Wave Maker

Representative Martin T. Meehan has gained national exposure in recent years as a champion of efforts to reduce the influence of money in politics. Now, the
Lowell Democrat is poised to achieve a new distinction: He is days away from
becoming the only House member in the nation with a campaign war chest that tops
$5 million, with an eye on a possible run for the Senate.... ...that a
representative who has been at the vanguard of campaign finance reform has the
largest campaign bank account in the House speaks to the huge advantages of
incumbency, said Celia Wexler, vice president for advocacy at Common Cause, a
government watchdog group.

Meehan, 49, said he agrees that elections have become too expensive, but notes
that his colleagues on Capitol Hill have shown no appetite to embrace a system
that would replace big-money politics with publicly financed campaigns. Until
the system changes, he said, there's no choice but to aggressively raise money
to stay in Washington. He would almost certainly have to raise millions more to
run for the Senate. ''Passing landmark campaign-finance legislation does not
mean you raise the white flag and give up seeking higher office," Meehan said.
''The intent was never to reduce the overall amount of money being spent, but to
get people to run for office with smaller contributions."

VERMONT'S CONTRIBUTION LIMITS ARE CONSTITUTIONAL UNDER THE STANDARDS ESTABLISHED IN SHRINK MISSOURI AND IN LIGHT OF THE DEFERENCE OWED TO THE LEGISLATIVE AND ADJUDICATIVE FINDINGS OF RECORD

Furthermore, I do not believe that term limits alone will suffice to make every election cycle more competitive. For the ten years during which they would be
eligible to run for reelection under H.J. Res. 2, incumbents would still be
magnets for lobbyist dollars, because only they could cast meaningful votes on
the future of programs dear to organized constituencies. Incumbents would also
continue to dominate media coverage, not only because they are usually able to
raise more money than challengers to pay for campaign commercials, but also
because their actions as legislators will inevitably be the subject of nightly
news programs and daily newspaper stories throughout their tenures. And term
limits would do nothing to eliminate the franking privilege available to members
of Congress, which enables them to communicate their opinions to constituents in
an unchallenged format. Only comprehensive campaign reform can address the
problem of incumbent advantage, the phenomenon which is most responsible for the
public's poor opinion of our current political system.

"I made an announcement over a year ago that I would be running," said
Congressman Meehan, 43. "Look, I can't respond to every ridiculous assessment
made. I changed my mind. I made a mistake. I've decided to let the people
decide. If the people don't like what I am doing, they'll throw me out."

When term limits were defeated in 1995, Meehan was livid. "The whole exercise
was nothing more than a big political show designed to confuse people into
thinking that House Republicans really support term limits ... I have always
been skeptical of the legislators who claim they are for term limits but have
been in office for 15 or 20 years. The best test of any politician's credibility
on term limits is whether they are willing to put their careers where their
mouths are and limit their own service."