Tony Coleho Quotes

The arms race for money being what it is, fundraising starts shortly after someone is elected to Congress.

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

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

Until we make campaigns affordable, then we're going to have too many members of Congress out rattling the cup with special interest groups.

We have to talk about the way we finance campaigns.

So long as politicians need millions to win a seat in Congress and nearly a billion to contest the White House, they will sanctify the methods needed to raise such sums.

Soft money is the silent killer of health care reform and other legislation we need.

Money is the mother's milk of politics

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.

We have to get rid of the constant fundraising that happens inside the Congress. Before, political parties used to raise money; now, individual members are raising money through the DCCC and the RCCC. It is absolutely corrupt.

Have you ever seen a candidate talking to a rich person on television?

I also do not like the idea of soft money, these issue ads - people don't know where the money is coming from, millions and millions of dollars outside of the control of a candidate - there's no accountability.

When I was in office the fundraising was done by the party treasurers.

Politics has become so expensive that it takes a lot of money even to be defeated.

Politics has got so expensive that it takes lots of money to even get beat with.

A congressman serves a two year term. As soon as he gets elected, he has to start attending fund raisers.

American politics is money and thirty second spots.

Everybody's an expert at campaign financing.

In order to survive politically, you've got to have a big-buck fundraiser at least one a year.

Members of Congress are never in town any more. They’re so busy raising money that they leave Thursday night and don’t return till Monday night. Tuesday through Thursday are now long days, so there is no time anymore for bipartisan socialization.

History’s pendulum is now swinging back toward the day when political finances were only lightly regulated.

Most important of all the structural reforms, we need to follow through on the recent Congressional effort to discipline the use of money in politics, by setting reasonable limits on campaign spending, limiting and publicizing individual and organizational gifts and channeling much more of the money (including … all general election spending) through the respective party committees rather than through individual candidates’ treasuries.

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.

Most elected officials don't want you to know about the world of political fundraising because they fear that it paints an unflattering portrait of public life.

The first thing I learned is that campaigns are about money. I had this romantic idea that campaigns were about law and debates and so forth, which is just not true. It's about money.