Campaign Reform Now (
By Dean
Hartwell
If Congress cannot
pass adequate campaign reform in light of the Enron debacle and Vice-President
Cheney's secret meetings with energy corporation leaders, it may never do so. If
it fails, this scenario of corporate deviousness will repeat in the near
future.
Enron's story of its leaders failure to inform its
stockholders of the true state of the company shows the need for accountability
in public corporations.
These same corporations currently have no governmental oversight over their
contributions to political parties. Not surprisingly, several of the energy
companies got access to the Vice-President, who, in turn, recommended to
President Bush an energy policy favorable to their anti-regulation interests.
New campaign reform laws must stop the connection between contributions and
policy. One place to start would be for Congress to codify the General
Accounting Office's attempts to get the White House to list the names of people
and companies who give advice to the President or his advisors. By keeping the
people at these meetings in the "sunshine", we may very well be able
to deter Bush and future presidents from being influenced by their biggest
donors.