Brian Bilbray: “I regretfully have to stand in opposition to the substitute. I think the gentleman from California (Mr. Doolittle), my…”

“I regretfully have to stand in opposition to the substitute. I think the gentleman from California (Mr. Doolittle), my dear colleague that I have worked so closely with for so long, has come up with a lot of hard work and a total reform of the approach to campaign finance reform, and I have got to give him credit for that. He has shifted the whole perspective to a whole new view. We may be there some day, but the fact is today we have Shays-Meehan in front of us. We have a bill that tries to correct the problems of campaign finance reform that was passed in the 1970s. The proposal of the gentleman from California would totally approach the issue totally different than we have in the last 30 years. I would ask us to consider, let us see if we can fix the existing system before we try to replace the entire system with a whole new approach. Now, I happen to have had the privilege of serving as a county supervisor in California in a county of 2.8 million people with districts as large as congressional districts; and our campaign limits were $250 a person, no PACs, no corporate checks, no union participation. Let me tell my colleagues something: it works. I just ask, do not fear campaign finance limitations. It is an equal ground. Everybody plays by the rules, and we move forward.”