WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2010


KLMNO POLITICS THE NATION & Bill on political ad disclosures falls short in Senate


DEMOCRATS SHY OF 60 VOTES


Setback for bid to curb corporate spending


by Dan Eggen Senate Republicans on Tues-


day blocked legislation requiring fuller disclosure of the money be- hind political advertising, derail- ing a major White House initia- tive and virtually ensuring an on- slaught of attack ads during this year’s midterm election season. The vote — in which Demo-


crats fell just shy of the 60 votes needed to avoid a GOP filibuster — marks a major setback for President Obama, who has railed against the influence of special interests in elections and pushed for the legislation as a counter- point to court rulings freeing up the use of corporate money in politics. The development also repre- sents a significant victory for Senate Republicans and business groups, which portrayed the measure as a Democratic attempt to tilt the playing field by discour- aging corporations and other likely critics from spending mon- ey on political ads. The measure is the latest in a series of Demo- cratic initiatives that have been approved by the House only to die in the Senate, including com- prehensive climate-change legis- lation abandoned last week.


A job with a view


Opponents of the Disclose Act — which would force corpora- tions, unions and other groups to reveal the donors behind their political ads — said the vote marked a victory for free-speech rights, including the rights of cor- porations to spend as much as they want on political advertis- ing. “This bill is a partisan effort, pure and simple. . . . This bill is about protecting incumbent Democrats from criticism ahead of the November election,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McCon- nell (R-Ky.) said before the vote. Democrats, however, por-


trayed the legislation as an at- tempt to force transparency on political advertising by outside groups and corporations, activity that is often cloaked in anonym- ity and is now largely unre- strained by campaign finance re- strictions. Party leaders signaled Tuesday that they will seek to make the issue part of a broader line of attack on Republicans as backing corporate interests on such issues as Wall Street reform and the health-care overhaul. “With this vote, we’re taking


sides,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), the chief archi- tect of the Senate bill. The official tally showed 57 votes in favor of moving the legis- lation forward, but that did not include Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) — who voted no in order to preserve the ability to reintroduce the meas- ure — or Sen. Joseph I. Lieber- man (I-Conn.), who was absent but signaled that he would vote yes if given the chance.


Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), left, called the bill “a partisan effort, pure and simple.” Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), the bill’s chief architect, said he will try again.


Schumer vowed to try again af- ter the August recess, and he said he is open to changes to attract GOP support. But Tuesday’s vote


effectively quashes any chance of enacting disclosure requirements for the 2010 midterms, which ap- pear likely to include record ex-


Okla. GOP nominates Rep. Fallin for governor


Associated Press oklahoma city — Rep. Mary


Fallin (R) defeated three challengers Tuesday to win her party’s nomination in the Oklahoma governor’s race. In November, Fallin will face either state Attorney General Drew Edmondson or Lt. Gov. Jari Askins, who were squaring off in the Democratic primary. With 74 percent of precincts reporting, Askins held a slim lead. Fallin received more than


58 percent of the GOP vote, easily outpacing state Sen. Randy Brogdon of Owasso and Oklahoma City area businessmen Robert Hubbard and Roger Jackson. A 20-year veteran of Oklahoma politics, Fallin raised more than


$2.4million for the race, more than eight times as much as Brogdon, and national Republicans hailed her victory. She was the first woman and first Republican ever elected lieutenant governor in


Oklahoma, a post she held for 12 years before running in 2006 for Oklahoma’s 5th Congressional District seat. The candidates were vying to replace Gov. Brad Henry (D), who was prevented by term limits from running for reelection after eight years in office.


Oklahomans also voted for U.S.


Senate candidates. Incumbent Republican Tom Coburn easily fended off two primary challengers, while Democrats nominated perennial candidate Jim Rogers of Midwest City for the November ballot.


penditures by outside groups and corporations. The legislation was drafted as a response to the 5 to 4 Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The court found that corpora- tions had the same rights as indi- viduals to engage in political speech and could therefore spend as much as they wanted for or against specific candidates. Oba- ma pointedly criticized the ruling during his State of the Union ad- dress, prompting an unusual public objection weeks later by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. One example of the effect of


the Citizens United case came to light this week in Minnesota, where a Republican-leaning po- litical group reported accepting $150,000 from Target and $100,000 from Best Buy. The group, MN Forward, is running TV ads supporting state Rep. Tom Emmer, the likely GOP nominee for governor. The case also illus- trates the perils of disclosure for corporations: Democrats and gay advocacy groups have threatened boycotts in light of the contribu- tions. Under the bill defeated Tues-


day, corporations and most inter- est groups would be subject to stricter financial disclosure re- quirements. The measure would also broad- en restrictions on foreign-con- trolled companies and would re- quire heads of companies and in- terest groups to appear on camera during their political spots.


Obama told reporters Monday that “a vote to oppose these re-


forms is nothing less than a vote to allow corporate and special- interest takeovers of our elec- tions.”


But the legislation attracted opposition from a strange-bed- fellows group including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Civil Liberties Union and the AFL-CIO, which said it “reluctantly” opposed the legisla- tion after Schumer removed an exemption benefiting unions. An exemption for the National Rifle Association irritated many Dem- ocrats and liberal groups but had no apparent impact on Tuesday’s vote.


Both sides claimed de facto


support from the Supreme Court. McConnell and others said the Disclose Act would run counter to the high court’s decision in Cit- izens United by chilling the free- speech rights of corporations and nonprofit groups. But the bill was written largely on the basis of a lesser-noticed decision, in which the court ruled 8 to 1 in favor of the government’s ability to en- force disclosure requirements for organizations that participate in the political process. Craig Holman, government af- fairs lobbyist for Public Citizen, criticized Republicans for voting against the bill after voicing sup- port for transparency in politics. But the Center for Competitive


Politics, which opposes most campaign-finance restrictions, called the vote “a key victory for supporters of free political speech” and accused Democrats of seeking to enact the legislation for electoral advantage. eggend@washpost.com


States setting pace on school change


Obama bid to rewrite ‘No Child’ makes scant progress in Congress


by Nick Anderson


While states are moving fast to overhaul public schools, Presi- dent Obama’s education agenda is hitting a wall in Congress. Education Secretary Arne Duncan announced Tuesday that the District and 18 states, includ- ing Maryland, remain in the run- ning for a share of $3.4 billion in the federal Race to the Top com- petition, with winners to be an- nounced in September. The con- test, funded by the 2009 eco- nomic stimulus law, has fueled support for making student achievement a significant factor in teacher evaluations and pay, easing limits on public charter schools and embracing national standards.


DEAN J. KOEPFLER/ASSOCIATED PRESS


Hundreds of feet in the air, workers paint the suspension cables of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in Washington state. At its highest point, the bridge, running between Tacoma and the Kitsap Peninsula, is about 510 feet above the water. The paint job is expected to be finished by the end of August.


DIGEST NEW YORK


Mosques get extra Ramadan patrols


The New York Police Depart- ment will increase foot patrols at mosques during Ramadan, the Is- lamic month of fasting that be- gins in August, amid a rise this year in the number of hate crimes against Muslims.


“I know this is the most sacred time of the year for the Muslim faith,” Police Commissioner Ray- mond Kelly said Tuesday at a news conference attended by about 400 people, including lead- ers of the Muslim community. “Our goal at the department is that you are able to experience it in safety and in peace.” New York City has more than 100 mosques, compared with 10 in 1970, and more than 800,000 of its 8.21 million residents are Muslims, said Philip Banks III, chief of the department’s Com- munity Affairs Bureau. Ramadan starts Aug. 11 and ends Sept. 9. — Bloomberg News


UTAH


Polygamist leader granted new trial


Utah’s Supreme Court tossed out the sexual-abuse conviction of polygamist leader Warren Jeffs and ordered a new trial on charg- es that he forced a 14-year-old girl to marry her first cousin. The court ruled Tuesday that


Jeffs’s trial judge had erred by failing to tell jurors that they could not render a guilty verdict unless they determined that Jeffs knew unwanted sex would occur. Jeffs is considered the leader of


the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or the FLDS, a polygamist sect that has an estimated 10,000 fol- lowers in Utah, Arizona, Texas, Colorado, South Dakota and Brit- ish Columbia. He was sentenced in November 2007 to a term of 10 years to life in prison for two felo- ny convictions on charges he was an accomplice to rape.


— Reuters PENNSYLVANIA


Woman accused of bridal-show scam


A Pittsburgh woman was ar- rested Tuesday


for allegedly


cheating advertisers and exhibi- tors out of thousands of dollars for a fake bridal show in Boston, and the FBI said she conducted similar scams in five other states. Karen Tucker and an un-


charged co-conspirator allegedly posed as representatives of a business known as the Boston 411, then led the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority to believe they would hold an ex- travagant home and bridal show at the Hynes Convention Center over three days in March. The heavily promoted show promised exhibitors face time with thousands of preregistered


brides-to-be, though few were ac- tually lined up, authorities said. Federal officials allege


that


Tucker also conducted scams against wedding businesses in Ohio, Florida, Maryland, Nevada and Texas. Tucker declined Tuesday to comment on the charges as she was led away from a Pittsburgh courtroom in shackles. Her attor- ney also did not comment. — Associated Press


Settlement in Sean Bell shoot- ing: New York City has settled a lawsuit with the fiancee and friends of a man fatally gunned down in a 50-bullet police shoot- ing for more than $7 million. The settlement pays $3.25 million to the estate of Sean Bell, $3 million to Joseph Guzman and $900,000 to Trent Benefield. Bell was killed and Guzman and Benefield were wounded outside a strip club in 2006 while leaving a bachelor party on what would have been Bell’s wedding day.


Kerry says he will pay yacht tax: Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) has told the Massachusetts Depart- ment of Revenue that he will pay taxes on his new $7 million yacht, even though the vessel is based in tax-free Rhode Island. Docking the 76-foot sloop Isabel in New- port, R.I., spared Kerry a $437,500 one-time sales tax charge in Massachusetts, as well as about $70,000 in annual excise taxes.


— From news services


But those breakthroughs have come as election-year divisions have emerged in Washington over federal education policy. Ef- forts to rewrite the No Child Left Behind law have failed to yield a bipartisan bill. There is a growing sense on Capitol Hill that the law enacted in 2002 under President George W. Bush will remain at least until next year, even though Obama pledged repeatedly as a candi- date in 2008 to revise it. The law, which stresses annual standard- ized testing, is controversial in part because a third of public schools are now labeled as failing to meet standards.


Despite pleas from Duncan and Obama, it also appears in- creasingly unlikely that the Dem- ocratic-led Congress will provide a bailout for schools this summer to prevent teacher layoffs and program cuts related to local budget troubles. “I have a suspicion we’re going


to have a deadlock for the next two years,” said Jack Jennings, president of the Center on Edu- cation Policy and a former Dem- ocratic congressional aide. He said that Republicans might not have an appetite to work with Obama on education and that the president’s political capital on the issue “has pretty much been spent.”


Other analysts said the admin-


istration is continuing to muster support for funding efforts to re- form education. That could ex- tend the upheaval in school pol- icy unfolding in the states. For example, education authorities in 28 states and the District have given full or preliminary approv- al to national standards in Eng- lish and math — a politically un- thinkable development just a few years ago.


Race to the Top “has caused more change in education policy among states in a short period of


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DREW ANGERER/ASSOCIATED PRESS


Education Secretary Arne Duncan talks about the federal Race to the Top grant competition at the National Press Club in Washington.


time than we’ve ever seen,” said Cynthia G. Brown, vice president for education policy of the pro- Democratic Center for American Progress. “We’ve had huge change, not just in Washington, D.C., but around the country.” The other finalists are Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Ken- tucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Caro- lina. Seventeen states were elimi- nated from this round of the competition.


Duncan told the National


Press Club on Tuesday that the administration is focusing more attention than ever on the low- est-performing schools. He praised local unions for teaming with school boards on experi- ments in performance pay and evaluation. “We’re building on what we know works — and doesn’t work,” Duncan said. “And while there are still some honest policy disagreements among key stakeholders, there is far more consensus than people think.” Duncan has become one of the most influential education secre- taries in the three decades since the department was founded. He designed Race to the Top, which tries to engineer reform through incentives rather than mandates, and he helped push Congress to eliminate a federal student loan program that provided huge public subsidies to private lend- ers. In March, Duncan released a blueprint for a revision of No Child Left Behind. It continued the administration’s emphasis on competitive grants and called for ending the use of “adequate year- ly progress,” a performance measure derived from annual test scores, to rate schools. Under current law, all students tested are supposed to show pro- ficiency in English and math by 2014, and schools are supposed to make adequate progress


toward that goal from year to year. Obama and Duncan are seeking to replace that goal with a new target: having all students on track for college and careers by 2020. Schools would get more credit for individual student growth and would be subject to fewer federal mandates unless they have a long record of poor test scores. So far, the blueprint remains only that. Hearings have been held in the House and Senate. Talks among key lawmakers are ongoing. Rep. George Miller (D- Calif.), chairman of the Educa- tion and Labor Committee, said he remains optimistic that the House will act on a revision. But no bipartisan bill has been in- troduced, and there have been no committee votes. Prospects for action are dimming rapidly as November’s elections approach. Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.),


a key Republican on education, called the issue dead for the year. “I’d say time is up,” Alexander said Tuesday. “I don’t see it hap- pening.”


Duncan said in a brief inter-


view that he wants action now but that “if it goes early next year, that’s good, too.” This week, the NAACP, the Na- tional Urban League and some other civil rights groups crit- icized elements of the adminis- tration’s policy that favor compe- tition. “If education is a civil right, children in ‘winning’ states should not be the only ones who have the opportunity to learn in high-quality environments,” the groups wrote in a 17-page pro- posal for revising No Child Left Behind. They said Obama should put more effort into spreading education resources equitably. Administration officials say


they have long been concerned about education equity. Obama is expected to elabo-


rate on school reform in a speech Thursday to the National Urban League.


andersonn@washpost.com


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