Issue Position: Campaign Reform

Issue Position

Electoral reform

The fall 2000 elections made it painfully apparent that reform to our electoral system was in dire need. One of the most important things to come out of this election was the need for a standardization of the rules of the election process. We must improve the mechanics, the reporting and the procedures to deal with situations like the one we saw in Florida. To work toward this end, Congressman Blumenauer supported the Ney-Hoyer electoral reform bill (H.R. 3295) that the House approved in December of 2000.

Campaign finance reform

While we still have a long way to go to significantly improve the current campaign fundraising situation, the Congress made major progress by adopting a ban on soft money and sham issue ads, the legislation authored by Senators McCain and Feingold and Representatives Shays and Meehan. Congressman Blumenauer was one of the key leaders of the effort in the House.

Congressman Blumenauer received a score of 100% on his voting record from Common Cause, a leading campaign finance reform advocacy group, in their most recent report.

Congressman Blumenauer supports the Underground Campaign Disclosure Act, which requires independent political organizations to meet Federal Election Commission disclosure and reporting requirements, including information about their donors. He has also advocated for the passage of the Clean Money, Clean Elections Act, to create public financing and free and reduced-rate broadcast time for candidates who forgo essentially all private contributions. Finally, he cosponsored the Campaign Telemarketers Disclosure Act, which would require disclosing the identification of anyone making campaign-related telephone calls.

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