John Kerry: “Today we take an important first step toward reforming our campaign finance system. After an election in which $3…”

“Today we take an important first step toward reforming our campaign finance system. After an election in which $3 billion was spent in an effort to elect or defeat candidates, we are finally taking action to attempt to make our campaign finance laws meaningful. However, there are predictable consequences from this legislation that will not be positive and will require further attention to the issue of campaign finance reform. The money spent on the 2000 election should come as a surprise to no one. Soft money, an important target of this bill, has increased at a remarkable pace. Year after year, there has been a steady and dramatic increase in the amount of money raised and spent on elections. For example, in 1992, Democrats raised $30 million in soft money. In 1996, the Democrats more than tripled that amount and raised $107 million in soft money. In the 2000 Democrats raised $243 million in soft money. The Republican party has consistently proven itself to have even more fund-raising prowess than the Democrats, but the trends are exactly the same, with substantial increases year after year. In 1992, the Republican party raised $45 million in soft money. In 1996, they raised $120 million in soft money. And in 2000, the Republican party raised $244 million in soft money. The American people have become almost numb to these kinds of staggering figures, and they have come to expect fund-raising records to be broken with each election cycle.”