Jim Matheson: “simply stated, campaigns in this country really ought to be a dialogue between candidates and voters. Members all have…”

“simply stated, campaigns in this country really ought to be a dialogue between candidates and voters. Members all have their own personal experiences. I was just elected in November of 2000. That dialogue that should have been taking place between candidates and voters was diluted and in fact polluted by massive amounts of unaccountable soft money. That is money that funded issue commercials that were sham ads that were deceptive, or they contained out and out lies; and there was no one to hold accountable, including my opponent. And, quite frankly, my opponent took some blame for that, and it was inappropriate. Today is the day we can stand up and try to clean up this process so Members have that appropriate dialogue between candidates and voters. I encourage Members to support the Shays-Meehan bill.”