Arlen Specter: “When he talks about the Federal Election Commission, strengthening the Federal Election Commission, funding adequately…”

“When he talks about the Federal Election Commission, strengthening the Federal Election Commission, funding adequately the Federal Election Commission, I think that is something that ought to be done. The Federal Election Commission needs to be able to pursue alleged election violations. They have very broad powers and we have heard very little from them. It may be that their investigations are yet incomplete. But it also may be that if they had sufficient investigative resources they might have done more already. We do not need to await the results of the Governmental Affairs Committee, on which I serve. We are just getting started with the funding authorization. Nor do we need to await the results of the public integrity section, the FBI or their investigations, nor do we need to wait to see what will happen with the independent counsel, as I will address in a few moments. We have a Federal Election Commission, and were they strong enough they could have acted already on these very, very important matters.”