Durbin: "we are carping on trifles here"

[welshTerrier2]

hearings on lobbying reform are currently being carried live on C-Span ...

Durbin, Voinovich and others have emphasized that lobby reform will fail if we don't simultaneously address campaign finance reform ...

perhaps the Abramoff scandal can truly lead to real reforms on how campaigns are financed ... as long as political candidates are forced to have their hands out and are forced to be endlessly desperate to raise campaign funds, there will always be lobbyists offering them some help for a little favor or two ... this is a real opportunity for meaningful progress ...

it's important to get the word out that lobbying reform and campaign finance reform go hand-in-hand ...

[donkeyotay]

1. Saw it. Loved it. Do you have the "trifles" part in context?

I'd like to use the quote.

[welshTerrier2]

2. Durbin used the phrase to tie lobby reform to campaign finance reform

not sure exactly what you mean by "in context" ...

the quote itself is exact from Durbin's testimony today ... the sentences immediately following the statement talked about the concept that lobby reform without campaign finance reform would not bring about the necessary changes ...

does that help?

[donkeyotay]

3. Thanks. I wanted to use it in my signature line and I couldn't get it

written down fast enough to know if I had it exactly right. Didn't want to misquote Sen. Durbin.

You know, it's funny how silent the Democrats are in general on this topic.

[welshTerrier2]

5. he's used the phrase before ...

google: durbin carping trifle

[flpoljunkie]

4. Thanks for your post. Damn little media coverage on this hearing!