The Center for Public Integrity

It is no surprise and nothing new in the land of the spin and the home of the sound bite that each and every candidate for the presidency in the year 2000 would like to convince us that he and only he is the candidate of reform, the candidate with integrity, the candidate who will bring a new day to America. Amid all the words and posturing, the Center for Public Integrity once again takes a dispassionate look at those who craft the message that makes the candidate. Our conclusion: nothing new, little sign of reform, little goes on that is not packaged by party machines, lobbyists and special interests.

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain has talked at length about tax cuts that would benefit lower- and middle-income taxpayers. He has also said that most of those cuts would be financed by closing loopholes in the tax code that are enjoyed by those corporations flooding Washington with campaign contributions. What the Arizona senator doesn't talk much about is a bill he proposed in October that would enrich a few of those well-heeled corporations — the large telecommunications firms that have bankrolled much of his political career.

The 2000 election cycle promised to be a high-stakes and free-spending election by anyone's measure. The balance of power in Congress was in question and the White House was up for grabs. The import of this election cycle meant that interested groups were going to be as active as possible in as many ways as possible.

Steve Forbes' signature line in his 2000 campaign is, "Steve Forbes: He wants you to win." But who's the "you" in his slogan?

WASHINGTON, D.C. January 18, 2000 — When George W. Bush first embarked on a deal to buy the Texas Rangers professional baseball team in 1988, he already had his eye on the governor's mansion in Austin. But he knew that to have a shot at winning, he would need better credentials than a string of unsuccessful oil companies and a failed bid for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1989 he told Time magazine, "My biggest liability in Texas is the question, 'What's the boy ever done?' He could be riding on Daddy's name."

WASHINGTON, D.C. January 11, 2000 — On Sept. 7, 1995, Vice President Albert Gore Jr., stood on the White House lawn and talked in sweeping terms about ending the era of big government. He touted a list of recommendations formulated by the National Performance Review, an initiative Gore directed that he claimed streamlined the federal bureaucracy, cut unnecessary waste and helped make the government "work better and cost less." Gore said that his report, delivered to President Clinton that day, would continue the drive to "reinvent government."

January 6, 2000 — Democratic presidential candidate Bill Bradley laid out his plans for tax reform on Jan. 4, attacking corporate tax shelters and special interest provisions. Bradley is certainly an expert on the subject; in 1986, he was the driving force behind the biggest tax giveaway to special interests ever.

WASHINGTON, D.C. January 5, 2000 — Each of the leading presidential candidates for the 2000 election has done public- policy favors for his campaign contributors, according to a new Center for Public Integrity book, The Buying of the President 2000 (Avon). Every major White House contender who has held past elective office has "career patrons," or longtime financial sponsors, who have underwritten his political career. And every major aspirant has used his government position to help his patrons.

WASHINGTON, January 4, 2000 — The peaceful transfer of power is a majestic moment in any democracy, but it is particularly poignant for the most powerful nation on earth. Indeed, through wars and depressions, assassinations and scandals, for more than two centuries the United States of America unflinchingly has chosen its national leader every four years in an elegant exercise "of the people, by the people and for the people."

The Center for Public Integrity is investigating how billions of dollars of allegedly corrupted money from the former Soviet Union have found a haven in the United States, despite strict anti-laundering laws. Last month, the Center reported how a small San Francisco bank became a conduit for questionable funds as it, like many other banks around the country, aggressively pursued the cash from the former Soviet Bloc. Today the Center reports on how political campaigns, also aggressively chasing after cash, end up with equally questionable contributions as suspected Russian organized crime figures seek to move into the U.S. political mainstream In future articles, the Center will show how the failure to sift the good money from bad is being replayed all over America.