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The only way you're going to move Washington, D.C. is at the chief executive level. The
entrenched interests of Congress, and this is an indictment of both the democrats and
republicans, are such that you raise money from the special interests, you give them
their special little flavors and you get re-elected again and again and again.
Henderson: So as president what would you do to change that?
Schweitzer: Well, to start with, if you look at my record in Montana, I was elected without
taking a penny of special interest money. I didn't take any PAC money when I was elected
or re-elected. I didn't demand at the other side, I didn't even challenge them not to.
But I said this, that if I'm elected no one will buy their way to the front of the line.
I'm not suggesting that when people make those contributions that they are automatically
going to get something. But they do buy a place at the front of the line. They do get
a special venue because they were the lobbyists, they were the ones who put up those special
dollars. And so when -- I can tell you this, even though I was elected with, re-elected
with 66% of the vote in Montana I was the least popular governor in the history of Montana
among the lobbyists because they didn't have a place at the front of the line. I would
say to them, look, I know you have an opinion, but you're paid to have that opinion. I want
the opinions of the people, not the special interests.
Henderson: So, public financing of all federal campaigns?
Schweitzer: It would be a good start. We have the best government money can buy. honestly
this is kind of interesting, Wal-Mart went down to Mexico here a few years ago and they
said, we want to build a new Wal-Mart and the people around there said, well gee, that's
where our ancestors are buried. So they spread $22 million around among a bunch of politicians
and they got in really big trouble, not in Mexico for bribery, they got in trouble because
of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that we passed here in the United States in 1977.
If you're going to give money to an elected official with expectation of favorable treatment
it is illegal to give it to anybody anywhere in the world except to American politicians.
What could go wrong?