TUCSON, Ariz., June 22, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Senator John McCain (R-AZ) and other Arizona politicians and candidates were sued in Federal Court yesterday by Chester P. Soling, a private citizen and Arizona resident. Soling's suit contends that by accepting contributions from outside their state or district, officials violate their sworn duty to represent only the people who elect them, creating a serious conflict of interest.
"Elected officials should not take money from people or entities that they don't represent -- entities that have self-serving agendas that often diverge widely from that of the voters," states Soling. "I believe that our Founding Fathers would be despondent over the role that money plays in politics today. This state of affairs is unacceptable and not at all in keeping with the spirit of a republic. By filing this suit I am doing what I can as an American citizen to help get our country back on track."
Soling has established the Website www.CongressAbuse.com for people to learn about his lawsuit as well as his clean government agenda -- and to make financial contributions to help in the cause. "I urge all Americans who care about the future of our country to go to our site and contribute what they can so that we can take this case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary."
Congressional hearings held after the 1998 elections found that Senators and Congresspersons often do not act through a sense of duty to their constituents, but rather are beholden to those who provide the most money to their campaigns. These findings were accepted as true by the Supreme Court in its November 2003 opinion upholding most of the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance law, which sought to plug a number of the campaign-finance loopholes that resulted in Congressmen violating their duty to their constituents in favor of high dollar contributors.
"By this lawsuit, Mr. Soling seeks to plug the loophole in McCain-Feingold that allows non-constituents to amass influence by donating to candidates in many districts and many states, and thereby, presumably gaining favor from individual members and entire parties," states Soling attorney Leon Silver of the law firm Keller Rohrback P.L.C. "The injunction sought by Mr. Soling merely seeks to level the playing field and to return the power of the government to the people as intended by the framers of the Constitution."
Soling is a former real estate and Wall Street business executive who owned a seat on the American Exchange. He has dedicated a great deal of his life to public benefit activities, including serving as a board member of the League of Women Voters, a selectman in Williamstown, Massachusetts and on the Board of Trustees of Syracuse University, his alma mater.