The Washington Post: Changing pay-to-play politics
As the April 6 editorial “Political speech or corruption?” argued, it’s easier and easier in this post-Citizens United world for big campaign donors to attempt to influence our elected officials or even effectively select each party’s nominee months before voters get to weigh in.
While we should not rush to judge Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), one thing is clear: Campaign finance reform should occur through legislation, not selective prosecution. We need to change our system so that everyone’s voice is heard, everyone knows who is trying to buy influence over government and politicians play by common-sense rules and are held accountable.
While we’re making progress around disclosure and public financing on the local level from Maine to Montana, we need our national leaders not just to promise better politics or to clean up Washington but also to take action to create the changes we need. And President Obama has a chance to do just that by signing an executive order requiring federal government contractors to disclose political spending.
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