William Tauzin: “Mr. Chairman, let me relate an incident in Louisiana where I once asked a local politician why he thought we spent so…”

“Mr. Chairman, let me relate an incident in Louisiana where I once asked a local politician why he thought we spent so much money in political campaigns. His answer was, well, you know, Billy, the other candidate always goes on television before you are ready to go on television. They start telling lies about you, and then you have got to go on television to answer those lies much sooner than you wanted to go on television or you probably could afford to go on television. Then as the campaign draws closer to election day, they go back on television, and they start telling the truth about you, and then you have really got to spend a lot of money to answer those ads. The bottom line is, whether that is true or not, we spend an extraordinary amount of money in campaigns across America for State, local, and Federal elections. The rules by which we raise that money and spend it inevitably get written by whom, by the incumbents, by those of us who have been fortunate enough to win an election and to serve in public office. Inevitably, the campaign practice rules we write in the State legislatures and here on the floor of the House and in the Senate, inevitably, those rules are suspect.”