Henry Waxman (D-CA), Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has held two hearings critical of the fundraising costs of certain veterans charities that have generated lots of publicity and concern.

One of the witnesses, Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of American Target Advertising and one of the leading users of direct mail for conservative political and charitable causes, was not shy in his response.  Some excerpts from his testimony follow:

I am here today at your so-called “invitation.  I must say, this is the first invitation I’ve ever received from Members of Congress that wasn’t for one of your fund-raising events.

In 1960, just five years before I started my marketing agency, I estimate there were only about 60,000 donors to the Kennedy-Nixon presidential campaigns. There were only three television networks, almost no talk radio, and no Internet, so American received their news and information from very limited sources who controlled, filtered and limited what Americans knew about what really happens in Washington.