Word: panelized
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...battle for campaign finance reform has been waged in New Hampshire by Sen. John R. McCain (R-Ariz.) on his Straight Talk Express, by bowtied political pundits on Sunday morning talk shows and by toupeed legislators on Congressional floors. A federal judicial panel is now the center of the ideological battle in a suit challenging the constitutionality of the new “Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.” It has pitted an unlikely alliance of the American Civil Liberties Union and former Lewinskygate prosecutor Kenneth Starr against McCain and former President Clinton’s Solicitor...
...judicial panel must uphold these important provisions and help end the pork-barrel handouts that Washington doles out to wealthy contributors. It would be a travesty if the judges overturned such a necessary and popular step toward a cleaner and more democratic federal government...
...selection of Kissinger, however, is a meaningful one, demonstrating that Bush is serious about the panel and its duty. Bush’s choice is symbolic also, a hint to lawmakers that the administration remembers—and may assent to—Kissinger’s effective, if controversial, political methods...
Originally, the panel was thrust upon Bush by the Democratic Senate to win their party much-needed support during the height of Bush’s sky-high popularity. So, when this political nonsense became reality due to popular demand, Bush had to find an appropriate way to accommodate the majority of the Senate, while molding the policy to his own political objectives. Enter Kissinger, whose selection represents two motives: one practical and one ideological...
...practical one stems from the Bush administration’s realization that when a feisty congressional body throws the president lemons, he ought to make lemonade. Indeed, a panel with the ad hoc purpose to consider retroactively the failures of an intelligence community that no longer exists in its pre-Sept. 11 structure serves little purpose today. However, Kissinger will have the opportunity—if he takes it—to modify the panel’s objectives. The current mandate given by Congress is broad, but Bush’s implementation of it had been expected...