Stephen Horn: “our current President ran on a platform proclaiming change and reform. Today I wonder: What happened to those changes?…”

“our current President ran on a platform proclaiming change and reform. Today I wonder: What happened to those changes? Where is the reform? Last year, the President abandoned the cause of real campaign finance reform. Now the so-called candidate of change has embraced the status quo in the Federal Election Commission. Every candidate knows it takes months, sometimes years, to get an investigation of bad practices in political campaigns that too often go on in both parties in this country. The Federal Election Commission is crippled by low funding and partisan gridlock. So what did the candidate for change propose? He reappointed the same Federal Election Commission Commissioners who represent the partisan gridlock, and then in his new budget not only is the promised stronger Federal Election Commission missing, but funding for the FEC is actually cut. Ask the New York Times, one of America's greatest and most distinguished newspapers. Recently, it wrote on its editorial pages, Mr. Clinton set back the cause of campaign reform by shortchanging the Federal Elections Commission. The President's budget, In the words of the New York Times, fails to provide enough money for the agency to keep up with its current mission, much less for an expanded role. As I suggested earlier, it barely keeps up with its current mission. Candidate for change?…”