2007 Romney began criticizing the McCain-Feingold Law, saying "We step into dangerous territory when politicians start eviscerating our fundamental freedoms in the name of amorphous principles, like campaign finance reform." He wrote in 2007: "The original intent of McCain-Feingold was to reduce the role of money and special interests in our political system. But on this too it has been a failure. Political spending has been driven into secret corners and more power and influence has been handed to hidden special interests. What is really needed is greater transparency, and disclosure, of campaign contributions – not more restrictions on political speech." In November 2011, Romney said that the Supreme Court had made the right decision in its 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling, but that he did not like some of the consequences of it: "I'm not wild about the idea of corporations making political contributions as a concept. I think their decision was a correct decision. I support their decision. I wish we could find a way to get money out of politics. I haven't found a way to do that." In January 2012, in the midst of the Republican Party presidential nomination primaries battle, Romney criticized the existence of Super PACs that were playing a large role in the campaign, saying, "I'll tell you, there have been some—there have been some attacks on me that have just been outrageous and completely inaccurate and have been shown to be inaccurate. That's the nature of the process. I hope it ends. ... We all would like to have super PACs disappear, to tell you the truth ... I think this has to change." A Romney spokesman added at the time that Romney viewed laws limiting regular donations to candidates' campaigns as too restrictive, which resulted in money going to Super PACs instead, and that it would be better if candidates' campaigns could receive those monies directly and take responsibility for ads made with them. Defense spending levels During the 2012 presidential campaign, Romney proposed to increase the size of the military by at least 100,000 troops. He called for spending priorities that include an expanded Naval armada estimated at $40 billion. But he did not specify how he would pay for this spending under the current tight Federal budget. John Lehman, a top adviser, said that the shipbuilding funds would come from cuts in the Pentagon. Romney said