Rick Allen: “the brief answer is labor. Whatever ads the AFL-CIO ran in my district were legal, they were accurate, and they were…”

“the brief answer is labor. Whatever ads the AFL-CIO ran in my district were legal, they were accurate, and they were part of this debate. As we know, all of us who were involved in the 1996 elections, there was a great deal of outside money on all sides. In my particular district in the last month of the campaign there were no AFL-CIO ads. There were, however, a vast number of ads run by the Republican National Committee. The truth is, I say to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), that in the last 3 rac{1}{2} weeks, I will be exactly specific, there were no AFL-CIO ads run against my opponent. There were, however, up to $50,000 a week of ads run by the Republican National Committee. This is a democracy. These outside ads are constitutional. It is entirely proper that they be run. The important point is that neither Shays-Meehan nor the Hutchinson-Allen bill would prevent these ads from being run. It is perfectly appropriate to have that kind of discussion.”