Former Sen. Specter: If you fund the tea party, all hell breaks loose

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Former Sen. Arlen Specter (PA), a Republican who turned Democrat in 2009, on Monday night decried the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. the Federal Elections Commission.

“The big money has come in,” he told Current TV host Jennifer Granholm.

“The Supreme Court of the United States has really wrecked the American political process in allowing corporations and unions to have unlimited anonymous expenditures. And if you fund the tea party, all hell breaks loose.”

The Citizens United ruling struck down key provisions of the federal McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law and gave rise to super PACS, which can raise an unlimited amount of money to influence federal elections as long as they do not directly coordinate with a candidate’s campaign.

Specter noted that because of the tea party movement, Republicans were at risk of being ousted by more conservative candidates.

“[Republican Sen. Dick] Lugar is in jeopardy in Indiana, [Republican Sen. Orrin] Hatch is in jeopardy in Utah,” he said. “Orrin has turned so far to the right he’s barely recognizable.”

Watch video, courtesy of Current TV, below: