THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Tuesday, October 22, 1996             TAG: 9610220011
SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A12  EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Editorial 
                                            LENGTH:   44 lines

THE PROMISE OF CAMPAIGN-FINANCE REFORM TALK IS CHEAP

Bob Dole has had a deathbed conversion to the cause of campaign-finance reform. His campaign for the presidency on life support, Dole has seized on Clinton fund-raising atrocities to save himself. All converts are welcome.

The Dole campaign is cudgeling Clinton for accepting big contributions from foreign interests including the Indonesian Lippo Group and a South Korean firm.

There are laws against accepting money from overseas, and if they haven't been broken, they've certainly been bent. But, as we have previously noted, the Clinton campaign is hardly alone. During Senator Dole's long career he's accepted millions from corporations with business pending before the government. In several well-documented cases, the companies that have given large donations received large tax breaks.

In this campaign, Dole has also received money from foreign donors and a campaign-finance vice chairman for Dole will be sentenced this week for illegally laundering campaign funds through Hong Kong.

In effect, the campaign has now boiled down to the rhetorical defense of tu quoque - you're one, too. Attacked for some fault and lacking an answer, the fellow on the receiving end claims his opponent is guilty of the same fault. Thus, Dole charges Clinton with skirting campaign-finance laws and Clinton surrogates rush out not to deny it but to say Dole does it too. And so he does, but that's hardly a reason to vote for either.

In fact, politics in the United States is awash in money, and if it doesn't buy legislative favors it certainly buys the access that allows favors to be asked. The Bush White House made the quid pro quo explicit with its Team 100 fund-raising pitch. Give $100,000, get a private meeting with the president.

Neither Dole nor Clinton, operating at the top of their respective parties, has made campaign-finance reform a priority over the past four years. Both now promise they will during the next four years, if elected.

But each party typically seeks reform that provides a partisan advantage. Republicans want to limit labor-union giving; Democrats hope to keep corporations from buying elections. The resulting deadlock guarantees business as usual. There's little reason to hope that will change after Nov. 5, but it should. The present system is scandalous, both Democrats and Republicans share the shame - and citizens are the losers. by CNB