Ron Kind: “Just to pick up on a point the gentleman was making a little earlier, is that not really the crux of the issue, and why…”

“Just to pick up on a point the gentleman was making a little earlier, is that not really the crux of the issue, and why we are working so hard in the freshman class at least to enact campaign finance reform? It is about the influence of money in the political process, the fact that there is too much in it. All of us Members know what is going on around here. The system stinks. It is run amuck. There is too much money in the political process. Back home in western Wisconsin, the area that I represent, you talk to anyone on the main streets in any of the small towns in western Wisconsin, they all feel the same way, that there is too much money in the political process and it influences what takes place out here, the decision making process, what the agenda is ultimately going to be and the final decisions that are ultimately reached. The gentleman talks about his contributor back in Maine who sent the $20 check with the proviso to not forget about the average person, the common person. Again, that is really at the heart of this issue right now.”