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WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 2002

The following editorial appeared in the April 30 edition of The Daily Oklahoman. The paper made a slight correction: the proper Latin phrase is "cui bono."

The old rule of cynics, in observing political games in Washington and other environs, remains Qui bono? That is, who benefits?

Late in the administration of President Clinton, the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) created a campaign-financing regulatory loophole. In the recent passage of misnamed "reform" legislation, the loophole was quietly preserved. The April issue of Reservation Report, a monthly newsletter (from New Century Communications, P.O. Box 277, Reedville, VA 22539) that monitors developments in and around Indian Country, summarizes the situation thus:

"Over 550 officially designated, 'sovereign' Indian tribes now have the FEC's permission to give generous sums of their federal taxpayer funding as well as some of their casino gambling receipts to candidates of tribal choice. Tribes are thus the only government entities permitted by law and by the FEC to contribute to national political campaigns and they may do so as a 'person,' free of the 'individuals' label. The rest of us, as 'individuals' are limited to total political contributions for federal campaigns of $ 25,000 in this fall's election and $ 37,500 thereafter." The new rules, Reservation Report's editors explain, empower tribes - within which diversity of opinion does exist, although often crushed - to dispense huge sums of money to reward friends and punish enemies. As the report notes, "The irony is that the purist/moralist who benefits most from this loophole, it is fair to suggest, will be none other than the campaign finance war 'hero' Sen. John McCain of Arizona. McCain admitted to a Boston Globe interviewer that each separate tribal government will be allowed to make aggregate campaign contributions of $ 500,000 or more to federal candidates."

As the report suggests, "Just imagine what will happen to congressional oversight when questions regarding Native American Indian corrupt practices arise on reservations and/or over gambling activities."

While it is true that liberals in the national press corps and in positions of political leadership bear most of the responsibility for this law, The Oklahoman remains critical of President Bush for affixing his name to this dreadful assault on political speech. It attacks a constitutional value explicitly protected in the First Amendment and in two centuries of the American legal tradition.

As critical as we were and are of so-called campaign finance "reform," we missed this one. McCain's stunning assault on protected political speech - exempting his friends in the national media and his liberal allies' union power brokers - is a masterpiece of liberal exceptionalism.

Defenders of political liberty and free speech must now rely on the least democratic branch - the federal judiciary and eventually the U.S. Supreme Court - to stand up for free elections, giving this constitutional atrocity the quick and ignominious burial it so richly deserves. Campaign finance regulations must be evenhanded with regard to all voluntary givers. Otherwise, the law not only