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Edwards Proposes Ban on Lobbyists
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ShareOctober 13, 2007 3:43 PM
ABC News' Raelyn Johnson reports: Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards upped the ante in his fight against entrenched interests in politics, calling for a ban on lobbyists' contributions and expanding the public financing system.
"To clean up our government, you have to do two things. You have to be committed to changing the system," said Edwards during a town hall meeting in Keane, N.H. "The first thing we have to do is cut off special interests' ability to influence campaigns with their money, and increase the power of regular people," said Edwards.
"With all the money that is flooding into this race, you would think it was an auction, not an election. As president, I will prohibit all candidates and federal office holders from accepting contributions from lobbyists. All this money is making it extremely difficult for non-wealthy candidates to run. I believe that a high-school teacher here in Keene, or a nurse in Manchester, should have the same opportunity to run for Congress as a lawyer from North Carolina.”
Edwards also proposed to rewrite campaign finance rules to include matching donations. Under his plan two $100 checks will be worth the same as one $1,000 check, and no one will be allowed to give more than $1,000.
Edwards has taken Sen. Hillary Clinton to task for continuing to take money from lobbyists, but has had less sharp criticism of Sen. Barack Obama, who took money from lobbyists during his senate campaign, but has not done so in his presidential campaign.
It was clear Edwards wanted his message to reach beyond the two hundred plus people gathered in the Brickyard Pavilion in downtown Keane.
"You have to run a campaign that does not take money from lobbyists or special interests so you are not beholden to the people who are corrupting our system by the time you get to Washington. You can't do one without the other. You have to do both," he said.
October 13, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (1)
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Raelyn,
It's KEENE, NH, not KEANE.
Edgar
Posted by: Edward J. Kennedy | Oct 14, 2007 11:22:28 AM
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