Lois Capps: “I was hoping that we could deal with campaign finance reform this week. I come fresh from the campaign trail. Mine was a…”

“I was hoping that we could deal with campaign finance reform this week. I come fresh from the campaign trail. Mine was a hard-fought race, too close to call even on the last day. That was just 3 weeks ago, and today I feel like a foot soldier come back from the frontlines to find that the generals do not seem to understand the battlefield. Madam Speaker, in my race, so-called issue advocacy dominated the landscape. My opponent and I did not agree on much, but we were both dismayed at special interest outside groups with unlimited funds which interfered with our ability to communicate with voters on matters of concern to them. These folks will be back this fall in every contested race, and they have said that eventually candidates will be incidental in congressional races. Madam Speaker, they are talking about me and all of my colleagues. We have the responsibility in this place to return the power of the elections to the citizens of our district. We must pass bilateral, bipartisan campaign finance reform such as the Shays- Meehan bill. Our credibility depends on it. We must do it now.”