John McCain worked to pass legislation.
Campaign finance reform is the political effort in the United States to change the involvement of money in politics , primarily in political campaigns . Although attempts to regulate campaign finance by legislation date back to 1867 , the modern era of `` campaign finance reform '' in the United States begins with the passage of the Federal Election Campaign Act ( FECA ) of 1971 and , more importantly , 1974 amendments to that Act . John McCain . After being investigated and largely exonerated in a political influence scandal of the 1980s as a member of the Keating Five , he made campaign finance reform one of his signature concerns , eventually gaining passage of the McCain -- Feingold Act in 2002 .