Sign the online petition to tell presidential candidate John McCain to fire three lobbyist staff members

Public Campaign Action Fund has begun the "Fire the Lobbyists!" online petition campaign. Two of US Senator and presidential candidate John McCain's (R) staff recently resigned because it was revealed that they were lobbyists for the military junta in Myanmar. Still, there remains three more lobbyists on McCain's presidential campaign staff that worked for foreign governments or interests that offend American values and human rights.

Please sign the petition at http://www.firethelobbyists.com/ now, to tell Sen. McCain to fire these three remaining lobbyists! These people, and the associations they bring, have no place in a presidential campaign. Thank you

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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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Tell US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to allow a vote on new FEC commissioners

Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington (CREW) has launched a new campaign website called Fix the FEC. Since early this year, the Federal Election Commission has been without a quorum of its commissioners (there are only two of the normal six commissioners), rendering many of it's regulatory responsibilities useless.

Fix the FEC is very well-designed and easy to use. First and foremost, it asks the public to send a letter to US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to let the senate vote in new commissioners to return the FEC to quorum. You can send your letter right from the site's homepage. Then, you can send a letter to your family and friends about the campaign from another webpage. Background information about the current FEC crisis, its latest news and an FEC violation tipline are also easily located on Fix the FEC.

I highly recommend you participate with CREW using this great activist campaign website, Fix the FEC.

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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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Call your two US Senators and ask them to support the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act

Public Citizen is asking us to call our two US Senators, and ask them to support the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act (S.223). It would require all senate candidates, both challengers and incumbents if office, to file their campaign finance reports electronically (as opposed to paper). Just as important, they need to support the bill without the Ensign Amendment, which is unconstitutional.

In addition to bringing technology up-to-date, it would save the American taxpayer $250,000. per year! Call both of your senators right now; you can reach them at the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. Then, if you can, please leave word with Public Citizen on whether they do already support the bill without the amendment. Thank you

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Sign the letter to presidential candidate John McCain for public financing of elections

Public Campaign Action Fund has written a letter to US Senator and Republican presidential candidate John McCain, and they'd like us to sign onto it. The letter emphasizes the importance of two bills currently being legislated that would introduce and strengthen public financing of congressional and presidential races, effective in 2009. They are the Fair Elections Now Act (S.1285) and the Presidential Funding Act (S.436).

It is a great opportunity for Sen. McCain to return to his long celebrated reform issues and support these public financing bills. Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton have co-sponsored them already.

Sign onto Public Campaign's online letter now, then spread the word! The more signatures of Americans fed up with special interest big money in federal campaigns, the more influential the letter to McCain will be! Thanks!

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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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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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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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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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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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Financial contributions by both Clinton and Obama to Democratic superdelegates have results

The Center for Responsive Politics has published a report entitled "Seeking Superdelegates". It is a powerful analysis of the influence financial contributions to them by Democratic presidential candidates Clinton and Obama is. From Capital Eye, the Center's newsletter:

" Obama, who narrowly leads in the count of pledged, "non-super" delegates, has doled out more than $698,200 to superdelegates from his political action committee, Hope Fund, or campaign committee since 2005. Of the 82 elected officials who had announced as of Feb. 12 that their superdelegate votes would go to the Illinois senator, 35, or 43 percent of this group, have received campaign contributions from him in the 2006 or 2008 election cycles, totaling $232,200. In addition, Obama has been endorsed by 52 superdelegates who haven't held elected office recently and, therefore, didn't receive campaign contributions from him.

Clinton does not appear to have been as openhanded. Her PAC, HILLPAC, and campaign committee appear to have distributed $205,500 to superdelegates. Only 12 percent of her elected superdelegates, or 13 of 109 who have said they will back her, have received campaign contributions, totaling about $95,000 since 2005. An additional 128 unelected superdelegates support Clinton, according to a blog tracking superdelegates and their endorsements, 2008 Democratic Convention Watch. "

A chart of all of the superdelegates who are public officials, both committed and not, and how much if any Obama and Clinton have given them since the 2005 election cycle breaks down the numbers.

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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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Get ready now for Fair Elections Week, November 12-16, 2007

Fair Elections Now! is a website devoted to the upcoming Fair Elections Week of November 12-16, 2007. It is run by the Fair Elections Now Coalition, which includes Brennan Center for Justice, Common Cause, Democracy Matters, Public Campaign, Public Citizen and U.S. PIRG.

Fair Elections Week is a great opportunity for supporters of public financing of campaigns. Instead of relying only on fundraising drives, candidates can focus their attention on the race at hand, and, most importantly, on the voters.

At Fair Elections Now!, there are several things everyone can do to participate and make the Week a success. I, personally have signed up already to host an event in my town. I have already signed the petition to support Clean Elections. I have read what's posted on the website's bulletin board. There are indeed many ways to get involved for this worthy campaign fianance reform cause, just by going to the website.

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A wealth of campaign and government data at your fingertips

I have broken up the "Government Reform-Related Databases" list on the left column into two lists: "Campaign Finance Databases" and "Government Finance Databases". This makes it easier to pick and choose the databases you need for any one project.

There are seven campaign-related databases for when you want to background check each of your candidates, on the state and national levels. Plus, there are nine databases for when you want to check existing elected officials of state legislatures and Washington and their spending habits.

Advances in internet technology has made these databases possible, with many developed just in the last couple of years. They are easy to use, and they make a great study for the next time you write your next letter to any of your representatives, or when you write that letter to the editor.

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Uniformity in petitioning laws eases multi-state political campaigns

Ballot Access News reports on the petitioning efforts by the Iowa Green and Libertarian Parties so they can be included in their state's voter registration forms as unqualified parties. This petitioning law is different among many states across the nation.

Each state in the U.S. has it's own set of election laws, and practically every state is unique in that respect. Ballot access rules are different; this makes national petitioning campaigns of minor political parties for several states very difficult over any election cycle.

In these and perhaps other instances, uniformity amongst the states in electoral laws would be preferable to today's variety. Having practically the same petitioning laws across the country, for example, will help the present two-party dominant political system in place today become more competitive. It would also ease the petitioning campaigns of independent presidential candidates seeking ballot access across the country.

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Incumbent protection scheme degrades democracy

The Corruption Chronicles blog, a favorite of mine from Judicial Watch, writes that legislators in the Pennsylvania House use taxpayer funds to pay their staff for re-election campaign work. This includes House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese.

On the federal level, many of our representatives employ at least one full-time staff person for nothing but campaign work; but most presumably use their campaign funds. Judicial Watch's story pertains to the state of Pennsylvania legislature; who knows how many other state officeholders around our country employ the same tactic?

Using public funds to pay campaign workers is illegal; PA's state attorney general has launched an investigation into the taxpayer abuse. State legislators have a great responsibility to conduct themselves in an ethical manner, for thousands of voters entrust them with their leadership every two years. Incumbent protection schemes such as this degrade our democracy, and the fairness of our electoral system.

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The mandate is there-- no lobbyist campaign contributions!

The Gallup Poll company just concluded a political reform survey about whether presidential candidates should accept campaign contributions from lobbyists. Even though the question was asked in different ways, the vast majority, around 80%, of adults said 'no'. It looks like most respondents, whether Republican, Democrat or Independent, saw the ethical implications of such donations.

If a Congressional candidate accepted financial contributions from a lobbyist, then, if he won, was visited by that same lobbyist about a bill up for a vote, you would see the obvious conflict of interest. Now, take this one step further: if a union paid that lobbyist to work for that bill, the conflict of interest problem would affect the union. So, it is in the interest of the lobbying firm not to not engage in financial campaign contributions if they want to professionally (and ethically) represent their future clients.

Stopping lobbyist "bundling" of financial contributions from others is currently under legislation-- it's awaiting the President's signature for approval. Lobbyist individual contributions, however, continue unabated. Democratic presidential candidates Edwards and Obama have publicly committed to not accepting campaign contributions from lobbyists. Let us hope more candidates see the light and do the same thing soon.

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Let us end the long-running campaign finance tug-of-war

There seems to be a constant campaign finance reform tug-of-war, between reformers, and opponents who argue for free speech. Sometimes the reformers have things going their way, sometimes it's their opponents. Presently, free speechers can produce special interest attack ads thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision.

Now, the presidential candidates declare they are for campaign finance reform, whether they practice it fully or not. For instance, Barack Obama likes to share the high number of small private donations to his campaign; and yet, he has already received $1.5 million of support from higher education special interests.

There is, however, a better solution to this tug-of-war, and that is public financing of campaigns. This idea is spreading across America in the individual states; Maine and Arizona are examples of successful public financing; there is also the Fair Elections Now Act moving through the Senate. This is a practical, non-ideological consideration that of course involves candidates from all parts of the political spectrum. Having a clean system in place consistently relieves all candidates from asking for campaign donations and allows them to focus on all of the voters.

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Campaign finance abuse leads to mistrust with constituents

There is a dangerous lack of trust between the American people and our President. For many quarters of the political community, Bush has not earned his credentials since he first entered office in 2001. It is only after several years of kowtowing to his major campaign fundraisers at the highest levels of government that most of the nation is now at odds with him.

In effect, Bush's administration is a living case of the campaign finance abuses of his electoral campaigns for 2000 and 2004. In an attitude of a free-wheeling cowboy, he gave special names to his largest campaign donation bundlers (those who marshalled big money donations personally). In an attitude of cronyism, he enlisted these bundlers and other political hacks to high government positions. And in an attitude of executive priviledge, Bush is now justifying his cronies 'till they are thrown out of office.

There is now a year and a half left in our President's last term of office. Will the American people justify their sense of citizenship and patriotism and lose all trust with him? Only time will tell.

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