The war of words between Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) and Reps. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) and Marty Meehan (D-Mass.) escalated this week as Bartlett issued a “Dear Colleague” letter stating that “the campaign finance ‘reformers’ have missed the mark.” [IMGCAP(1)]

“An advocacy group should never have to establish a federally-regulated PAC to run issue ads,” Bartlett wrote. “Citizens should never have to report to the federal government their public references to and depictions of federal candidates in issue ads.”

Bartlett is sponsoring legislation to repeal the section of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act dealing with electioneering communication — an effort to which Shays and Meehan vigorously objected in their own letter last week. They noted that the Supreme Court had already upheld their legislation.

— Amy Keller