James Bennet Quotes

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

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

This [political fundraising] is a very sophisticated system … This is a legalized bribery system where no one has to say anything. I don’t have to say what I want—you [the politician] know what I want.

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

Rule of Dark Matter: SuperPAC dollars cannot be seen by most voters but account for most of the money in this universe.

It is campaign money that calls the tune, a fact recognized by every politician within a few minutes after getting into politics.

Congressman are spending too much time raising money.

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.

Money is the mother's milk of politics

This Court now concludes that independent [political] expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption.

We have to talk about the way we finance campaigns.

We need to get big money out of Washington.

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.

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.

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

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

It starts with campaign finance reform.

As long as we, in the United States, continue to insist that our politicians have to spend all of their time raising millions of dollars for television ads, it will be corrupt. If we leave it up to the politicians to clean up lobbying and finance reform, nothing is going to change.

Soft money will find its way and seep into the political system and corrode it, unless we plug every hole.

Five years ago, the Supreme Court, by a 5-4 decision in the Citizens United case told the richest people in America, "You already control the economy of the country. We are now going to let you control the political system as well".

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

It is very important at this juncture to eliminate the influence of big money and special interests in politics.

Money in politics is like ants in your kitchen. You close all the holes and get them all out or they'll find their way in again.