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If any good can come from the collapse of energy giant Enron
Corp., it is the revival of the sorely needed campaign finance
reform bill which has stalled in the House of Representatives after
being passed in the Senate last year.
The bill will prevent big contributors like Enron from buying
political influence over candidates by banning “soft
money” ““ unregulated and unlimited financial
contributions to political parties during elections. The bill also
raises the limit on regulated contributions to individual
candidates to offset the impact on election budgets banning soft
money would have.
Enron gained incredible political influence through years of
generous campaign contributions ““ totalling more than $6
million over the past decade to both Democrats and Republicans. The
company’s political network can be traced throughout
Washington and this has called into question the type of influence
the corporation has had over politicians. This mingling of
politician and CEO threatens the integrity and fairness of the
American elections system, especially for candidates from smaller
parties or with less name recognition.
Banning soft money will work towards ensuring politicians
don’t determine their policy according to who pays their way
into office.