MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

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SCHULTZ: Mr. Boehner can call it free speech all he wants. The only thin this ruling does is guarantee that the darlings of big business, like Boehner and Sarah Palin and Scotty Brown will keep winning election after election. Populist candidates will never have a chance unless Congress can stop this judicial activism, and that"s exactly what it is.

For more, let me bring in the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen.

Congressman, where is the advantage/disadvantage here, in your opinion?

REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D), MARYLAND: The advantage is with all of the candidates who benefit from big special interest corporate money, and the agenda that benefits from that. You mentioned the big insurance companies. Imagine AIG deciding to spend money in ads trying to defeat people who opposed them getting big bonuses, or opposing candidates who support greater accountability over Wall Street.

This is a decision that empowers big corporate special interest at the expense of the individual. And I was shocked to hear -- maybe we shouldn"t be shocked at anything these days when it comes to our Republican colleagues. But I was shocked to hear from so many of them, so quickly, run to defend a court decision that clearly helps the big powerful special interest at the expense of the average Americans.

This should be a wakeup call to everybody around the country. Senator Schumer and I and others are looking at ways we can legislatively blunt this decision. And we expect to introduce legislation very shortly.

SCHULTZ: Well, this certainly puts a shot over the bow with McCain/Feingold. This is John McCain last night talking about it. You got some help here.

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SEN. JOHN MCCAIN ®, ARIZONA: I was obviously disappointed. It is a very complex 116 page decision. It will allow for unlimited contributions from unions, as well as corporations. So it does maintain some of the provisions that we had. One conclusion you can draw is that you will see a lot more money in political campaigns in an unrestricted fashion. Americans will judge whether that"s god or bad.

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SCHULTZ: How will Democrats move to make this an advantage? I know unions can spend unlimited amount of money as well. What"s wrong with that?

HOLLEN: The fact of the matter, I think unrestricted funds in the political process has a corrosive influence. I think most Americans are right when they feel that big money, special interest, of all different varieties, have an undue influence in the process.

Obviously, when unions are spending money, they are sticking up for the men and women who work for different companies. They"re the working people. But you cannot apply a law that only affects corporations and does not apply to unions. The fact of the matter, at the end of the day, is the AIGs of the world, the big insurance companies of the world, have a lot more than the working men and women through the unions. Therefore, they can dominate the airwaves if you allow this ruling to stand as it is, and don"t find ways to scale it back.

so we"re looking at ways to try and blunt its impact. This was a very radical and fairly expansive decision. So we"re looking at ways, for example, to require shareholder approval before a company can run an ad, to require that the CEO of the company get on the air and say, I"m the CEO of X Corporation, and I approve this ad, as well as ways looking for ways to eliminate large categories of corporations, for example, those like AIG that receive a lot of tax payer dollars, certainly foreign owned subsidiaries.

SCHULTZ: They"ll have more influence, absolutely.

HOLLEN: It"s unbelievable. If you think about a country that may reap the majority of its profits by benefiting the interests of other countries spending in American elections--I got to tell you, it"s a wake-up call to Americans across this country that it"s a time to get angry and get involved.

SCHULTZ: Congressman, good to have you on tonight. Thanks so much.

HOLLEN: Good to be with you.

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