Republican nominee for President; Senior Senator (AZ):
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- Hayworth was unethical lobbyist hawking infomercials. (Jul 2010)
- Considered one-term pledge to address age issue. (Jan 2010)
- Picked Palin because she took on entrenched bureaucracy. (Nov 2009)
- Led bipartisan "Gang of 14" on judicial nominee standoff. (Aug 2009)
- Partisan rancor isn’t a cause, it’s a symptom. (Sep 2008)
- Fought corruption and the big spenders in both parties. (Sep 2008)
- Share the credit for good ideas instead of fighting over it. (Sep 2008)
- Eliminate broken government programs--20% of all program. (Feb 2008)
- More sunshine on the Working Group on Financial Markets. (Jan 2008)
- No signing statements: either sign or veto bills. (Dec 2007)
- Focus on homeland safety, restoring trust, and fiscal policy. (Dec 2007)
- Authored line-item veto law; struck down by Supreme Court. (Oct 2007)
- Keating Five mea culpa established openness to press. (Oct 2007)
- Skepticism in government can lead to chaos. (Oct 2007)
- As usual, responsible for none of 309 earmarks in 2007. (Oct 2007)
- There’s only one president; V.P. sticks to official duties. (Aug 2007)
- OpEd: Led campaign finance reform because of Keating Five. (Oct 2005)
- McCain-Feingold is latest in line of 200 years of CFR. (Oct 2001)
- Infuriates fellow senators by battling pork-barrel spending. (Oct 2001)
- Reform called incumbent protection, but fought by incumbents. (Oct 2001)
- Reform election system, and get rid of electors. (Nov 2000)
- 2000: Theme "reformer & outsider" attacked as Senate insider. (Sep 2000)
- Early Congressional races included large war chests. (Sep 2000)
- McCain-Feingold reforms never appealed to GOP base. (Sep 2000)
- Reform focus endears him to many, but alienates GOP insiders. (Sep 2000)
- Reform was a lonely message in 2000. (Sep 2000)
- No term limits; they throw away the good with the bad. (Jan 2000)
- Influence peddling helps the Chinese Army. (Sep 1999)
- Politicans poll, posture, & influence-peddle. (Jun 1999)
- Supports Line-Item Veto and Balanced Budget. (May 1999)
- Supports term limits on Congress. (Jul 1998)
Campaign Finance Reform
- Citizens United was worst decision ever, but don't overturn. (Oct 2016)
- Alleged affair with lobbyist hurt image as reformer. (Jan 2010)
- 5-year struggle for CFR portrayed in press as epic tale. (Mar 2008)
- CFR cut soft money & increased hard money; both helped GOP. (Mar 2008)
- 1993: Proposed barring campaign funds for personal expenses. (Mar 2008)
- No litmus test for Supreme Court nominees on McCain-Feingold. (Feb 2008)
- The 527s need to be eliminated. (Oct 2007)
- OpEd: McCain-Feingold chilled grassroots political speech. (Oct 2007)
- 527s are clearly illegal; reform intended for small donors. (Apr 2007)
- Supported then opposed transparency in grassroots reporting. (Jan 2007)
- Profile in Courage award for preserving integrity of system. (Apr 2003)
- Campaign finance reform needed to restore faith in politics. (May 2002)
- Finance reform will prevail if we have the votes & the guts. (May 2002)
- Supported non-severability as key component of CFR. (May 2002)
- CFR passes Senate; focus on House, not court challenges. (Apr 2001)
- Differentiate “electioneering” from real issue ads. (Mar 2001)
- Clearer rules about campaign finance; no soft money. (Jan 2001)
- Replace battle of bucks with battle of ideas. (Feb 2000)
- Fight iron triangle: special interests, money, & legislation. (Feb 2000)
- Campaign reform that’s best for country, not for GOP. (Jan 2000)
- Take away soft money & “hurt the unions bad”. (Jan 2000)
- Money corrupts politics, and soft money corrupts absolutely. (Dec 1999)
- Campaign Finance: ban both labor union & corporate donations. (May 1999)
Earmarks & Pork
- Save $30M just by ending duplicative catfish regulation. (Apr 2012)
- Authorized earmarks OK; unauthorized earmarks not. (Feb 2012)
- Would fight for line-item veto, and veto pork. (Oct 2008)
- We need a reformer because system in Washington is broken. (Oct 2008)
- I fought earmarks even in defense spending. (Oct 2008)
- FactCheck: Killed corrupt $6.8B contract, but reinstated it. (Oct 2008)
- Get earmarks under control to deal with the financial crisis. (Sep 2008)
- Obama requested for $932M of pork projects; I fought pork. (Sep 2008)
- FactCheck: Earmarks have gone down in last 5 years. (Sep 2008)
- Earmarks are terrible and pernicious; Palin learned that. (Sep 2008)
- FactCheck: $35B in pork meant $484 per child, not $1000. (Jan 2008)
- I’m “the sheriff”, not Miss Congeniality, about pork bills. (Jan 2008)
- FactCheck: Claim of “24 years with no earmarks” mostly true. (Jan 2008)
- Close corporate loopholes; veto pork-barrel spending. (Jan 2000)
- Drain the big money swamp to kill lobbyist mosquitoes. (Dec 1999)
- End sugar subsidy; corporate welfare at its worst. (Aug 1999)
Voting Record
- Gets legislation passed despite lack of congeniality. (Mar 2000)
- Voted NO on Congressional pay raise. (Jul 2009)
- Voted NO on providing a US House seat for the District of Columbia. (Feb 2009)
- Voted NO on granting the District of Columbia a seat in Congress. (Sep 2007)
- Voted YES on requiring photo ID to vote in federal elections. (Jul 2007)
- Voted YES on allowing some lobbyist gifts to Congress. (Mar 2006)
- Voted YES on establishing the Senate Office of Public Integrity. (Mar 2006)
- Voted YES on banning "soft money" contributions and restricting issue ads. (Mar 2002)
- Voted YES on require photo ID (not just signature) for voter registration. (Feb 2002)
- Voted YES on banning campaign donations from unions & corporations. (Apr 2001)
- Voted NO on funding for National Endowment for the Arts. (Aug 1999)
- Voted YES on favoring 1997 McCain-Feingold overhaul of campaign finance. (Oct 1997)
- Voted YES on Approving the presidential line-item veto. (Mar 1996)
- Voted NO on banning more types of Congressional gifts. (Jul 1995)
- Supports Shays-Meehan Campaign Finance Reform. (Jul 2001)
- Sponsored bill subjecting 527s to political committee rules. (Feb 2005)
- Sponsored bill prohibiting non-legislated earmarks. (Jul 2005)
- Sponsored bill disclosing lobbyist info & gifts on Internet. (Dec 2005)
- Rethink flawed Presidential daily intelligence briefings. (Mar 2005)
- CIA yielded to conventional wisdom, not political pressure. (Mar 2005)
- Sponsored bill allowing individual votes on each earmark. (Feb 2006)
- Require Internet disclosure of all earmarks. (May 2010)
- Prohibit IRS audits targeting Tea Party political groups. (Feb 2014)
- Ban paid voter registration. (May 2009)
- Require all laws to cite Constitutional authorization. (Jun 2009)
- Reduce federal government size & scope, including military. (Sep 1998)
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