Failed Republican candidate pitches campaign reform

Roemer, on a college speaking tour across the country, was previously an outside candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, but dropped out of the GOP primary in late February after struggling to gain traction. Roemer was invited to very few presidential debates but managed to generate publicity after shooting an advertisement with Stephen Colbert’s super PAC, Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow.

Roemer started off his talk by noting that since he had been to the White House nearly 100 times, his campaign wasn’t an ego trip. Instead, he emphasized that he felt the need to run because of the current state of government.

“I’m running for president because I believe Washington, D.C., is not just broken; I believe Washington, D.C., is bought,” Roemer said.

Roemer has based most of his campaign on drawing attention to the corrosive role that money plays in politics. Roemer said he saw the need for health care reform, energy reform and trade reform, among others, but that none of these reforms were possible without campaign reform.

“Do you know who runs Washington?” Roemer asked. “It’s not Obama; he hasn’t done anything he wants to do.”

Asking the question again, Roemer answered that it was Goldman Sachs and other special interests. Roemer said Goldman Sachs alone had received $640 billion in bailout money for which they didn’t pay a penny.

“An executive from Goldman Sachs the other day was criticizing federal spending — can you imagine the audacity of that?” Roemer said.

Roemer described how every person from Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich to President Barack Obama had a super PAC, which have few disclosure requirements or spending limits.

Roemer noted how the debate over campaigns had changed since his time in Congress in the 1980s.

“When arguing before Congress in 1981, the debate was between the liberals and the conservatives. Conservatives like myself said we needed full disclosure. Liberals said that’s not enough, we need limits,” Roemer said. “Do you know what we have now? Neither.”

Roemer then launched into three examples of problems that brought him out of his banking career, where he founded and led a bank in Baton Rouge, La., for the last five years, and back into politics.

Roemer’s first example was bank reform. Roemer noted that he was the only politician who went to Occupy Wall Street protests, while he said Obama instead went to a Goldman Sachs-hosted event on Wall Street the weekend after signing a bill.

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“I went to Occupy Wall Street because I listen to young people — that’s why I’m at Princeton,” Roemer said. “There’s a president in here, and it probably won’t be me; it will be one of you.”

Roemer’s second example was health care reform. He criticized the protection insurance companies, pharmaceuticals and tort lawyers receive under Obama’s healthcare bill. Roemer said that the issue was not debated because both sides of the aisle are corrupted by moneyed interests.

“Republicans couldn’t use those arguments because they’re getting money from them too,” Roemer said. “Nobody wants to talk about it.”

Roemer’s third example was the tax code, which he described as lobbyist-written and impossible to read, contrasting its 10.3 million-word length with Lincoln’s 286-word Gettysburg address.

While bank reform, health care reform and tax code reform are all important issues for Roemer, he said he sees no way to address these issues without first reducing the influence of lobbyists in Washington.

Roemer contrasted the large contributions the leading presidential candidates are receiving from super PACs with his own campaign. He then listed the six amendments he would include in House Bill 1 if he were to be elected, including full disclosure of all contributions within 48 hours and the elimination of super PACs.

In a private interview after the discussion, Roemer noted that while his campaign features campaign reform as his main issue, he hopes the issue’s legs persist past November.

“I will take this issue by the throat and ask Princeton to step up with me — we’re going to change America, with or without this election,” Roemer said. “This is not about an election; this is about a system.”

Roemer’s talk was sponsored by Whig-Cliosophic Society and held in Frist Campus Center.