News
In an April 8, 2012 blog post, Judge Richard Posner has called into question the controversial Supreme Court decision in Citizens United. Judge Posner is a widely-recognized conservative Judge and former Chief Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. A 2004 poll by Legal Affairs magazine named Judge Posner as one of […]
Republican Donor Simmons Seeks Rule to Fill Texas Dump By Julie Bykowicz April 4, 2012 Harold Simmons built a West Texas dump for radioactive waste that is bigger than 1,000 football fields and he can’t fill it. To turn it into a profitable enterprise, the Texas billionaire hired lobbyists to urge the Obama administration to […]
Fred Wertheimer, President of Democracy 21, appeared on MSNBC this morning to discuss his op-ed “How to stop super PACs” which was published yesterday by The Washington Post. The op-ed explained how candidate-specific Super PACs like the ones currently operating in the 2012 presidential election are vehicles for corruption and are returning the nation to a system […]
How to stop super PACs By Fred Wertheimer Here is the only good news about the super PACs flooding the 2012 presidential race with negative ads funded by huge contributions from the super rich: These vehicles for corruption can be eliminated. Congress can pass legislation to end these candidate-specific super PACs that is well within […]
By Fred Wertheimer, President, Democracy 21 Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) won an important campaign finance disclosure victory in federal district court on Friday, March 30, 2012 in the case of Van Hollen v. Federal Election Commission. Judge Amy Berman Jackson in her opinion struck down as contrary to law an FEC regulation that gutted […]
A federal district court in Washington, DC today struck down a regulation issued by the Federal Election Commission in 2007 that gutted the contribution reporting requirements that apply to groups which make electioneering communications. “Electioneering communications” are defined in the law as broadcast ads that mention a candidate 60 days before the general election and […]
In testimony before the Senate Rules Committee this morning, Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer urged enactment of the DISCLOSE Act of 2012 and made the case for why this is essential disclosure legislation. According to the Wertheimer testimony: The legislation restores a cardinal rule of campaign finance laws: citizens are entitled to know who is […]
Wertheimer Testimony on DISCLOSE ACT of 2012 Senate Rules Committee 3 29 2012.pdf
D21_and_CLC_Comments_on_AOR_2012-14_McCutcheon_March_26_2012.pdf
The New York Times March 25, 2012 When Other Voices Are Drowned Out The Supreme Court’s 5-to-4 ruling in Citizens United in 2010 was shaped by an extreme view of the First Amendment: money equals speech, and independent spending by wealthy organizations and individuals poses no problem to the political system. The court cavalierly dismissed […]
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