All Quotes

Everybody’s always going to have some self-interest. When it passes a certain point, that’s when it become corruption." ”

The key to fixing public financing is to free politics from big money. ”

After Citizens United, unlimited money could go directly to a corporate entity that can tell people who to vote for, with names and polling places included. ”

Every district is going to be different, but if you wanted me to give advice to those candidates: Run your own campaign, the DCCC does not run your campaign. Figure out ways to raise money from small-dollar donors, and put some real energy into that because that will give you freedom to say no to big donors. ”

Creating systems where people feel like they're being punished for things they didn't do wrong breaks all kinds of trust and makes people feel like they're not being treated with dignity. ”

You build massive databases, you learn everything you can about the people in those databases, you figure out exactly how they can be useful to your campaign, and you ask them to donate money, door-knock, the virtual equivalent of being a sort of army of stamp lickers. ”

I joke about it being a millstone, but it never hurts to have a name that sticks out. ”

Refusing to grant clemency is a failure of one of the most basic jobs of being governor. ”

Most of the corruption in Albany is legal corruption, not illegal bribery. It comes from campaigns being funded by millionaires and corporations. ”

Normally, politicians lie because they want to persuade us of the truth of what they are saying. A candidate for Congress will claim that he earned a medal of honor when he did not, so that we will love and revere him. ”