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Me#1You#10
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 Posted: Thu Jul 14, 2005 4:19 pm Post subject: Byron York: "Mr. Smith Went to Washington" |
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Outgoing FEC Commissioner Bradley Smith has some less than flattering comments on McCain and his brand of campaign-finance reform...
| Quote: | Byron York
NR White House Correspondent
July 12, 2005, 8:15 a.m.
Mr. Smith Went to Washington
And he was something different at the FEC.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This piece appears in the July 18th, 2005, issue of National Review.
Five years ago, the hottest confirmation fight in Washington wasn’t over a judicial nominee, or an ambassador, or a cabinet choice. It was, instead, over a relatively unexalted position on the Federal Election Commission, and it involved a law professor named Bradley Smith, who would soon become, after Sen. Mitch McConnell, the man most hated by what is sometimes known as the campaign-finance-reform community.
<snip>
Now, his five-year term is over, and Smith is leaving the commission to return to Capital University. Recently, he sat down at the FEC’s office in downtown Washington for a look back at the major issues of his time in the capital.
<snip>
Reformers were united in wanting Smith and the FEC to shut down the 527s during the campaign. And because Democrats got an early — and very successful — start on 527 fundraising, some Republicans, who might otherwise have adopted a principled view of contribution limits as limits on political speech, also wanted to muzzle the 527s. George W. Bush himself said that that would be a good idea. But Smith, who believed strongly that 527s were legal under McCain-Feingold, said no. “The law is not whatever John McCain decides the issue is that day,” he says. “It’s what they actually passed in Congress.”
And besides, Smith believed then and believes now that free political speech is simply good for politics, regardless of whether 527s are involved. “Let’s put it this way,” he says. “I think it’s a great thing that a bunch of average, middle-class citizens like the guys at Swift Boat Veterans for Truth can influence an election. And I think that it’s probably a fine thing that a group like America Coming Together is out there registering voters.”
<snip>
And Smith’s views made it inevitable that he would have some sort of run-in with the man most responsible for present-day campaign-finance reform.
“McCain has always refused to meet with me,” Smith says. “I tried to meet him once at a public hearing. He was at the table, and I went up and I said, ‘Senator,’ and I held out my hand. And he instinctively took my hand, and then he looked up and realized who it was, and he yanked his hand away and said, ‘I’m not going to shake your hand. You’re a bully and a coward, and you have no regard for the Constitution. I don’t have to talk to you. I’m not going to talk to you.’ It was right in front of a large number of people, so I don’t think he wants to talk to me.”
“He said you were a bully and a coward?”
“Uh-huh. And corrupt, too. He always calls me corrupt. And my wife says, ‘If you’re corrupt, you’re the worst corrupt person I’ve ever seen. Where are the fur coats? The watches? The cars? The fancy trips?’”
Smith isn’t finished on McCain. After watching the senator for years, Smith believes McCain doesn’t truly understand his own signature issue. “He is woefully ill informed on campaign-finance issues,” Smith says. “I have seen him repeatedly misstate what the law is, misstate what court decisions held, and I think that’s one reason he gets so angry when he talks about it. It’s because he doesn’t really understand what a complex issue it is, what a difficult issue it is, he doesn’t understand the court hearings, he doesn’t understand how we’ve gotten where we are — so he just gets mad.”
National Review - cont'd |
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shawa
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Joined: 03 Sep 2004
Posts: 2004
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| Posted: Fri Jul 15, 2005 8:19 am Post subject: |
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Great article, Me#1. Thanks for posting it!!
Wow. I never heard of Mr. Smith before, and I'm sorry to see him leaving. Certainly a man of principle who is sorely needed in government today.
McCain is a despicable DEALER! For his own political expediency he deals away the fate of POW/MIAs (a brutally appalling act of dismissal), and now our RIGHT to Freedom of Speech.
I have great concern about our RIGHT to free speech constantly being curbed. The only way us little people can have our voices heard is by coming together in a group LARGE enough to make a difference. But do-gooders and busybodies insist on restricting our right to speak, be it PAC's, 527's, or (God forbid), the Internet (the last bastion of free speech).
We are being ruled by PCers!! The Politically Correct academics, the Politically Corrupt politicians, and the Pompously Condescending courts.
_________________
“I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” (Thomas Paine, 1776) |
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