Bush's Tilt Toward Business Puts Risk in Veto of Reforms

By RONALD BROWNSTEIN

March 30, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES POLITICAL WRITER

WASHINGTON — From the environment and workplace safety to the laws governing debt collection and patient protection, President Bush in just two months has emphatically defined himself as a champion of business interests resisting federal regulation.

Now, strategists in both parties believe, that record could limit Bush’s freedom to veto the campaign reform legislation that might end up on his desk after passing its toughest Senate hurdles this week.

Indeed, the bill’s supporters are hoping to use Bush’s pro-business record to increase pressure on him to sign the legislation if it also clears the House. Allies of the bill’s principal sponsor, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), are quickly starting to argue that, after aligning with business on so many disputes, a Bush decision to veto legislation that bans unlimited “soft money” contributions to political parties--much of which comes from corporations--could brand him as overly sympathetic to corporate interests.

“It’s not a rightward drift that defines his administration, it’s a distinctive corporate drift,” says Marshall Wittmann, a senior fellow at the conservative Hudson Institute. “And if there is an economic downturn, that could be a devastating characterization for Bush.”

Bush already has seemed to soften his position on the campaign finance bill. He no longer stresses the elements of it he disagrees with, as he did last year when he and McCain vied for the Republican presidential nomination. On Thursday, in fact, he said he will sign a bill if he decides the final product “improves the system,” comments that McCain allies took as a positive signal.

One senior White House official emphatically denied that Bush’s pro-business moves on environmental disputes, such as the regulation of carbon dioxide emissions or arsenic in drinking water, would affect his decision if a campaign finance reform bill reaches his desk.

“We are not sitting around here with a tote sheet,” said the official, who asked to remain anonymous while discussing White House deliberations. “I have never heard any discussions that we did this for that group, so we have to do X for Y.”

But with recent national polls now showing a majority of Americans believe Bush is too concerned about big business, even some White House political advisors worry that the McCain advisors may have a point, especially after the flurry of recent administration decisions reversing or suspending Clinton-era environmental regulations.

“I think it will be very hard for Bush to veto a campaign finance bill, because it would say he wants politics as usual in Washington,” acknowledges one GOP strategist close to the White House. “Can you imagine vetoing a campaign finance reform bill in the midst of a big tax cut and environmental disputes? It would seem like he wants to keep big corporate soft money flowing in, so that’s why he did all that.”

So far, national polls show Bush maintaining broad public support. But warning signs are flashing from the edges of the surveys.

ABC/Washington Post and CNN/Time surveys released last week showed Bush maintaining a strong overall job approval rating of 55% to 58%. But both polls showed that only about half of voters gave him positive marks for his handling of the economy--and in each case only about 45% approved of his early moves on the environment. In the CNN/Time survey, 53% of Americans said that Bush pays too much attention to the concerns of big business.

As a candidate, Bush identified more with small business than big business, portraying himself as the candidate of Main Street, not Wall Street. In office, he’s steadfastly maintained that positioning on one high-profile issue: taxes. Though many at the business world’s pinnacle would benefit from Bush’s proposed reduction in the top income tax rate, he has rejected corporate demands for more specifically targeted tax relief, such as a reduction in capital gains taxes or the corporate income tax.

But on a long list of other choices early in his administration, he’s sided with business interests complaining about what they see as excessive federal regulation and intrusion. These have included his reversal of a campaign promise to seek a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions linked to global warming and his decision to block a Clinton-era rule to reduce the permissible level of arsenic in drinking water.

He has already signed legislation repealing yet another Clinton-era rule that aimed to protect workers against repetitive stress injuries and has indicated that he will sign a bill, strongly backed by the credit industry, that would make it more difficult for consumers to declare bankruptcy.

Conversely, Bush has said he would veto the “patients’ bill of rights” measure sponsored by McCain and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) that would make it easier for consumers to sue health maintenance organizations in disputes over care.

Meanwhile, labor and consumer groups are mobilizing against Bush’s choice of John D. Graham to head the office that reviews all federal regulations. Graham headed a “Center for Risk Analysis” at Harvard University that attracted large corporate contributions and repeatedly opposed new federal environmental and safety regulations.

Democrats believe this pointed tilt toward business, especially on environmental issues, could make it that much more difficult for him to woo the swing suburban voters outside the South that he generally failed to capture in the 2000 election.

One White House advisor said the confluence of policy decisions, while perhaps politically uncomfortable, was unavoidable given the frustration that accumulated in the business community after eight years of the Clinton administration. “We are taking a different course on [various] issues, and sometimes you don’t get to choose when you deal with these things,” said the advisor, who asked not to be identified when discussing administration policy.

The GOP strategist close to the White House said the prevailing internal view was that these early moves would not hurt Bush if he can find ways to reestablish his centrist credentials before the 2002 midterm elections. That’s exactly what campaign finance reform advocates are counting on as their legislation, after years of struggle, moves closer to the president’s desk.

“If I were in their shoes, I would certainly think there would be a risk of vetoing it,” said John Weaver, a top McCain advisor.