Campaign finance reform won’t hurt Jews, experts say

WASHINGTON -- The jury is still out on how the Senate's campaign finance reform bill will change the political influence of the Jewish community, but experts believe Jewish interests will remain well represented no matter what happens.

After years of protracted arguments, the Senate on Monday set new standards for campaign finance that would affect the way officials receive money and how groups make their voices heard in the political process.

The bill still must pass the House of Representatives, where its chances are considered fair. President Bush has indicated he will sign a campaign finance reform bill that "improves the system."

Legal challenges to the bill are also being considered.

The McCain-Feingold bill will prohibit unregulated contributions, known as "soft money" donations, by groups or individuals to political parties. Large donors to the parties -- a number of whom are Jewish -- will have to find new ways to flex their political muscles.

Among them are increased "hard money" donations to a greater number of candidates, or the financing of issue-advocacy campaigns and direct mail efforts.

Both parties have their share of major Jewish donors, but many agree that the backbone of Jewish giving to campaigns has always been small individual donors. The end result, therefore, may be that the bill -- sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) -- will affect Jews less than other groups.

Some political action committees, or PACs, have bundled such small individual contributions in order to use the group's power to greater effect.

Dozens of pro-Israel PACs started up in the 1980s, giving money to pro-Israel politicians and working against politicians who opposed Israel. Within a few years, PACs had become a major part of the fund-raising establishment.

The campaign finance bill, which passed the Senate Monday by a 59-41 vote, will return some of the influence that PACs lost over the last decade -- particularly in recent years, when soft money began to proliferate.

"The big game has always been the hard money," said Tina Stoll, a fund-raising consultant in Washington, and the McCain-Feingold bill can force more donors to go that route.

Fund-raisers in private homes will continue to be the preferred way to attract premium donors, Stoll said. In addition, she predicted, large Jewish contributors who can no longer funnel money to the national parties will still support state parties, and might get more involved in gubernatorial races.

Most experts seem to feel the change will have a relatively small effect on Jewish political involvement.

Ken Goldstein, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, said donors who can't give million-dollar checks to the parties instead can fund issue-advocacy campaigns.

"It's hard for me to see how this decreases any sort of influence of the Jewish community," Goldstein said.

In fact, the bill will double -- to $2,000 -- the amount individuals can contribute directly to a candidate. The limit on an individual's total annual contributions to all federal candidates, parties and PACs also will be higher, from $25,000 to $37,500. The amounts will be indexed for inflation.

The bill is "neither a great hindrance nor a great help to Jewish political influence," one source close to the issue said.

Others note that Jews, because of their small numbers, cannot rely solely on their power as a voting bloc. Therefore, they say, the ability to support candidates and friends of Israel and the Jewish community with financial contributions must not be impaired.

The current system has served the Jewish community very well, and the changes envisioned by McCain-Feingold are unwelcome, according to Matt Brooks, executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition.

"The Jewish voice in electoral politics is going to be significantly silenced," Brooks said. "I don't think it's wrong to write a check."

But Ira Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, argues that the current system is not the best for the Jewish community, because it allows for the possibility of a last-minute contribution that can help a campaign push for a message that's antithetical to the Jewish community.

"It's ridiculous to say that this 'reform' is bad for the Jews," he said. "We will adapt to whatever system is out there."

The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism organized coalitions of clergy in swing states to support the McCain-Feingold legislation.

The RAC was part of an interfaith coalition called Religious Leaders for Campaign Finance Reform -- which includes 16 heads of national religious denominations and 270 regional clergy leaders -- that issued a statement as the Senate was voting on the bill.

"How can we, whose religious calling includes the imperative to speak for the widow and the orphan, for the poor and the children, accept an electoral process that structurally and systematically favors the wealthiest among us?" the statement asked.