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The Republican Party has completely embraced money in politics. Its leaders refuse to even support campaign finance disclosure laws that they once supported.
In an interview with radio network WUIS, incoming Illinois Republican Congressman-elect Rodney Davis indicated that he would be in favor of disclosure of donors to outside electoral groups and even support spending limits:
Rodney Davis is the only Republican among the six men and women who will soon be Illinoisai??i?? newest Congressmen. He also won with the narrowest margin of victory. Even so, Davis says he has something in common with his fellow legislative freshmen.
DAVIS: ai???We all had to withstand a barrage of false and misleading ads.ai???
Thatai??i??s in part because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling (PDF) that allowed unlimited amounts of money, often from secret sources, to flood the airwaves with attack ads. The case was called Citizens United.
DAVIS: ai???I think all us that have been impacted by Citizens United ai??i?? and impacted during this election cycle, by spending that we canai??i??t control ai??i?? weai??i??re all going to have a say in what happens in the future, and I think something needs to be done.ai???
Davis, who is from Taylorville, says he thinks the identity of donors should be public. And he says heai??i??d consider supporting limits on the amount of money outside groups can raise or spend. But thatai??i??s just the kind of law the Supreme Court overturned in the Citizens United case.
The question is, will Davis stick to his stated statements to reform the campaign finance system, or will he defer to House Speaker John Boehner, who totally opposes all reforms?
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