A collection of political have-nots is out to accomplish collectively what its members couldn't do individually: Defeat the powers of congressional incumbency. ``Our country is suffering from an imperial, permanent Congress. It is a Congress that cannot solve the problems we have,'' complained Paul Jurgens, a Decatur, Ill., Republican who ran unsuccessfully for the House in 1988. He was one of more than three dozen past and current congressional challengers who gathered Monday on Capitol Hill to call for a political housecleaning. ``Our federally elected officials have so rigged the process that they are impossible to unseat,'' said Harold Coker, a Chattanooga, Tenn., Republican and losing candidate in 1988. That complaint was the central theme at a meeting of the Coalition to End the Permanent Congress, a grassroots organization formed out of frustration with the 1988 elections, in which 98.5 percent of House incumbents won re-election. Coalition members from at least 18 states advocated a long list of reform proposals. Among them were a ban on taxpayer-paid mass mailings by members of Congress; prohibiting lawmakers from accepting honoraria or speaking fees; eliminating political action committees, which contribute mostly to campaigns of incumbents; and imposing a 12-year limit on how long members can serve in the House and Senate. Lionel Kunst, a Kansas Democrat who helped found the group, urged coalition members to return to their states and vigorously push the issue of congressional reform among voters. ``This thing is hot right now. We can make a greater impact,'' said Kunst. The group has met about a half dozen times in other cities since its first gathering last year in Kansas City, Mo. The coalition's latest assault on incumbency came as the Senate prepared to consider legislation to overhaul the system of financing congressional campaigns. But Kunst denounced the legislation as ``pablum'' and said it would do little for challengers.
