In
testimony before the Senate Rules Committee, Thompson and Lieberman
outlined the provisions of legislation they introduced at the end of
last session (S.1991) that would provide law enforcement
officials with additional tools such as the authority to bring felony
prosecutions, the promise of a sentencing guideline specifically for
campaign finance violations, and an extension of the statute of
limitations for prosecuting campaign finance violators.
Senator
Susan Collins, R-Me., Judiciary Committee Ranking member Patrick
Leahy, D-Vt., Sen. Rod Grams, R-Minn., and Sen. James Jeffords, R-Vt.,
are co-sponsors of the bill.
"In
the absence of real campaign finance reform, let?s at least add some
enforcement muscle to our current law," Lieberman said.
"According to the Los Angeles Times, former Justice
Department investigator Charles LaBella called campaign finance
enforcement ?nothing more than a bad joke.? Unfortunately, it?s
a bad joke that has serious consequences for the integrity of our
system of governing."
Chairman
Thompson, referring to the 1996 campaign finance scandal, said:
"After almost four years of investigating the many, wide-ranging
abuses, only one person connected with the presidential election,
Yogesh Ghandi, will spend any time in jail. Unfortunately, the primary
reason is that the Justice Department simply has not done its job.
However, we have also learned that the federal election law itself
makes prosecution of violators more difficult than it should be."
Because
there is no provision in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) that
authorizes felony prosecutions, no matter how egregious an offender?s
actions, prosecutors are left without a credible threat against
would-be violators, or they are forced to turn to other laws. S.
1991 would authorize felony prosecutions of FECA violations, if
the offender acted "knowingly and willfully" and the offense
involved at least $25,000.
The bill
also would extend the FECA statute of limitations from three to five
years, bringing it into line with almost all other federal crimes. In
addition, the Sentencing Commission would be directed to devise
guidelines specifically for campaign finance violators. Currently,
judges have to use guidelines for other violations, for example,
fraud, which are often inadequate. The bill would direct the
Sentencing Commission to consider longer sentences for those whose
convictions involve foreign money or large illegal contributions. The
bill further clarifies that soft money contributions from a foreign
national and soft money contributions in the name of another are
illegal.
Thompson,
Lieberman and Collins spent the better part of 1997 investigating
campaign finance irregularities in the 1996 elections. This bill is
based on their experience in that investigation.