Disclose Act backers push Sens. Collins, Snowe for support

Advocates of campaign finance legislation are stepping up their pressure on Maine's Republican senators in the hopes of enacting the House-passed bill in time for the 2010 midterm elections.

Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins have become the final hopes for backers of the legislation, who are battling a rapidly closing time window and the Senate's 60-vote threshold in their efforts to advance the bill before Congress leaves for its summer recess. While both Maine Republicans have voiced concerns about the bill, known as the Disclose Act, the advocates pointed to their longstanding support for tighter campaign finance regulations. "We have a really urgent need," a Republican former member of the Federal Elections Commission, Trevor Potter, said July 19 on a conference call held to urge Sens Snowe and Collins to support the legislation. Potter said he had "great respect" for both senators and was "particularly hopeful that they will take a leading role in passing the Disclose Act."