House Republican Leaders Launch Sneak Attack on the Presidential Public Financing System

House Republican Leaders Launch Sneak Attack on Presidential Public Financing System,   Schedule House Floor Vote to Repeal the System Next Wednesday with No Hearings, No Committee Consideration, No Examination of the Dangers to the Political Process of Killing Rather than Repairing the Presidential System Statement by Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer  House Republicans leaders […]

Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer Praising House Speaker-designee John Boehner for Continuing Office of Congressional Ethics Intact in Next Congress

Democracy 21 praises House Speaker-designee John Boehner for proposing House rules that will continue the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) intact in the next Congress The OCE, created in 2007, represents the most important improvement in ethics enforcement in the House since the House Ethics Committee was created in 1966.According to published reports, the OCE […]

Reform Groups Urge Speaker-designee Boehner to Support and Continue Ethics Rules Adopted in 2007

In a letter sent today, reform groups strongly urged Speaker-designee Boehner, "to support, without any weakening changes, the gift, travel and other ethics rules adopted by the House in 2007 in response to the Jack Abramoff scandals."The organizations include the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, CREW, Democracy 21, the League of Women Voters, Public Citizen […]

POLITICO Op-ed by Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer: Court’s corruption of election law

With its disastrous Citizens United decision in January, the Supreme Court, its eyes wide shut, opened a Pandora’s box. The five justices who struck down the ban on corporate expenditures in federal elections had no idea what they were unleashing on our democracy; no understanding of the consequences of their radical change to campaign finance […]

Petition Filed in Supreme Court for Review of Minor Party Provisions of Connecticut Public Financing Law Upheld as Constitutional

On December 9, 2010, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation filed a petition for certiorari in the Supreme Court in Green Party of Connecticut v. Garfield, a case challenging the constitutionality of the minor party provisions of Connecticut’s public financing law. The Connecticut law provides a grant of public funds to any participating statewide or […]

Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer At Press Conference urging House Republican Leaders to Support OCE

The most important ethics test for House Speaker-designee John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the next Congress will occur as soon as the new Congress convenes. The House Republican leaders must decide whether to continue or kill the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE). The OCE was created under the leadership of House […]

Groups Call on Speaker-designee Boehner, Majority Leader-designee Cantor to Support Office Of Congressional Ethics

Campaign Legal Center – Common Cause – CREW Democracy 21-Judicial Watch – League of Women Voters   Public Citizen – Taxpayers for Common Sense – U.S. PIRG Citizen and Reform Groups Call on Speaker-designee Boehner and Majority Leader-designee Cantor to Announce Their Support for Office Of Congressional Ethics and Their Opposition to any Efforts to […]

Conservative & Taxpayer Groups Join Reformers in Push to Save Office of Congressional Ethics

A coalition of 10 groups, including Judicial Watch, Taxpayers for Common Sense, National Taxpayers Union and a number of reform groups will hold a press conference Thursday at 10:30 a.m. to urge the incoming House leadership of the 112th Congress to continue the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) and to oppose any efforts to weaken […]

Democracy 21 Calls on House Speaker-designee Boehner to Continue Office of Congressional Ethics

In a letter sent today, Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer called on House Speaker-designee John Boehner (R-OH) to support continuing the Office of Congressional Ethics in the new Congress with its authority and powers intact.The letter also calls on Speaker-designee Boehner to oppose any effort to weaken the House ethics rules adopted in 2007 in […]

Statement by Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer at Press Conference Today by Reform Groups in Support of the DISCLOSE Act

We have just come through an election where huge amounts of secret contributions were spent in the congressional races. We cannot go through another national election with this sure-fire formula for influence-buying corruption. Our organizations are calling on the Senate to schedule and pass the disclosure provisions of the DISCLOSE Act. There is no question […]