Ending Quote by Tina Smith

The best way to shine a light on all of this 'dark money' flooding into our elections would be for Congress to pass legislation…

— Sheldon Whitehouse

Stemming the tide of special interest campaign cash - and restoring fiscal responsibility in Congress - is no easy task. But there is one…

— Alan K. Simpson

We must reduce the influence of money in politics, beginning by overturning Citizens United and taking back our system from the millionaires and billionaires…

— Patty Judge

Money has too big an influence on our politics in Washington and somehow we need to do something about that.

— James Hansen

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

— Tom Daschle

If everyone in America can easily see who and what their lawmakers are requesting taxpayer money for, we can keep elected officials honest, end…

— Kirsten Gillibrand

The structure of private campaign finance has essentially pre-corrupted our politicians, so that they can't even recognize explicit bribery because it feels the same…

— Zephyr Teachout

I think there are two basic approaches you can use for campaign finance. One is complete openness, everybody knows absolutely everything, but no limits.…

— David Brooks

Dependence on private money to run campaigns causes pain to Republicans and Democrats alike - and business owners. It's time we did something about…

— Zephyr Teachout

Our legislators have become a set of "whores" open to the highest bidders. The problem is that if we try to limit lobbying, we…

— Philip Kotler

The bottom line is that if politicians weren't in the business of granting favors and exacting tribute, every single issue surrounding campaign finance reform…

— Walter E. Williams

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

— Stephen Pagliuca