Voters were never enthusiastic about campaign-finance regulation.(Brief article)

Voters were never enthusiastic about campaign-finance regulation. They may have favored the idea when asked about it by a pollster, but they were hardly demanding congressional action. So the proponents of regulation had to foster the illusion of a groundswell of support. Sean Treglia, a former officer at the Pew Charitable Trusts, revealed the scam at a recent conference. The strategy, he said, included creating fake grassroots organizations to promote "reform": "The idea was to create an impression that a mass movement was afoot--that everywhere they looked, in academic institutions, in the business community, in religious groups, in ethnic groups, everywhere, people were talking about reform." Pew was one of a handful of organizations that put millions into the lobbying effort. Treglia confessed at the conference that he worried that reporters might catch on to the deception--but exulted that they ...