IRS Scandal Crushes Campaign Finance Reformer Dreams
WASHINGTON — Campaign finance watchdogs are feeling a little low these days.
As more details of the IRS scandal emerge, it's become clear to the advocates who have been calling for robust investigations of political spending that not only did IRS agents ignore their pleas — they also did the exact thing that will keep talk of campaign finance off the agenda for the foreseeable future.
Fred Wertheimer, founder of campaign spending watchdog Democracy 21, has been pushing for campaign finance reform for four decades. He told BuzzFeed the IRS scandal is going to be another setback in his quest, but he's not sure how long of one quite yet.
"I don't believe it's years," he said. "That's hard to predict, but I certainly don't believe it's years. I mean, you are not going to be able to brush under the rug the fact that we have a secret money scandal that is undermining our political system. Maybe you can do it for a while, but I don't think you can do it for very long."
http://www.buzzfeed.com/evanmcsan/campaign-finance-watchdogs-dismayed-by-irs-scandal?s=mobile
