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John McCain
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Q: "You got clean elections [public financing] in Arizona, you want to see that on a national level?" MCCAIN: "No. I don't think that that's what we want to do… But I'm very worried about the 527s."
Q: “So, bottom line, if you had it all to do over again, would you still go for McCain-Feingold?” MCCAIN: “Absolutely. You've seen the corruption in Washington. We have former members of Congress in federal prison. The approval rate for Congress is down around 11 percent because the law was not fully implemented, and the '74 law on these so-called 527s — 527s are a disgrace and they have to be eliminated because they're clearly in violation of the law. But again, if anybody thinks that special interests didn't write legislation in Washington, they didn't work there.”
Primary sponsor of the "Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2001" (S. 27), a bill to "amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to provide bipartisan campaign reform."
From McCain's official campaign website: “Most Americans understand that competitive elections in a free country require money. Since campaigns require spending funds to communicate with voters, they know we can never take money completely out of politics, nor should we. Americans have a right to support the candidates and the parties they endorse, including financially if they so choose. But what most Americans worry about profoundly is corporations or individuals with huge checks seeking the undue influence on lawmakers that such largesse is intended to purchase. That is why John McCain has fought to enforce long-standing prohibitions on corporate and union contributions to federal political parties, for sensible donation limits, disclosure of how candidates and campaigns are funded, and the diligent enforcement of these common sense rules that promote maximum public participation in the political process and limit opportunities for corruption.”
“What's going to happen, particularly if you've got an incumbent president, and we no longer stick to the finance — the public financing, which was a result of the Watergate scandal? So what's going to happen? The dam is broken. We're now going to see huge amounts of money coming into political campaigns, and we know history tells us that always leads to scandal.”
"Senator John McCain, the country's most prominent campaign reform advocate, [in 2002] announced his support for his home state's Clean Elections system. In ads paid for by the Arizona Clean Elections Institute, McCain says: 'Clean Elections works well to overcome the influence of special interests. It gives Arizonans the power to create good government. Keep supporting Clean Elections.'"
“Some states like my own have adopted clean election laws. They have been flawed because it’s a new experiment. The overall result has been more candidates, and more candidates saying, ‘Now I get to spend my time talking with the voters and not raising money.’ So, I have a ray of optimism, particularly in those states where you can do ballot initiatives..."
"As President, I will…create greater transparency in government and encourage more citizens-government dialogs using current technology."
Q: “One of the things that Dr. Dobson was most concerned about was your support of a, a legislation which would demand that organizations provide their fundraising lists when they were doing grassroots lobbying…. You were very much in favor of that kind of transparency, and then you voted against it on the floor. Why have you flipped on a legislation that Dr. Dobson cared about, conservative groups cared about? Is it because you’re trying to win their favor in your race for president?” MCCAIN: “…. I had changed my position on this issue because I believe that it was too big a bite to take. I believe that there’s ambiguities concerning it, and so I believe that it was better to move forward with the reforms that we can make…. There are as—there are as many liberal groups who were opposed to the legislation as well, as I—as I understand it. Some of these grassroots organizations are very legitimate organizations. As we found out during the Abramoff investigations, some are not. We should be able to find out and discriminate between the two.”
"The federal government spends too much money, squanders precious resources on questionable projects pushed by special interests, and ignores the priorities of the American taxpayer."
McCain was the primary sponsor of the Lobbying Transparency and Accountability Act of 2006 (S. 2128), a bill "to provide greater transparency with respect to lobbying activities, and for other purposes."
McCain voted NO on the Commission to Strengthen Confidence in Congress Act of 2006 (S. 2349), a bill to "provide greater transparency with respect to lobbying activities, to amend the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 to clarify when organizations described in section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 must register as political committees, and for other purposes." McCain described the bill as "extremely weak."
“Seven top McCain officials were lobbyists, though the campaign stresses that none is currently registered to lobby Congress…. But the bottom line is, both [McCain and Obama] have ties to lobbyists, meaning whomever wins will have a hard time backing up the rhetoric about change and shaking up Washington.”
Q: "[What do you think] about national holiday voting?" MCCAIN: "Whatever gets people out, but I'm not sure people wouldn't go fishing or go on vacation. There's mixed opinions about that."
"As President, I won’t have signing statements. I will either sign or veto any legislation that comes across my desk."
Q: “Does executive privilege cover testimony or documents about decision-making within the executive branch not involving confidential advice communicated directly to the president himself?” MCCAIN: “Yes, the law recognizes a ‘deliberative process’ type of executive privilege that is broader than direct communications to the President. So while we should not do anything to inhibit the communications between a president and his advisers, as President I will do my utmost to accommodate Congressional requests for information.”
Q: “If Congress defines a specific interrogation technique as prohibited under all circumstances, does the president's authority as commander in chief ever permit him to instruct his subordinates to employ that technique despite the statute?” MCCAIN: “No. Article I, Section 8 gives Congress that power. Unless the president chooses to willfully violate the law and suffer the consequences, he must obey the law.”
Q: “Does the Constitution empower the president to disregard a congressional statute limiting the deployment of troops -- either by capping the number of troops that may be deployed to a particular country or by setting minimum home-stays between deployments? Is that beyond Congress' authority?” MCCAIN: “It's beyond Congress's authority to micromanage wars. Congress has the power of the purse and the power to declare wars; the President is responsible for leading the armed forces as Commander in Chief.”
Q: “In what circumstances, if any, would the president have constitutional authority to bomb Iran without seeking a use-of-force authorization from Congress? And specifically, I'm thinking about non-imminent threat situations.” MCCAIN: “Well he doesn't. But if there is an imminent threat, the president has to act in America's security interest.” Q: “But in terms of a strategic bombing, where nothing is going to happen tomorrow or next week, then he's got to go to Congress?” MCCAIN: “He should, absent an imminent threat. But in the event of an imminent threat, the President has a constitutional obligation to protect the American people.”
Q: “Is there any executive power the Bush administration has claimed or exercised that you think is unconstitutional? Anything you think is simply a bad idea?” (This was one of two questions McCain declined to answer in a interview on presidential power with The Boston Globe.)
Co-sponsored the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 (S. 4), a bill "to grant the power to the President to reduce budget authority."
Voted against a motion to consider the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act of 2007 (S. 1257), "A bill to provide the District of Columbia a voting seat and the State of Utah an additional seat in the House of Representatives."
"As a presidential candidate and as a senator, I’ve worked hard to open up the political process for all Americans.... Instant runoff voting...will lead to good government [and elected] leaders who have the support of a majority of voters."
When asked in a survey to "indicate which principles you support (if any) regarding campaign finance and government reform," McCain did not indicate support for instant run-off voting.