Jane Mayer Quotes

Who do you think controls the Republican Party? Big money controls the Republican Party. This is where their campaign contributions come from.

All elections revolve around and are often resolved by who raises the most money. That's unfair. I'd like to see that process changed, but it seems once you win and get to Congress, that doesn't happen.

Members of Congress like us for our information, but they love us for our money.

More and more, the Negro vote is becoming the decisive power in National politics. The Negro vote is the balance of power in so many important big states that one almost has to have the Negro vote to win a Presidential election.

The reach of the individual campaigner doesn’t add up to diddly-squat in votes.

If Republicans want to defend the rights of corporations and billionaires to spend unlimited, secret money in campaigns, then they should say so.

There's a difference between those two [George Soroses and the Tom Steyers] and the Kochs that I think is important.

Most election analysts in the U.S. habitually confuse the sound of money talking with the voice of the people.

I would like to have an ample fund to spread the light of Republicanism, but I am willing to undergo the disadvantage to make certain that in the future we shall reduce the power of money in politics for unworthy purposes.

If the evangelicals vote, they determine the election.

The only tool we have to fix the problems of this country - the democratic process - is itself broken. Which is why nothing will fundamentally change until we solve the problem of money in politics.

The problem is not that you can buy a congressman for $10000 but that you can buy a Washington lawyer for $100000.

Most presidents have been controlled by forces that control money and special interests. When Donald Trump refused their money, he refused their control. This made him dangerous.

Sometimes the difference between two candidates is an important one in the immediate sense, and then I believe trying to get somebody into office, who is a little better, who is less dangerous, is understandable. But never forgetting that no matter who gets into office, the crucial question is not who is in office, but what kind of social movement do you have. Because if you have a powerful social movement, it doesn't matter who is in office.

What I write about is how much influence it's had in things like state legislatures and governorships and congressional races. The other thing that's even more important in the long run is that very extreme money has affected the ecosystem of ideology in the country.

In the United States 95% of the people who win elections have the most money. That's it. So, money is a big part of elections. But that happens all the time.

Big money tries to purchase its own agenda. Money does too much talking in Washington. Every senator, every representative, even the president awakens each morning with a number in his head that will drive the whole day. The number is the amount of money that must [be] raised that day for his reelection. If he fails, the next day's number will be even higher.

I personally think money in politics on any level is horrible. I'd like to see a set amount and have every candidate spend it. Have it be completely transparent. But actually getting to that spot, as we have learned through all the legislation over the decades, is very difficult.

The Republican and Democratic parties both feed out of the same bag provided by the monied system, and where the list frequently differs the same interests are represented.

Let's face it, the subject of campaign finance is not always scintillating. But it's incredibly important.

I would want to see the Supreme Court reverse Citizens United and get dark, unaccountable money out of our politics.

The lobbyists, the special interests, the special pleaders, if you will, the super PACs the billionaires, these people are apoplectic about the rise of Trump. He can't be bought. He can bring sweeping conservative reform.

Democracy is one person, one vote and a full discussion of the issues that affect us. Oligarchy is billionaires buying elections, voter suppression and a concentrated corporate media determining what we see, hear and read.

Electoral reforms are necessary if India has to be rid of black money.

To my mind, if we do not get a handle on money in politics and the degree to which big money controls the political process in this country, nobody is going to bring about the changes that is needed in this country for the middle class and working families.