[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 151 (Monday, November 3, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11611-S11612]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  CAMPAIGN FINANCE IS STILL A PRIORITY

 Mr. CLELAND. Mr. President, I recently had the privilege of 
attending a reunion of Carter administration officials in Atlanta. In 
an interview he gave to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, President 
Carter, whose personal integrity has never been questioned, summed up 
the current state of affairs very candidly, and all too well. The 
President's comments, which appeared in the October 19, 1997 edition of 
the Journal-Constitution, were as follows:

       The intense competition now almost forces Democrats and 
     Republicans to cut corners on basic principles of politics in 
     order to raise enormous amounts of soft money. I think it's 
     an embarrassment to our nation. It's a travesty of proper 
     political life. And I think it debilitates democracy itself 
     in our country. As (Vice President Mondale) and I have 
     agreed, it's a form of legal bribery. People can raise 
     hundreds of thousands of dollars and contribute that money to 
     candidates in both parties. They don't do this from a sense 
     of altruism or benevolence or generosity. They do it in 
     expectation of access to leaders, to present their point of 
     view personally to someone in the Senate or someone in the 
     White House when the people who might suffer from that sort 
     of decision don't have an equal opportunity to present their 
     point of view. So it distorts the whole political system and 
     I hope it will be changed.

  At that same Atlanta gathering, former Vice President Mondale 
paraphrased Abraham Lincoln to the effect that, ``With public trust, 
everything is possible. Without public trust, nothing is possible.'' He 
added, compellingly: ``Public trust cannot be bought. It must be 
earned.''
  Indeed, this is an indictment of our political system from 
individuals who have reached the pinnacle of success in that system. I 
believe the single most important step we can take in this Congress in 
rebuilding public confidence and faith in our democracy is

[[Page S11612]]

to enact, on a bipartisan basis, meaningful campaign finance reform to 
clean up a system which has gotten completely out of control and which 
undermines both the operation and reputation of our entire national 
government. I think President Carter and Vice President Mondale would 
certainly agree, and I commend their observations to my 
colleagues.

                          ____________________