Ted Deutch Quotes

The identity of political donors should be disclosed and bureaucratic rules should not circumvent the original intent of federal law or interfere with the public's ability to hold these organizations accountable.

Donations to political parties, candidates and elected officials should not be a means to gain personal or policy favours or buy access to politicians or civil servants…. Political parties, candidates and politicians should disclose assets, income and expenditure to an independent agency.

If people are going to donate huge sums of money to influence elections, we have the right to know who is donating, and this will also play a key role in helping to fight off foreign influence in our elections.

With every new class of representatives that comes to Congress, there is a greater recognition of the perils of private financing of campaigns. I believe that by pulling back the curtain on the daily pressures faced by members of Congress, we can show the public how critical this reform is to the salvation of our democracy.

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

It's my father's legacy. My father's view was that the public is the employer of these government employees and has the right to know what they're up to.

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.

In view of our public pledges, we public officials can never again go before the public merely promising election reform. The time for promises is past.

The SuperPACs and the Citizens United ruling that gives corporations a voice in the political process are all bad news. They made it so you can now lie, and the politician being promoted on that lie will not be held responsible for it.

In post-Vietnam, post-Watergate America, skeptical voters demand full disclosure of everything from candidates' finances to their medical records, and spin-savvy accounts of backstage machinations dominate political coverage.

I have no control over the super PAC; all I do is write the check.

We need to get rid of the Federal Elections Commission. It's a joke. It doesn't enforce the law.

Until the public demands otherwise, the policy makers will continue to serve their financiers.

By law, super PACs are required to disclose their donors. There are groups that have never had to disclose their donors, non-profits such as the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, the NAACP, and the NRA. If you want more disclosure, super PACs are a step forward.

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 American people have a right to know the source of the money that is being spent. They should be told who is behind the millions of dollars in campaign ads, and they should receive this information before they vote.

People have their constitutional right to contribute to a campaign and if they have discretionary money that they want to contribute to a candidate, whether a Republican or a Democrat, they should be able to do so.

I think the idea of getting money out of politics is critical.

I've made it clear that I'm not taking special interest PAC money or accepting donations from lobbyists - ever. I want to represent the interests of the citizens.

I certainly want campaign finance reform. I just wish this would do it in a way that would stand up to a constitutional challenge.

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.

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.

Nobody wants campaign finance reform more than me. It would save me a fortune.

When we go to Congress, there are strict rules about what I can be involved with and what I can't be involved with when it comes to business relationships and business operations.

My issue with campaign finance is 100 percent disclosure. Wear a suit with patches from your big contributors. Depending on the size of the contribution, that's how big the patch should be.