Lieberman Celebrates Passage of Campaign
Finance Reform
Legislation Includes Lieberman-Thompson Amendment to Plug
Criminal Enforcement Loopholes
Thursday, February 14, 2002
WASHINGTON - Governmental Affairs
Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., Thursday celebrated
the passage of campaign finance reform legislation by the House
of Representatives. The legislation included an amendment,
sponsored by Lieberman and Ranking Member Fred Thompson, R-Tenn.,
that would aid prosecutors in enforcing campaign finance laws.
"We have passed another important milestone in
the long overdue effort to enact campaign finance reform,"
Lieberman said. "Because of the collapse of the Enron
Corporation, the credibility of the democratic process is once
again being challenged. The House action reinforces that a
majority of Congress is working hard to restore the public’s
faith in its elected government."
Lieberman noted that the criminal enforcement
amendment, which was introduced and passed by the Senate last
Spring as part of the McCain-Feingold reform bill, responds to
problems prosecutors faced in investigating and punishing
violators of the campaign finance laws during the 1996 federal
election cycle.
"These provisions will ensure that actions
that are already criminal, and that we all agree are wrong, will
be punished," Lieberman said. "They simply provide prosecutors
with the tools they need to deter and effectively punish those
who would violate the laws."
In 1997, Lieberman spent nearly a year on the
Governmental Affairs Committee investigating campaign finance
abuses that occurred during the 1996 presidential campaign. Two
years ago, Congress approved a bill sponsored by Lieberman that
required so-called 527 tax-exempt organizations to disclose
their existence, their contributions, and their expenditures, in
order to maintain their tax-exempt status. It was the first
reform legislation to pass in two decades. Provisions of the
Lieberman/Thompson criminal enforcement amendment would:
Authorize felony prosecutions for campaign finance
violations. The Federal
Election Campaign Act allows only misdemeanor
prosecutions, although prosecutors have used other felony
statutes to prosecute violators. Felony prosecutions would
be in order if the offender acted "knowingly and willfully"
and if the offense involved at least $25,000.
Direct the U.S. Sentencing Commission to issue a
guideline on campaign finance violations. Because there is
no guideline now specifically addressing violations of the
campaign finance laws, judges have to use other guidelines –
usually the one for fraud. But the fraud guideline
frequently results in little or no jail time. Under the
amendment, judges would have to consider longer sentences
for those convicted of foreign money violations, and large
illegal contributions.,
Extend the statute of limitations from three to five years.
Campaign finance violations are the only federal crimes, aside
from violations of the Internal Revenue code, that have a
statute of limitations under five years. Former Justice
Department special prosecutor Charles LaBella has said three
years is not enough time to fully investigate complex campaign
finance cases. |