Laurance Rockefeller Quotes

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

There's no doubt that there's a public backlash against the way campaign money is raised, but I don't think the only alternative is to elect people with money.

The decision in McCutcheon v. FEC is a devastating blow in efforts to rein in out-of-control costs of campaigns.

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.

Few developments in campaigning have been as vilified and misunderstood as independent expenditure PACs, or, as they are colloquially known, super PACs.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

One of the greatest challenges of democracies today is the question of financing campaigns. It's a tremendous challenge. Obviously I think the solution is to have the governments pay for all the campaigns and not to have any private contributions.

Because Republicans have no ideas, they want to turn elections into the battle of dollars.

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.

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.

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.

Trying to take money out of politics is like trying to take jumping out of basketball.

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

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.