Lynn N. Rivers: “in 1913 Woodrow Wilson said: Publicity is one of the purifying elements of politics. Nothing checks all the bad…”

“in 1913 Woodrow Wilson said: Publicity is one of the purifying elements of politics. Nothing checks all the bad practices of politics like public exposure. . . . An Irishman seen digging around the wall of a house was asked what he was doing. He answered, ``Faith, I am letting the dark out of the cellar.'' Now, that's exactly what we want to do. So said Woodrow Wilson in 1913, and it is true today. Shays-Meehan is about letting the dark out of the cellar. Shays-Meehan would ban soft money, ending an avalanche of unreported and unregulated dollars into the American political system. It would close loopholes in existing laws and would require all dollars spent on influencing elections to be open to public scrutiny. It would protect voter guides, legislative alerts, legitimate issue ads and independent expenditures, and it would operate with respect and within the First Amendment of the Constitution. Both parties have built this system we have today, and both parties must work together to change it. We must clean up the foundation of our House, the people's House, to let the dark out of the cellar. Vote for Shays-Meehan.”