Bush grudgingly approves campaign finance reform law

Associated Press/Watertown Daily Times, John Hart

Workers from the Jefferson County Highway Department mended the roadway behind a makeshift memorial of roses on Wednesday, following a deadly crash between a van and a tour bus carrying senior citizens Tuesday.By David Espo ~ The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- President Bush grudgingly signed landmark legislation designed to limit the role of big money in political campaigns on Wednesday, triggering a rush to the courthouse by critics challenging the constitutionality of the law.

"I wouldn't have signed it if I was really unhappy with it. I think it improves the system," Bush told reporters more than two hours after signing the measure in the early morning quiet of the White House, without the public fanfare often lavished on major bill signings.

"I'm pleased that President Bush has signed campaign finance reform legislation into law," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the leading advocate of the measure in Congress -- and the man who challenged Bush unsuccessfully to embrace the bill during the 2000 GOP presidential primaries.

By late morning, as Bush flew south to help raise millions for GOP congressional candidates, two lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Courthouse several blocks from the White House. Both of them alleged the legislation violates the constitutional guarantee of free speech.

The law "eviscerates the core protections of the First Amendment by prohibiting, on pain of criminal punishment, political speech," alleged the National Rifle Association and its political victory fund in the first suit to be filed.

The legislation "flagrantly contravenes more than a quarter-century of unbroken Supreme Court and lower court precedents," charged Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., in a separate complaint.

'Serious concerns'

Bush, too, in a written statement, said certain provisions of the legislation "present serious constitutional concerns." But he added that on balance the measure would "improve the financing system for federal campaigns."

Both lawsuits attack one hotly contested provision of the legislation -- a restriction on late-campaign television advertising that does not directly advocate the election or defeat of a candidate. McConnell's suit also alleges that another key feature of the bill is unconstitutional, a ban on so-called soft money, the unlimited donations that political parties raise from unions, corporations and individuals.

The legislation was cleared by Congress earlier this month after a monumental struggle that played out for more than a decade. McConnell, who led numerous filibusters that killed the legislation in earlier years, trumpeted his intention to file suit after deciding further opposition in Congress would be futile.

Bush's ambivalence about the legislation was clearly on display. He signed the measure in the early morning in the White House, relying on aides to phone McCain and other lawmakers with the news, skipping the type of ceremony in which the moment is captured by TV cameras.