"It's a game.  Campaign finance reform hasn't made the situation better; it's just given an advantage to people who know how to cheat legally."  H. Barbour, Republican National Committee Chairman, 1993-97  New Yorker 3/27/00
"It's money, money, money!  Not ideas, not principles, but money that reigns supreme in American Politics!"  Sen. R. Byrd
"Today's unvarnished political realities are: (1) Politicians and their parties can collect and spend as much money as they want. (2) Candidates and their campaigns are raising and spending secret money.  (3)  The enforcement of election laws are almost always too little, too late. (4) Political accountability itself is in danger."  The Buying of The President 2000, Charles Lewis, Center for Public Integrity
Setting a new standard, the Republicans held a fundraiser in April that raised $21.5 million the Democrats upped the ante with a fundraiser in May that $26 million; with top giving rate to $500,000 each.  "How long until they have the million dollar club?  This really shows you there is no end to the appetite for money."  L. Makinson, Director of Center for Responsive Politics.
The Republican Party created a new 75% Club for political action committees that give 75% of their contributions to Republican candidates, by telling them they check the Federal Election Commission records each month -- and  threatening that if they fall below the 75% they "wouldn't get their calls returned or their voices heard."
"Both political parties have gotten so excessive in trying to beat the other in the soft-money hunt.  I'm part of the problem and I've never seen such disgust with the practice in all my years here.  It has reached critical mass."  Lanny Davis, lobbyist for Patten Boggs.  NYT 5/2/00
Jerome Kohlberg of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway formed Campaign for America to support overhaul of the nation's campaign finance system.  121 companies have stopped giving soft money including General Motors, Monsanto.  But others like Philip Morris, AT&T and the NRA all gave over $250,000 each in soft money contributions to the recent Republican gala.
Candidates now spend up to 30 percent of the money they raise from private sources to pay for further fundraising.
"I have an associate that is interested in donating $5 million to your campaign"  Written on the business card of Warren Meddoff, he gave to President Clinton in Miami.  Meddoff testified that Clinton took 2 steps, looked at it, came back and asked if he could have another one of those cards; and a few days late Harold Ickes called him saying the donations had to be made in a "tax-favorable way" and later faxed him a list of Democrat-friendly tax exempt groups with bank-account numbers for wire transfers.
"As a matter of law, there is no -- according to my counsel -- there is no controlling authority, no case ever brought, ever decided, that says that this is a violation of of the law."  VP Gore  In other words, in the 114 years since Congress passed the first law that barred federal officials from soliciting contributions on government property, no person had ever been caught and tried for doing it.
Attorney General Reno ruled Gore hadn't broken the law since he was soliciting "soft money."  In other words it was OK for the VP to call and ask a fat cat donor for $100,000 but he would have been in trouble if he had asked for $1,000!
The Federal Election Commission held House Majority Whip Tom DeLay did not violate the law because while he "guided" a supporter in finding ways to make illegal contributions, it had not been alleged that Mr. DeLay actually assisted him in making the illegal contributions.
A poor man's soapbox does not equal a rich man's wallet.  B. Bradley
Only 1 tenth of 1 percent of Americans contribute more than $200 to any candidate
Money pours into political campaigns from out-of-state interests and from contributors who have little in common with the voters in a candidate's state or district.
"The problem exists because government gives away so many goodies that special interests find it cost-effective to buy influence.  Unless subsidies and regulation are greatly reduced, campaign spending will inevitably continue to escalate."  Douglas McNeil NYT Letters 3/29/00
Voteauction.com tried to bypass the press and offer votes to the highest bidder.  The idea was to capitalize on undecided or disillusioned voters who intended to sit out during the election... a group that comprises more than half of the voters from 4 years ago.  "I thought it'd be more direct and more democratic to have these voters make money from their vote," said James Baumgartner, originator of the site who's motto was:  "Bringing Democracy and Capitalism Closer Together."  James sold the site to an e-commerce developer in Austria after being threatened with felonies.  "People can spend money to influence your vote, but they can't buy it."  Doug Kellner, NY City Board of Elections Commissioner.
India pays $50,000 a month to one law firm with former political leaders, and $25,000 to another; Pakistan pays $30,000 a month to one firm and $22,500 a month to another.  Israel, Taiwan, Greece, and many other countries pay similar, if not more, to lobbyists.
The Pakistani-American community moved up the date of a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton so they could press their support for the President to stop in Pakistan.  They were told she would not appear unless they raised $50,000.  They did, and she appeared and told the donors that she hoped her husband would go to Pakistan.  Pressed she responded:  If anybody thinks they can influence the president by making a contribution to me they are dead wrong."  NYT 3/15/00
As long as the entity does not use the words "vote for" or "vote against"  there is no requirement to report to the Federal Election Commission.
Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School studied 2,100 political ads for congressional races that aired more than 300,000 times in 1998 to test the Supreme Court's holding in Buckley that soft-money ads are ok if they don't contain the magic words "vote for" or "vote against."  The Study found only 4% of ads by candidates used those words; and only 15% of ads that ostensibly for party building and voter registration contained the name of the party; 99% gave the name of a candidate; and those financed by 3rd parties were much more likely to be negative.  In short, the rationale of the Buckley decision was totally undermined by this Study.
"That's the whole point."  Van Gosse, organizer of Peace Action, a Section 527 entity on not revealing who his donors were.  Unlike a PAC there's no cap on how much you can spend or accept.  There's no IRS gift tax or reporting.   "It's a thing of beauty from an organizing perspective."
"The problem is our political system is being polluted with substantial amounts of secret contributions and secret expenditures used to attack candidates.  Rep. Lloyd Doggett, preparing legislation to require disclosure of donors and expenditures.