Bush says he’d ‘eliminate’ Citizens United
Jeb Bush said Monday that he would push to reverse the Supreme Court decision paving the way for super-PACs that spend big money backing candidates — including himself.
“If I could do it all again I’d eliminate the Supreme Court ruling” Citizens United, the Republican presidential candidate told CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview published Monday afternoon, just a day before the New Hampshire primary.
{mosads}”This is a ridiculous system we have now where you have campaigns that struggle to raise money directly and they can’t be held accountable for the spending of the super-PAC that’s their affiliate,” Bush added.
The former Florida governor reiterated the comments during a campaign stop in the Granite State, where he said, “The ideal situation would be to overturn the Supreme Court ruling that allows for … unregulated money for the independent and regulated for the campaign.
“I would turn that on its head if I could,” Bush said, according to CNN.
Bush has been supported in his White House bid by millions of dollars spent by the super-PAC Right to Rise, which pulled in $118 million last year.
Despite the funding haul, he’s lagged in the polls for most of the White House race, taking 3 percent in the Iowa caucuses last week.
He’s battling for support ahead of the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, where he is competing with John Kasich, Chris Christie and Marco Rubio for second place, behind Donald Trump.
Calls to undo the Citizens United decision could be popular with New Hampshire voters turned off by political advertising, but it is unusual to hear from a Republican.
His campaign pointed out that Bush has called for unlimited campaign contributions with full transparency about donations.
Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have both blasted the Supreme Court ruling and called for it to be reversed.
Trump chided the former governor for the proposal, citing the financial support of Bush’s allied group.
“Now that Bush has wasted $120 million of special interest money on his failed campaign, he says he would end super PACs. Sad!” Trump tweeted.
Bush told CNN that he’d seek a constitutional convention to overturn the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling, saying that he would also push for a balanced-budget amendment and term limits.
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