Bob Dole: “as I prepare to leave an institution in which I have served for over 35 years, I am mindful that in many ways the public…”

“as I prepare to leave an institution in which I have served for over 35 years, I am mindful that in many ways the public has lost confidence in the ability of legislators to represent their interests, not special interests. We should not allow this to continue. Representative Democracy, founded on fair and competitive elections, is at the core of what makes America great. Yet, concern over how we finance elections threatens to erode the trust the American people have in our elected officials. As my colleagues know, Congress has tried repeatedly to grapple with this issue and largely failed. However, I continue to believe that the very nature of the problem makes it difficult to resolve in the normal give and take of the legislative process. In 1990, for example, Senator Mitchell and I appointed a six-member commission of outside experts to look at this issue and report back to us, but the report was unfortunately ignored by Congress. I suggested in 1994 and repeatedly since then that a similar commission be constituted to report back to Congress, but with an important difference. This time, the report should be in the form of recommended legislative language which provides a solution and Congress should have an opportunity for an up and down vote.”