Yesterday’s Chicago Tribune featured a story laying out the sordid details of how so-called campaign finance “reform” legislation passed the Illinois legislature. Needless to say, the story has a lot to do with political agendas, partisan posturing, back-room dealings , and self-interest, such as Governor Pat Quinn’s recommendation that candidates for governor not use funds collected under the old system, which coincidentally would help him in an expected primary challenge next year. In other words, about the norm for how campaign finance “reform” gets handled.
I highly recommend a reading of the whole article, but I just have to point out my favorite line in the article:
“…reformers were armed mostly with the moral authority they had assigned themselves.”
About as insightful a comment as is ever likely to be written about the advocates of campaign finance “reform.”
