John Harwood Quotes

Public [campaign] financing and free television time are the things that will diminish the high influence that money has on politics.

Dependence on private money to run campaigns causes pain to Republicans and Democrats alike - and business owners. It's time we did something about it. And public financing of elections should be the first step.

The key to fixing public financing is to free politics from big money.

In fact, corporate and union moneys go overwhelmingly to incumbents, so limiting that money, as Congress did in the campaign finance law, may be the single most self-denying thing that Congress has ever done.

I think we have to look at the whole way campaigns are financed. The No. 1 problem is PAC and special-interest money.

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

We have to talk about the way we finance campaigns.

Anyone who has been around Washington politics long enough can't avoid this truism: Election-year money is like a rushing river that invariably finds cracks in any dam the reformers erect.

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.

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.

Nobody wants campaign finance reform more than me. It would save me a fortune.

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

Our democratic system is slowly being corroded and eroded by the influence of PAC money.

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.

Stemming the tide of special interest campaign cash - and restoring fiscal responsibility in Congress - is no easy task. But there is one place where concerned citizens in both parties can begin: Changing the source of money that funds all campaigns.

Wealthy individuals have always had the capacity to influence politics, of course, but only after two key campaign finance cases - Wisconsin Right to Life and and Citizens United, have they been able to do it in such a large and blatant way.

One such issue that Arkansans want action taken on is campaign finance reform. And this is a problem that is not really all that complicated.

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

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

I do not believe wealthy candidates should spend vast resources in their own campaigns.

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.