'We refuse to sacrifice the First Amendment in a desperate attempt to adopt reform legislation.' (American Civil Liberties Union) (The ACLU Vs. Public Citizen: A Debate on Campaign Finance) (Cover Story)

• Author: Murphy, Laura W.

In early October, as the Senate demonstrated that it was deadlocked on campaign-finance reform, many politicians openly expressed their glee. The response of the American Civil Liberties Union, however, was much more measured. While we welcomed the apparent defeat of the much-touted McCain-Feingold legislation because it so flagrantly violates the First Amendment, we called upon Congress to begin considering campaign-finance reform that--unlike McCain-Feingold--would be effective and constitutional.

The solution we advocate is the establishment of a system of public financing that would include vouchers for political advertising, mailing privileges for qualified candidates, and tax credits for political contributions. This approach, which the ACLU has advocated for more than a decade, would establish an adequate floor of campaign resources, rather than attempting to impose an artificial and unconstitutional ceiling on campaign contributions and spending--the McCain-Feingold approach.

Recent experience has shown that if an adequate floor of support is provided, there is no need to impose a ceiling. Consider, for example, the California Senate campaign in 1996, when the enormously wealthy Michael Huffington challenged Dianne Feinstein. Even though Huffington far outspent his opponent, Feinstein won election because, as an incumbent, she was able to raise enough money to ensure that her message was heard by the voters. Her burden came in raising so much money from private sources. Our proposals would help relieve that burden, thus increasing the viability of all ballot-qualified candidates without reducing the level of political discourse in this country. They would also guarantee that both incumbents and challengers would have the means to communicate their message to the American public. The American people should not be forced to forfeit our First Amendment rights to contribute to political causes and to criticize candidates as a condition of meaningful reform.

We refuse to sacrifice the First Amendment in a desperate attempt to adopt reform legislation that we believe will be ineffective and unconstitutional. That is why we joined an unusual coalition against McCain-Feingold that included Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, and organizations like the National Right to Life Committee, which we fiercely oppose on most issues. It made for strange bedfellows, but we're used to that. We participated in a similar coalition to combat the Clinton Administration's counterterrorism proposals that were such an affront to civil liberties.

We're not naive. We recognize that many...