Arlen Specter: “January 29, which is next Monday, will be the 20th anniversary of the decision of Buckley v. Valeo. I had intended to…”

“January 29, which is next Monday, will be the 20th anniversary of the decision of Buckley v. Valeo. I had intended to comment on January 29, the anniversary date of that decision which established as a principle of constitutional law that any individual could spend as much of his or her money in a campaign as he or she chose. That issue was a matter of substantial consternation to me when the decision was handed down and, I think, remains a major impediment on public policy in the United States on the way we run our election campaigns, where, realistically viewed, any seat is up for sale. There have been many, many examples of multimillion-dollar expenditures in this body, the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and in State Government, and now we are witnessing one for the Presidency of the United States. The fact of life is, if you advertise enough on television, if you sell candidacies like you sell soap, the sky is the limit. Even the White House of the United States of America, the Office of the President, may be, in fact, up for sale if someone is willing to start off by announcing a willingness to spend $25 million. If you have $400 million, that is not an enormous sum; you have $375 million left. Somebody might be able to get along on that. You might spend $50 million or even $75 million to promote a candidacy, both to articulate a positive view and then, perhaps even more effectively, to articulate a negative view.”