 2001, he
has supported efforts to revise and
limit certain provisions of the Patriot
Act. He has also said that his biggest
problem with the Patriot Act is not
necessarily the law itself, but the way
it has been used by Attorney General
John Ashcroft, though he cited no
specific examples.
Senate race
Democratic incumbent Ron Wyden
originally supported the Patriot Act.
Since then, however, he has cospon
sored a bill attempting to rollback
some of its provisions and make oth
ers more strict.
“Right now, the executive branch
has greater powers to pursue poten
tial enemies to the U.S. than at any
time since World War II — powers
granted in the days immediately fol
lowing a terrible attack on this coun
try’s soil,” said Wyden in a news re
lease. “With almost two years’
perspective on the Sept. 11 tragedy, I
believe that Congress has an oppor
tunity and a duty to strike a more
proper balance between security and
civil liberties.”
Challenger Al King, a Republican,
says he supports the Patriot Act as an
important tool in protecting Ameri
cans from terrorism, though he ad
mits it may need revision to protect
civil liberties.
“The Patriot Act should be contin
ued if revised so that all rights afford
ed by the Constitution remain intact
LIBERTIES, page 7 A
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Finance: Campaign funds cause controversy
Continued from page 1A
group remains unaffiliated with a po
litical party, it is free to spend any
amount of money it chooses, some
thing Ballo said is necessary because
of recent reforms that have limited
what parties can do with money.
“We’re doing things that the party
structure has not been able to do
since campaign finance reform went
into place,” Ballo said.
He added that everything the or
ganization and very important to the
campaigns. ACT is active in 17 swing
states and is responsible for register
ing more than 100,000 new voters in
Oregon, he said.
“We’re taking the rules and using
the system as it’s set up to do impor
tant work,” he said.
University Political Science Assis
tant Professor Eric McGhee agreed
that 527 groups “play critical roles” in
campaigns, adding that many of the
groups have existed for years but
were not needed by political parties
until the 2002 reform.
Now, with a limit on the amount of
money parties can spend, the unlim
ited fundraising abilities of the 527s
can play a huge role in campaigns.
Any future reforms are likely to
face the same glitches the McCain
Feingold legislation did, McGhee
said. He added that money plays
such an important role in the out
come of elections that it will always
find a way to funnel its way to the in
tended destination, no matter how
strict the reform.
The only type of reform that would
work would involve a total overhaul
of the current system and the imple
mentation of one based entirely on
public finance, as well as severe re
strictions on fundraising, McGhee
said.
University of Florida Political
Science Professor Richard Scher said
most attempts at campaign finance
reform have been “misguided” and
subsequently fail to address the real
problems in the system.
“Reforms are sideshows,” Scher
said. “They’re not really speaking to
where they’re most valuable —
money. ”
Scher is critical of the roles 527
groups have played in this election,
blaming them for increasing the
“electoral division” in the country,
but he added that it was within their
right to do so.
“They’ve just been doing what is
permissible; whether it’s ethical or
not is another matter,” Scher said.
In order to halt the influence of
outside interest groups, Scher said all
organizations should be required to
offer “a complete and instant disclo
sure” of all funds raised and where
they’re going.
If full disclosure is demanded, 527
groups will be more reluctant to
spend money out of fear of public
scrutiny for having a political agenda.
“All the roaches will run for the
corners,” he said.
Scher said political organizations
should be subjected to huge tax ex
penditures. One hundred percent tax
expenditures and full-disclosure de
mands are the only way to ensure
that the “unwarranted power and
vast amount of resources” of 527
groups is limited, Scher said.
“Tax the daylights out of them,” he
said.
McGhee said full disclosure and
large tax expenditures may seem like
good solutions, but the best solution
to the current campaign system in
volves switching to a publicly fi
nanced one.
McGhee’s idea of a public finance
based system was suggested by De
mocratic congressional candidate
Peter DeFazio as the best way to re
form a corrupt system. Because of
the 1976 ruling that money is a form
of speech, “the only way we can sub
stantially limit expenditures is
through public financing.”
DeFazio said the majority of his
campaign money comes from indi
vidual contributors, something
McGhee said is not uncommon.
“As much as we talk about corpo
rations influencing the system and so
forth, it’s really the individual,”
McGhee said.
According ’to recent election re
ports, DeFazio has received $74,354
in individual contributions of $200 or
more, $247,826 from Political Action
Committees and $4,500 from Indian
tribes. Comparatively, DeFazio’s op
ponent, Republican Jim Feldkamp,
has received $182,136 in individual
contributions of $200 or more,
$41,250 from PACs and $34,780 in
self-funded contributions.
The most glaring difference in the
amount of campaign funds in Oregon
is between senatorial candidates De
mocrat Ron Wyden and Republican
Al King. Wyden currently has
$3,340,168 compared to King’s
$11,157, according to recent election
reports.
Many candidates will not deny the
need for further campaign reform,
Scher said, but most do not under
stand how deeply rooted campaign
finance problems are.
Interest groups like the 527s exist
because the law allows them to, and
they contribute to the political scene
because the high court’s 1976 ruling
said they could, Scher said.
Though 527s may not be wanted,
Scher said, “I don’t see any way from
a constitutional standpoint to get rid
of them.”
meghanncuniff@ daily emerald, com
014617
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