Richard Painter Quotes

One of the biggest issues for me is campaign finance reform.

I had hoped that the current presidential campaign debates might educate the public as to what is really involved in the ongoing controversy over campaign financing.

It starts with campaign finance reform.

While American democracy is imperfect, few outside the majority of this court would have thought its flaws included a dearth of corporate money in politics.

If the need for comprehensive campaign finance reform was not already clear, the Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United permitting unlimited corporate and union spending in campaigns certainly made it so in 2010.

We need real campaign finance reform to loosen the grip of special interests on politics.

Without putting the brakes on out-of-control campaign contributions from individuals and corporations - it will be business as usual, with 1 percent of Americans pulling the strings.

But having said that, what's happening with campaign finance reform and our political culture is devastating.

Campaign finance and ethics reform only works if it curtails all special interest groups equally and does not carve out any exceptions to benefit one party or another. 'Pay to play' reform was passed to limit the influence of big spending contractors over the public officials from whom they are trying to obtain work.

I'm convinced that unless you have some public financing of elections, you are never going to remove the power of wealthy interests over elected officials.

As dismayed as Americans are with the influence of the special interests that finance election campaigns, they've been reluctant to embrace the alternative: taxpayer-financed elections.

The American system of political spending is so unregulated that it might make Adam Smith rethink free markets.

All contributions by corporations to any political committee or for any political purpose should be forbidden by law.

Not since the gilded age has our politics been opened so wide to corporate contribution and donations from secret sources.

I will not be doing Super-Pacs of any sort. I think allowing unlimited contributions to campaigns is a terrible and an unfortunate step towards plutocracy.

That would be the biggest shake-up Washington ever had, if big money didn't dictate who the candidates were and who got elected.

For me, it all comes down to one issue: if we can get money out of political systems, the whole world will change.

The biggest issue that we have to contend with is campaign finance reform.

I would do away with super PACs. I think it's a cancer.

Ultimately, the question of campaign contributions will be decided by the public.

Money has too big an influence on our politics in Washington and somehow we need to do something about that.

Unfortunately, money in politics is an insidious thing - and a loophole in our campaign finance system was taken advantage of with money going to existing or new 527 groups with the sole purpose of influencing the election.

The reality is that asking the public to fund political campaigns accomplishes nothing. Candidates continue to seek interest-group support through other channels, both financial and in-kind, and corruption problems abound.

I don't think politicians should be allowed to take money for their campaigns from outside interests.

Well, paycheck protection is an important ingredient for a successful campaign finance reform measure.