James L. Buckley Quotes

My four years as governor, I never met with a lobbyist once, never. Not one lobbyist got in my office.

I'm not going to take any special interest money or any PAC money... when I get to Washington I want to be the voice for the people of Connecticut and not owe special favors.

Twenty years ago, outside income was a means of keeping the Congress a citizen legislature. Today, outside income is a corrupting influence.

Our entire political system is financed by wealthy private interests buying politicians and making sure the rules are written in their favor.

The days of pay-to-play politics is over.

All of our political parties are bought and paid for by corporate America, Wall Street, and the wealthy interests. The Republican Party more so, but the Democrats take their share of the loot, too.

I'm voting for Bernie Sanders because he doesn't take any corporate money.

We need real campaign finance reform to loosen the grip of special interests on politics.

There is this concept of politics as a dirty game. It's a difficult game, but it doesn't have to be dirty. I think this is what we need to bring to politics. I think politics around the world has very often been captured by big interests - 'lobbies' they call them in the States.

At a time when special interest money is being showered on legislators in Washington, grassroots donors offer members of Congress a refreshing independence. The $25 and $50 donor is not looking for special favors. He or she is simply expecting their Congressman to go do the right thing.

Obama/Romney, Romney/Obama - the most important election of our lifetime? Fact is they're all the same - bought and paid for with the same money. Ours is a country of the SuperPAC, by the SuperPAC, and for the SuperPAC.

Real lobbying reform must end the practice of corporate lobbyists writing our laws.

There are a lot of grotesqueries in politics, not the least of which is the fund-raising side.

You can't take a congressman to lunch for $25 and buy him a hamburger or a steak or something like that. But you can take him to a fund-raising lunch and not only buy him that steak, but give him $25,000 extra and call it a fund-raiser - and have all the same access and all the same interactions with that congressman.

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.

The biggest problem that we have is that California is being run now by special interests. All of the politicians are not anymore making the moves for the people, but for special interests and we have to stop that.

Politicians in this country have always been for sale. That is nothing new.

Our form of democracy is bribery, on the highest scale.

Well, the role of money in politics is pretty corrupting right now.

The idea that a congressman would be tainted by accepting money from private industry or private sources is essentially a socialist argument.

Experience in other countries shows how big money, rather than the best political candidate, can influence politics.

Like most other states, Illinois has little regulation of the economic interests of legislators and relies on public disclosure to keep the lawmaking honest.

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

Big money is ruining the political system.

Groups that advocate open government have argued that it's vital to know the names of White House visitors, who may have an outsized influence on policy matters.