Russ Feingold: “I guess I am delighted to see this kind of a headline, because I am not surprised. Most lobbyists do oppose campaign…”

“I guess I am delighted to see this kind of a headline, because I am not surprised. Most lobbyists do oppose campaign finance reform and the McCain-Feingold bill, because these folks are the folks I have come to regard, not as bad people, many of them are very good people, but as people who have basically become the Washington gatekeeper. They are the ones that control the campaign contributions now. If a local individual, if a local organization back home wants to contribute to your campaign or give you support, when they are part of this organization that has a lobbyist in Washington, they need to call Washington. So it is no surprise that the lobbyists oppose our bill. They are one of the most important forces against our bill, besides the unfortunate fact, of course, that every single Member of the Congress was elected under the current system. But even some of these groups that are represented by lobbyists have changed their minds. The Senator from Kentucky has made a great deal of the fact that the National Education Association, he has said, opposes McCain-Feingold. There was a time when their leadership did appear with Senator McConnell and indicate some opposition to some aspects of the bill. But as Senator McCain and I said from the beginning, we want to address various concerns of other Senators and organizations, and we have made some changes. Our bill is now supported by the National Education Association.…”