November
7, 2002
VIA FACSIMILE
The Honorable
Mary Landrieu
The
Friends of Mary Landrieu
1728 St. Charles Ave.
New Orleans,
LA 70130
Dear Senator
Landrieu:
With the mid-term
elections nearly over, all eyes are now focused on your run-off
election in December.
Last year, you
proudly took to the Senate floor and voted in favor of the McCain-Feingold
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) to, among other things, effectively
eliminate so-called "unregulated soft money" donations by national
party committees in federal elections. In fact, you are a BCRA
co-sponsor.
The Center for
Individual Freedom is a named plaintiff in the lawsuit challenging
the constitutionality of BCRA, as we seek to restore the First Amendment
rights of millions of Americans to engage in the political process
that you and many of your colleagues so willingly stripped away.
Your campaign
reportedly raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in soft money
donations for the November 5 contest through joint accounts set
up with the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee conduct
that will be outlawed under BCRA should it be upheld by the U.S.
Supreme Court. In addition, according to your October 16 campaign
finance report, you accepted tens of thousands of dollars in soft
money contributions directly from the Democratic Party also
prohibited under your "reform" legislation.
Per your wishes,
as of yesterday, BCRA is the law of the land. We know that BCRA's
provisions do not apply to run-offs, recounts or other contests
resulting from the November 5 elections. However, as a matter of
your own, albeit distorted, principles on campaign finance, it would
behoove you to reject all soft money donations during the run-off
and campaign within the bounds of BCRA. You voted for it; live
by it. We think many of the election results thus far were votes
against hypocrisy; this is your chance to rise above that.
The Center for
Individual Freedom is a nonpartisan constitutional advocacy group
with the mission to protect and defend individual freedoms and rights
in the legal, legislative and educational arenas. We have and will
continue to fight to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans
even those, including you, who seek to subvert those rights.
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Mazzella
Sr.
Vice President, Legislative Affairs
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