VINCENT SNOWBARGER: “Again I just want to reiterate, what we are trying to do here is to make sure that there are sufficient penalties in the…”

“Again I just want to reiterate, what we are trying to do here is to make sure that there are sufficient penalties in the law to deter people from committing campaign finance law violations. Thus far, we have put a system of fines in place. Sometimes those are large fines, other times lesser fines that are meted out. But the fact of the matter is the fine system has not stopped the violations of current campaign finance law. There is no reason to believe that fines alone would deter future adherence to the law, whatever that law might change to. It is exactly for that reason that I think it is important that people understand there are serious consequences, there is jail time that is going to be required, there is serious jail time that is going to be required. And I would ask that my colleagues seriously consider this amendment, which I feel would put tough penalties into whatever version of campaign finance we end up with and, very frankly, would encourage us to pursue this under current law as well.”