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Fred’s Weekly Note

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We are fighting to fix our broken campaign finance system by empowering small donors with public matching funds to combat big money in American politics. Influence-seeking, wealthy interests leave ordinary Americans outside looking in at Washington’s rigged system.
We are working to ensure that democracy works for everyone by preventing voter suppression and discrimination, demanding fair redistricting, supporting election security reforms, and protecting individual constitutional rights by defeating efforts to call a constitutional convention.
As a leading watchdog organization, we challenge abuses of office by Executive Branch officials and Members of Congress; press for enforcement of anti-corruption, campaign, and ethics laws; and work to strengthen bribery laws and laws preventing misuse of public office for private gain.
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From Watergate To Today
|Fred Wertheimer’s Weekly Note |TrumpWatch Watergateby Jackie HowellOn Wednesday, April 30, Democracy 21 President Wertheimer received the Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in Government for 2025. Previous recipients of the nonpartisan award include President Barack Obama, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Senator John McCain, and Representatives John Lewis and Liz Cheney. The following are excerpts from Fred’s remarks at the […]
Governing By Executive Order
|Fred Wertheimer’s Weekly Note |Executive Orders TrumpWatchby Jackie HowellPresident Donald Trump started governing the country by executive order from Day One of his second term. Since January 20, Trump has issued 137 executive orders. This compares with 162 executive orders issued by President Joe Biden over his entire four-year term and the 276 orders issued over eight years by President Barack Obama. In issuing this explosion […]
How SCOTUS Opened The Door To The Musk Era
|Fred Wertheimer’s Weekly Note |Campaign Finance Reform Citizens United Supreme Courtby Jackie HowellIt took Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, to illustrate to Americans just how dangerous our corrupt campaign finance system can be. This system allowed Musk to contribute more than $250 million to help elect Donald Trump in 2024, making him Trump’s single biggest financial supporter. In turn, President Trump made Musk his governing partner. Following […]
Trump & GOP Ramp Up Voter Suppression Efforts
|Fred Wertheimer’s Weekly Note |SAVE Act TrumpWatch voter suppressionby Jackie HowellPresident Donald Trump signed an executive order on voting last month called Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections. Based on past performance, however, we can be confident that preserving and protecting integrity was anything but his goal. The Republican-backed SAVE Act, passed in the House on Thursday, falls into the same category. Like Trump’s executive order, it […]