Jennifer Dunn: “the electorate and those who participate in the political process are owed, at a very minimum, several fundamental…”

“the electorate and those who participate in the political process are owed, at a very minimum, several fundamental protections to ensure fair and competitive elections. The House of Representatives has on its calendar the Campaign Finance Reform Act of 1996, H.R. 3820, legislation that addresses many of the injustices and shortcomings of the current campaign finance system. I want in my statement to underscore several points: the importance of guaranteeing integrity in the campaign process, the importance of requiring that candidates be accountable to the voters they seek to represent, and the importance of guarding the competitive nature of campaigns. I also intend to point out areas where I believe the efforts of the legislation before us fall slightly short. The Campaign Finance Reform Act takes a first step toward ensuring that the interests most special to Members of Congress are the interests of the citizens of their district, and not, for example, the representatives of multicandidate political committees or lobbying firms. One of my highest legislative priorities this Congress has been the formulation of a meaningful, bipartisan campaign finance proposal-- the FAIR Elections Act of 1996, H.R. 3543--the essence of which is a requirement that candidates for Federal office be more accountable to the citizens they represent.”