Politicians walk last mile with Granny D

WASHINGTON (AP) --A 90-year-old great-grandmother ended a yearlong, 3,000-mile trek Tuesday at the steps of the Capitol,<br>accompanied by three congressional backers of the campaign finance reform movement

Tuesday, February 29th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WASHINGTON (AP) --A 90-year-old great-grandmother ended a yearlong, 3,000-mile trek Tuesday at the steps of the Capitol,
accompanied by three congressional backers of the campaign finance reform movement that inspired her journey.

"As long as money is the primary factor in our election process, the wealthy and their well-heeled friends will dominate the system," said Doris "Granny D" Haddock, as she led a
demonstration at the end of the walk she began Jan. 1, 1999, in Los Angeles.

Police arrested 17 people later as they demonstrated for campaign finance reform inside the massive Rotunda beneath the
Capitol dome, said Dan Nichols, spokesman for the Capitol Police.

The protesters chanted and unfurled banners demanding that elections be financed from the federal Treasury. They were charged
for demonstrating inside the Capitol building, a charge punishable by a fine of $500 and six months in jail.

With the help of three members of Congress, Haddock climbed the east steps of the Capitol, from where she chastised the trio's
colleagues for turning government "of the people, by the people, for the people" into a government "by and for the wealthy elite."

The trio -- Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., and Reps. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., and Marty Meehan, D-Mass. -- said they supported
Haddock on the final leg of her trip because of her extraordinary effort to back an issue they've championed for years.

Feingold and Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., are co-sponsors of a campaign finance bill that has
languished after being filibustered in the last session.

"This is absolutely amazing," Feingold said. "Every once in a while somebody or something comes to change an issue by symbolizing it, and the idea that this woman would walk across the states just to pass the McCain-Feingold bill is a dream come true."

The House passed a companion bill last year.