Politics

More Than A Photo-Op? Yikes!

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

December 10, 1999 / 12:46 PM EST / CBS

In this Reality Check, CBS News Correspondent Eric Engberg finds merit in the planned joint appearance of Democrat Bill Bradley and Republican John McCain.

Now comes tantalizing news that Democrat Bill Bradley and Republican John McCain may break the unwritten rules of American primaries and stage a joint appearance in New Hampshire to push campaign finance reform. This is a gift from heaven for pundits and strategy-kibbitzers. What's the angle? What's Gore's counter-punch? How should Bush spin it?

And it will provide a ton of free ammunition for the critics of political theater, easily as much fun as the debates. After all, McCain and Bradley will meet in Claremont, N.H., where in 1995 then-Speaker Newt Gingrich and President Clinton shook hands on a vow to establish a high-profile commission to study lobbying and political money reform. The commission never "commished." The handshake has become a mega-symbol of phony, photo-op charade promises.

There is the possibility that the 1999 event could, dare I say, be an event of some substance. It could - I know this sounds radical - be more than a photo-op.

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Reality Check

The grizzled veterans of campaign-finance reform advocacy groups, a weary and realistic bunch, are not greeting this happening with shrugs and cynicism. "Interesting. Really interesting," said Larry Makinson of the Center for Responsive Politics. No matter what the motives of the candidates are, no matter what the spin is, Makinson says, campaign reform is "rising in prominence."

And what is uniquely important about the McCain-Bradley joint appearance, Makinson argues, is that voters might really pay attention and think twice. "Anything that candidates do that isn't scripted stands out. This is scripted, maybe, but it's not in the mold." That's for sure. A highly visible joint appearance of top-tier candidates from the major parties this early in the process is unprecedented in modern politics.

It's important to recall the credentials Bradley and McCain bring to this meeting. They have both done much more than just rail against fat cats and stick reform riffs at the heart of their stump speech. Both have toiled in the dark, inglorious legislative caverns where the real evil of money in politics lurks - the tax code and the appropriations process.

Ronald Reagan's election in 1980 prompted an immediate feedinfrenzy of tax cutting. The way lobbyists delivered to their clients at that time was to get tax cuts for them. Fast depreciation for real estate. Huge write-offs for oil. Tax credits for jojoba bean growers.

One of the most vocal critics of this was Bill Bradley. He became the champion of tax-reform in the 1980s. He even wrote a book about it. It wasn't that he was against cuts in general. He was opposed to the idea that central decision-makers in governments should pick and choose specific industries to favor and subsidize. That's what markets were supposed to do. Sounds awfully Republican doesn't it?

Indeed, many of the most excessive loopholes and tax shelters of the Reagan era were eventually repealed. Bradley had much to do with that.

John McCain's battles against lobbyists' handiwork were even more obscure. When the tax code was no longer a prime source of special-interest succor, Beltway wise guys turned to the spending side of things. Instead of tax breaks, a company might get a grant for research and development. This is called pork. Sometimes it's called corporate welfare.

It happens when a senator or congressman hides a little clause of magic words in a thousand-page spending - or appropriations - bill. Something like: "All companies founded in April of 1951 in states that begin with the letter 'N' shall hereby be paid the sum of . . . It is intentionally hard to find and decode this stuff. It's next to impossible to actually excise it from the bill.

McCain tried. For years he had a man on his staff named Mark Buse, alias The Ferret. The Ferret would pull all-nighters uncovering the pork in monster bills before they hit the floor. When he found some, McCain would rush to the Senate floor and try to pass an amendment to get rid of the add-ons. He almost always failed.

The Senate, like all legislatures, lives by the rule: You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. Needless to say, McCain's pork-busting did not endear him to some of his colleagues. (Could this be why some whisper that John McCain has a temper? Perish the thought.)

So, Bradley and McCain have sparred seriously not just against the influence of money in politics, but the way money can corrode decision-making at many levels of government. They have paid their dues.

A Bradley-McCain handshake in Claremont, N.H., won't be with greased palms.