SACRAMENTO — A businessman who wanted to talk to an influential state legislator about a problem with a toxic waste permit was told that a $5,000 contribution to a campaign fund-raising dinner would buy him half an hour of the lawmaker's time.
And for an additional $5,000, the man was informed, he could sit at the head table, thereby guaranteeing another conversation about his problem.
Senate Minority Leader James W. Nielsen (R-Woodland), while declining to name names, cited this as an example of the political fund-raising "extortion" and "strong-arm tactics" going on in California.
A recent report by a blue-ribbon commission summarized the situation this way:
"California is witnessing a new political gold rush. Reporters warn that legislators are being corrupted with money. Contributors complain they are hounded with incessant fund-raising appeals. Lobbyists protest they are covertly shaken down with threats of adverse legislation. Candidates report that some spend 50% to 70% of their time raising money. Incumbents vastly out-raise challengers. Newcomers are deterred from politics."
Nielsen and other lawmakers hope a campaign finance reform package, which they contend would reduce the influence of special-interest money on the Legislature, will be passed this year and signed into law by Gov. George Deukmejian.
The rub, however, is that both political parties deep down fear that tinkering with the present system could well give the other side an advantage. So each party, somewhat half-heartedly, pushes its own particular brand of reform while aggressively opposing the other's.
Deukmejian vetoed a campaign finance reform bill two years ago. And some legislators privately would prefer no changes at all in the present system. Others argue that it will take a ballot initiative to do anything substantial about solving the problem, and one is in the works. But the voters, by nearly 2 to 1, rejected a campaign reform proposition in 1984.
One crucial problem for reformers, they say, is the lack of any widespread public concern about how political campaigns are financed. Some say it will take a major scandal to kindle enough concern to pressure lawmakers into reform.
"Every year, the influence of money on both political parties in California increases, and the influence of ordinary people decreases," said Senate Majority Leader Barry Keene (D-Benicia).
Who would be the winners and losers under campaign finance reform?
