Political Quotes

“Professor Sabato's main focus lies in broadening and strengthening our disclosure laws, so that all types of significant political involvement are available for public inspection. The American people are the best judge of improper or excessive influence, and it may be time to require greater access to information about those who give to candidates for Federal office and those who spend more to influence campaigns. Of course, we would need to weigh the need for and degree of privacy that should be afforded to individual donors, but this is clearly a subject that should be addressed in any campaign finance reform. I have been impressed with other suggestions which have been raised in our hearings, such as: limiting the amount of money a PAC can give to a candidate from funds raised out of State; raising the contribution limits for initial donations to challengers to facilitate their entry into the political campaign process; and permitting challengers to draw a salary from their contributions. Then there is the sensible suggestion to index contribution limits for inflation--perhaps had this been done in the last reforms in the 1970's, candidates would have more time to debate the issues and meet the voters and need less time to raise money. This change would also reduce the growing tendency for rich candidates to use their money to buy credibility.”