Ed Whitfield: “I want to quote Justice Thurgood Marshall whom I do not think anyone could say is a very conservative judge, but in…”

“I want to quote Justice Thurgood Marshall whom I do not think anyone could say is a very conservative judge, but in Buckley v. Valeo he said, ``One of the points on which all Members of the Court agree is that money is essential to effective communication in a political campaign.'' And we do live in a world where it costs a lot of money to buy TV ads, to buy newspaper ads, to buy radio ads, and I guess I am not surprised that incumbents would not support this because it would be easier for opponents to raise money if they raised the amount that an individual can give. And we talked about the groups that supported Shays-Meehan, and one of those groups is Public Campaign that has been running newspaper ads in my district against me for the last day or two and also in the Washington Post; and, as I said earlier, I did not particularly like it, but I think they have a right to do that. That is an issue ad in my view. I think they have a right to do that, but they really pounded me because they said, ``Ed Whitfield is trying to triple the amount of money that an individual can give,'' and yet I find it quite ironic that one of their largest contributors is a guy named Mr. Solls, who is one of the wealthiest men in the world. He contributes heavily to them.”