McCain advisor shifts stance

Reformer seeks finance loopholes

NEW YORK - Senator John McCain toiled for years to push a campaign finance overhaul through Congress. After the measure finally passed, Trevor Potter, a lawyer and vigorous advocate of the effort, was instrumental in defending it from challenges and pressing for it to be strictly enforced.

Now, as McCain makes his final sprint for the White House, Potter is again helping him, but this time by maneuvering to wring the maximum out of campaign finance law in ways that some contend are at odds with the spirit of the reforms they championed.

The tactics appear to be legally permissible. And some argue that the McCain campaign is simply doing what is necessary in the face of the record fund-raising by his Democratic rival for the presidency, Senator Barack Obama, and Obama's decision to bypass public financing and its attendant spending limits.

But critics say McCain is capitalizing on legal loopholes that a watchdog organization headed by Potter has fought against. Former associates say Potter would oppose the moves were he not in the trenches with McCain.

"There are very, very few lawyers in the country that are better at exploiting campaign finance loopholes than Trevor Potter," said Bradley A. Smith, a Republican and a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission.

"Of course, that's one of the odd things about the McCain campaign: 'Here's the rules we want, but we'll play by the rules that are here.' "

McCain was an author of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, known as the McCain-Feingold law, an ambitious measure that supporters hoped would help drive big money out of politics. He has also cosponsored legislation to improve the public financing system for elections and attacked Obama for backing away from a pledge to participate in it for the general election if his rival accepted public money.

But now, Potter, as McCain's top legal adviser, and his team have been helping the campaign finesse the strict spending limits it faces under public financing.