Eight to Go

Friday, September 21, 2001; Page A36

TWO MORE members, Reps. Frank Wolf of Virginia and Cynthia McKinney of Georgia, have signed the discharge petition meant to force an unambiguous up-or-down vote on campaign finance reform this year. They added their names two Mondays ago, the day before the terrorist attacks that transformed national politics. The two bring to 210 the number of members who have signed or pledged to do so, only eight shy of the 218 needed.

For Mr. Wolf particularly, joining the petitioners was a difficult act for which he deserves considerable credit; he is an appropriations subcommittee chairman who, in signing, had to buck his party's leadership. Rep. McKinney is one of a number of Congressional Black Caucus members to have signed the petition after earlier hesitation. It's the right decision. The so-called soft money system that the leading bill would ban is no friend to the constituencies that black caucus members mainly represent.

Campaign finance reform is hardly uppermost on anyone's mind these days, but it remains a fundamental cleansing step that Congress can and ought to take this year. We hope that in the next few weeks the additional members necessary will sign the petition or, better yet, that the leadership will reconsider its position, as it should, and schedule the bill on its own. There are plenty of members yet to sign who have supported the main proposal in the past. A day is all the debate would take. Clearly the House has that to spare.