OCR Text |
Show Bennett doubts reform's worth Senator Wallace F. Bennett, R-Utah, today expressed "reservations" "res-ervations" about President Johnson's proposals for campaign cam-paign finance reforms, and gave his support to a Republican Republi-can recommendation for an income in-come tax reduction for political contributions up to $100. His comments were made as the Senate Finance Committee resumed hearings today on political po-litical campaign financing methods. Sen. Bennett is a member of the tax-writing Senate Finance Committee, and a member of a special committee commit-tee responsible for developing a Republican position on tax deductions for poUtical contributions. contri-butions. Senator Bennett said, "Under "Un-der the President's plan, Congress Con-gress would appropriate money every ofur years and hand it over for Presidential campaign costs. This would eliminate any taxpayer control over the amount given, and to whom." The Utah Republican said, "There is . reason to wonder whether such a system would not blow the lid off the Presidential Pres-idential campaign spendi n g. Certainly there is no reason to suppose that the cost of Presl- i dential elections would not go right on skyrocketing." Sen. Bennett also said the Administration's proposals "would give the President firm and considerable control over the naming of candidates to his own party. In addition, under the President's plan, funds that would normally go into the Presidential campaign could be steered into "favored" states or into areas where candidates of the President's party appear to be in political trouble." |