James Davis: “the Shays- Meehan proposal subjects those people who attempt to influence the outcome of an election to the same…”

“the Shays- Meehan proposal subjects those people who attempt to influence the outcome of an election to the same requirements that congressional candidates face now when they spend money to influence the election. There will be meaningful full disclosure that will allow the voters to judge who is making the statement and I believe will force people to discontinue making these inflammatory, deceitful actions. The second point that this bill addresses is incredible proliferation of soft money. I think it is fair to say there are thousands of people who are being forced or choosing to make campaign contributions of unlimited amounts to both political parties, and this is not for good government. Soft money was created to support political parties to encourage people to get the vote out and that will continue under Shays-Meehan. It was not intended to take over control. I just want to conclude by saying the amount of soft money was $86 million in 1992, $260 million in 1996; over half of a billion dollars in the year 2000, a half a billion dollars. We need to put a stop to that. We need to adopt this bill. It is for the good of the people. It is not for the good of a particular political party, and I urge my colleagues to adopt the Shays-Meehan bill.”