Reid: Kochs ‘corrupting’ McConnell’s views on campaign financing

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) used Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-Ky.) own words to call for campaign finance reform.

Reid read more than five quotes from McConnell over the past 27 years calling for campaign finance disclosure.

{mosads}“Even as recently as 2007 he was preaching donor disclosure — what changed since 2007?,” Reid said on the Senate floor Monday. “Over the last several years we have witnessed the Koch brothers pump untold millions into our democracy, hoping to get a government that will serve their bottom line.”

“I guess times have changed,” Reid added. “What a gross understatement.”

On Monday, the Senate voted 79-18 to debate a constitutional amendment that would reverse two recent Supreme Court rulings that lifted limits on campaign spending.

Republicans have offered support for the Supreme Court’s decisions in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and McCutcheon v. FEC. They say campaign spending is a form of free speech, and that the decisions removing certain limits on spending protected First Amendment rights.

McConnell said he voted to advance the amendment because the topic deserved debate. He defended his recent position on election spending, saying Democrats are trying to “erase the First Amendment.”

“Here we are, debating whether or not to grant politicians the extraordinary authority to ban speech they don’t like,” McConnell said Tuesday. “That’s what Democrat Leaders have brought to the floor this week as their top priority.

“This entire spectacle is mostly about saving the jobs of Democrat senators come November.”

Reid said billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch are responsible for McConnell’s turnabout because they donate millions of dollars to conservative candidates.

“You don’t have to be a brilliant guy to see this flip-flop,” Reid said.