Sign an e-card to Senator Warren Rudman for his work for public financing of elections

Just $6 from Americans for Campaign Reform is asking us to sign an e-card, to thank former Senator Warren Rudman for his work for public financing of elections. Senator Rudman has tirelessly advocated for better elections and better government. He has written an Op-Ed on the subject. He has also testified to the Senate Rules Committee on behalf of the Fair Elections Now Act.

Please go to Just $6 and sign their card. Then, if you're in the Bedford, New Hampshire area on Tuesday, May 13th, you can attend a benefit dinner in his honor; all proceeds will go to Just $6's efforts to realize publicly funded elections. Thank you

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Sign the Voters First Pledge at Public Campaign Action Fund, for volunteer public financing of federal elections

Public Campaign Action Fund is running a Voter Pledge drive for clean elections for federal candidates. Clean elections is another term for volunteer public financing of candidate campaigns. It can save the candidates from "dialing for dollars" every day in order to keep their campaign money flowing; this allows them to focus their time and energy on their important issues they want to share with the voters.

Please sign the 2008 Voters First Pledge right now, at Public Campaign-- you can help increase the pressure on lawmakers and candidates to back this needed reform. Thank you

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"The Buying of the President 2008", a new serial report by The Center for Public Integrity

The Center for Public Integrity has released a report titled "The Buying of the President 2008". They will release a new chapter every month in five parts over the course of a week. The first month's chapter is now coming online.

Every four years, the Center’s The Buying of the President investigates how money shapes presidential campaigns. The 2008 edition explores the roles that money and special interests play in presidential politics — a behind-the-scenes examination of everything from how the major candidates and their parties raise money to the ins and outs of opposition research and the spoils that go with a term in the Oval Office.

The web site, www.buyingofthepresident.org, is just one of many reports published and online at CPI. Check them out, for in-depth research on critical government reform issues.

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Watch a slideshow video about the new Change Congress grassroots movement

Lawrence Lessig, founder of Change Congress, has uploaded a nice slideshow video of his recent talk concerning his web site's launch. As discussed here three days ago, Change Congress aims to bring reform issues to candidates and congress and lobby them until the issues are enacted in legislation.

There has been a great display of enthusiasm already for this new grassroots campaign; Mr. Lessig is world reknown for his path-breaking work as founder and head of Creative Commons, a new method to keep your copyright while inviting certain uses of your work.

I have added a badge proclaiming my support and aid to Change Congress; you, too, can sign up and, if you have a web site or blog, display one as well! Join us today! Thanks.

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Tell your two US Senators to vote YES on Fair Elections

It's now time again to contact your two US Senators and ask them to vote YES for public financing of congressional campaigns. A bill addresses this, called The Fair Elections Now Act (S.1285). Fair Elections is a major campaign finance reform issue, and passing it would undercut alot of questions relating to legislators' possible favoring of their private campaign contributors.

You can reach your senators through Yahoo! CapWiz, or, you can call the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Thank you!

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Change Congress aims to bring reform candidates to congressional office

Change Congress is now open for business! Founded by Lawrence Lessig and Joe Trippi, Change Congress aims to find, debate with and win over congressional candidates on several reform issues. Citizens can get involved right away, by pledging their support for this cause, finding candidates in their districts, and asking them to pledge their support for these reforms. Join now!

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Take this short survey on public financing of elections

Public Campaign Action Fund is running this short survey about public financing of elections and the Presidential race and would appreciate your filling it out. Information about the survey is here.

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Presidential candidate Clinton phone conversation with questionable fundraiser on video

I just stumbled upon a video clip on Silobreaker of a telephone conversation Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton had with a fundraiser. The caption below the video player states "Hiliary Clinton Caught violating Campaign finance laws". Frankly, I can't catch the law-breaking activity mentioned in the conversation; it apparently is a gala near Hollywood to honor her husband and previous president Bill Clinton that would benefit Hillary's campaign; she says on the phone that she as a candidate was briefed on the gala's details, and that her future thoughts will be conveyed to the fundraisers through her campaign helper.

The YouTube video is here; it is several minutes long.

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A look at clean elections in action

Candidates, and ultimately voters, are already enjoying clean elections in Maine. The first state in the nation to bring this campaign finance reform to state offices, it has been successfully administered since 1996. This local newspaper story is about a current state representative candidate- what qualifies him for the program, and how he is free from big money from special interests as reflected by his campaign issues and work.

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Watch video on public financing of elections

John Rauh, founder of Americans for Campaign Reform (Just $6) interviews best-selling author Frances Moore Lappe in an entertaining video about public financing of elections, or, as some call it, "clean elections".

Presently, this video clip is not picked up by users of the Firefox browser.
UPDATE: A commenter notified us that video works on Firefox. Thanks for letting us know!

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Look for possibly big money commercials by nonprofits later this election season

According to a Feb. 25th Mother Jones article, a shift of major campaign funds from candidates and parties to individuals will take place later this election season. And 501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations may have a say on what commercials will be aired right before the November general elections.

Even if the two eventual major party presidential candidates accept the public financing system for their general election campaigns this fall, they will have little say or control over people outside their campaigns advertising for or against them costing millions of dollars.

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Presidential candidate fundraising in 2007

The Campaign Finance Institute has issued a press release on this election cycle's presidental candidate fundraising, and how it compares with the odd year of previous cycles. The data includes all of 2007, up to the latest from the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

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Will John McCain have a campaign finance conscience this election season?

Public Campaign posted today that, now that Pres. Bush has recognized John McCain as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, he has forwarded his "list" of big money donors he enjoyed when he was a candidate. This is quite disturbing, as we can see the corruption and secrecy from the administration that is inherent in exuberant campaign fundraising. George W. Bush put the F in fundraising by encouraging and rewarding the bundling of contributions from politically active companies.

Where has the R gone in reformer for McCain? The following several months of candidacy shall reveal the truth.

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Sound science should overrule high powered lobbying

Our legislators in Washington have increasingly over recent years taken stock on the ill-educated lobby industry over sound scientific advise. Clearly, there is a campaign finance element behind this, as this is a corruption of the decision-making process for our Congress and President. Below is a letter I wrote to my U.S. Representative on the topic and corn ethanol, as an blind alternative energy issue drive in Washington:


Dear Representative Neugebauer,
I understand the federal government is still moving forward on the scientific fallacy that ethanol is an improvement on our environment. Quite the opposite! The subsidies from Congress has encouraged a replacement of the food of corn and raised it's price and the entire food chain corn gives! Also, the subsidies encourage a plowing away of land around the world to land cover that is much worse for the climate than what was already there! Please, let's consider more effective alternative fuels before the high-powered lobbyists once again take the place of sound science.
Thanks in advance, David Weller

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Presidential candidates raise money from foreign lobbyists

The Center of Investigative Reporting has issued an alert on a project it has produced in cooperation with ABCNews.com:

Lobbyists for foreign governments raise money, get meetings
By Will Evans and Avni Patel
ABCNews.com | February 1, 2008

Top fundraisers for the presidential campaigns of Democrat Hillary Clinton and
Republican John McCain lobby on behalf of foreign governments, and in some
cases, helped their clients gain access to the senators, according to a CIR and
ABCNews.com investigation.

>> Read the story and see source documents:
[http://centerforinvestigativereporting.org/projects/moneyandpolitics]

>> A CIR web exclusive chart follows the money: WEB OF INFLUENCE
[http://www.centerforinvestigativereporting.org/files/flash/webofinfluence.swf]

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Many townhouses near the Capitol are owned by lobbyists for fundraising purposes

USA Today newspaper has a special graphical webpage of lobbyist-hosted fundraisers at town houses and offices near the U.S. Capitol.

In the last decade, 18 lobbying organizations have purchased town houses or leased office space near the U.S. Capitol, joining more than a dozen others that had operated there for years. At least 214 members of Congress held fundraisers at these properties last year through November, often for free or at cut-rate prices. Events listed here benefited lawmakers' candidate committees or political action committees they head, or both. This is a partial list, since many events are not reflected in federal campaign records.

If a lawmaker has a bill coming up for a vote, and the bill concerns a lobbyist hosting that lawmaker's campaign fundraiser, that would be a conflict of interest, no?

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Let we, the people finance our next president's candidacy

I have just submitted a letter to the editor to my local newspaper, the Abilene (TX) Reporter-News. It's about Clean Elections-- public financing in light of super duper Tuesday primaries coming next week. I don't know if they'll publish it in time, as it's only several days away.

Super Duper Tuesday will include presidential primaries for 20 states on February 5th. It will require a large coffer of funds from each of the remaining candidates in order to reach all of the voters across the widely dispersed states that include California and New York. The best way to handle this is Clean Elections-- public financing of elections supplies a central fund provided by the U.S. taxpayer. It will not give amounts in favor of some candidates over others, thus leaving the issues the main focus of the campaign trail. Wouldn't it be nice to keep special interest money out of the campaign of our future leader? Clean elections leave the candidates free for speaking openly, and not for begging for dollars.

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Presidential candidate John McCain receiving many lobbyist bundlers to finance his campaign

Public Citizen has issued a press release on the rise of the unethical practice of lobbyist bundlers supporting presidential candidates. There are already more of them than in all of 2004, the last presidential election year. Perhaps more striking is the fact that the leading candidate receiving this questionable campaign finance help is none other than U.S. Senator John McCain (Repub.).

McCain has often been on the front lines of reform in Congress, as an author or co-author of campaign finance-related bills. And now, as the second leading presidential candidate in lobbyist bundling receipts, former New York City mayor Rudy Guiliani (Repub.) is likely to end his candidacy and endorse McCain later today; the senator may subsequently receive even more lobbyist bundlers.

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Where do the Republican presidential candidates stand?

All of the Democratic candidates for president support public financing of elections. We see Republicans supporting public financing in Congress and state legislatures all over the country. How about the Republican presidential candidates?

The presidential "bully pulpit" can move Congress on issues, especially in the new president's first months in office. Let's ask those Republicans still in the primaries where they stand. Public Citizen, a public interest organization promoting Clean Elections, is running a campaign to do just that:

The Republican candidates talk about changing Washington but have refused -- so far -- to support policies that bite the hands that feed their campaigns.

Tell the GOP presidential candidates that real change means supporting policies that put voters ahead of big money in presidential and congressional elections.

After we collect signatures on this petition, we'll fax each of the Republican presidential candidates a letter on February 4th, the day before Super Tuesday on February 5th, to urge them to support public financing.

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Tell Senator Ensign to drop his objection to bill S223

According to OpentheGovernment.org:

S.223, "The Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act," has bipartisan
support from 40 co-sponsors, but John Ensign (R-NV) continues to block passage
with a hold. Watch an informational video from the Sunlight Foundation
about efforts to require Senators to file campaign finance contribution reports
electronically, then call Sen. Ensign's office to tell him to drop his objection
to the bill: (202) 224-6244.

If you agree, please call Sen. Enign's office and leave your message.

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