ThinkProgress catches Tom "Hold 'em" Coburn being a big ol' liar.
COBURN: I look at Virginia — they haven’t had any problems with their campaign finance at all for 30 years — and there’s is, there is no limits [on contributions], you just have to publish it. You know, if I have a conflict of interest, and I’m publishing it, that’s going to control me better than any set of rules or regulations. And so, transparency is the answer — not just in campaigns — but in all of government.
Disclosure! Transparency! But three guesses who filibustered the DISCLOSE Act, which would have required that contributions be "published" and have provided "transparency." Maybe he misunderstood that part (all) of the bill? If so, he might have a chance to rethink that vote.
Senate Democrats are considering a plan to hold centrist Republicans’ feet to the fire by forcing a vote on a bare-bones campaign disclosure bill....
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), the lead sponsor of the bill, is expressing a willingness to negotiate on the bill but has stopped short of saying he’s decided to strip away everything but straight disclosure.
“We of course are open to adjusting the bill to address any legitimate concerns raised by Senate Republicans, but we do plan to bring it back up,” he said Monday in a statement. “The threat to our democracy is too great.”
Looking ahead to definite pick-ups by Republicans, and possible majority shifts, reformers are pushing hard to get at least some disclosure law through. The primary targets for pressure will be Snowe and Collins, but now that Coburn has such a commitment to transparency, maybe he'll reconsider. Seriously, though, the last vote in the Senate was very close, garnering 58 votes, with Lieberman being absent. Perhaps Voinovich, in his new-found commitment to good government, will decide to make the difference.