Wealthy Politicians Quotes

We just watched this budget debacle right? Seventy-three percent of Americans want to tax the rich. Why can't the politicians respond to that? Because they are the rich. And they are beholden to the rich. It's a captured system.

There are plenty of examples of very wealthy people who have run for office and failed, certainly in Illinois.

Unless public officials are wealthy and fund their own campaigns, the only place they can turn to is lobbyists and institutions like labor unions and corporations.

You don't want Congress peopled by millionaires.

Mitch McConnell further said he was kind of surprised that a rich guy like Donald Trump could be elected! Yeah, it's bad enough that the Democrats believe their own media, the Drive-By Media.

The Patriotic Millionaires campaign, pulled together quickly by the Agenda Project in New York City, just happens to appear on the same day as a new study from the Center for Responsive Politics revealing that half of the members of the House and the Senate are millionaires.

In California, we've had a series of millionaires and billionaires and CEOs and movie stars. We need to take a hard look at how we define legitimate and credible candidates.

Jon Tester became a multi-millionaire in the Senate, even bought a Cosmopolitan Castle on Capitol Hill. I don't want a castle in Washington, and I don't think becoming a senator should make you rich enough to buy one.

The men and women who now run for Congress have special features. Most of them are much wealthier than their constituents. Surprisingly few have strong policy interests or experience. Most are willing to spend a day or two or three each week asking strangers for money on the telephone, a demeaning but obligatory exercise. Most have internalized an ethical code that allows them to solicit campaign contributions from people directly affected by legislation they vote on. This is not rare or even unusual — it’s standard

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.

[Referring to the Senate:] ... a bunch of fat cats up there raking in the bucks.

We are coming close to having today a Congress of whackos and millionaires.

There are 249 millionaires in Congress. Remember a couple of years ago when this new Congress told us they had the solution to the recession? Apparently, they didn't share it with the rest of us.

Here's an interesting figure: 43 percent of the incoming congressional freshmen are millionaires. The other 57 percent are Democrats.