Shadowy Campaign

SHADOWY CAMPAIGN -- (House of Representatives - April 28, 2004)

(Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. PITTS. Mr. Speaker, Congress Daily reported last week that liberal soft money groups, 527s they are called, have out-raised conservative groups five to one in 2004, and their goal is to raise $500 million to defeat the President. These 527 groups raise unreported, unregulated soft money, unlimited donations by millionaire fat cats, with no reporting requirements, no public scrutiny, and unlimited access to candidates.

This is the kind of thing McCain-Feingold finance reform was supposed to deal with. It did not. The money just went underground. But it is not only the money that is the problem; it is that people do not know who is influencing our political process. These donations are not from small donors. The top 24 donors to these groups have given a total of $40 million.

If we had done campaign reform right, we would not have this problem. Instead, we are stuck with this unending special interest shadow campaign, while true citizens' groups operate on limited budgets and cannot even run ads on issues that they care about.

END