News
In a letter sent today to Attorney General Eric Holder, Democracy 21 called on the Justice Department to closely monitor the activities of presidential candidate-specific Super PACs in the 2012 presidential election. The letter forwarded to Attorney General Holder a Democracy 21 report issued last week which raised serious questions about the legality of the […]
Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer The Republican National Committee filed an amicus brief today in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of U.S. v. Danielczyk, which challenges the ban on corporate contributions to federal candidates. The RNC brief argues that the court should conclude the ban on corporate contributions is […]
Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer Democracy 21 is pleased that the Supreme Court today issued a summary affirmance of a lower court ruling that correctly upheld the constitutionality of the ban on contributions and expenditures by foreign nationals in U.S. elections. In a decision issued last August in the case of Bluman v. FEC, […]
Unless Candidate-Specific Super PACs Stopped, System of Legalized Bribery Will Return to our Democracy, Report Says In a report issued today, Democracy 21 documented the serious questions that exist about the legality of the leading presidential candidate-specific Super PACs that are playing a major role in the 2012 presidential election. The Democracy 21 report also […]
Next week on Wednesday, January 11, 2012, oral argument will be heard in the case of Van Hollen v. Federal Election Commission. The argument will take place at 10 am in Courtroom 3 before Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. According to Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer: The Van […]
Campaign consultants and attorneys never seem to be a loss for ways to exploit outdated campaign finance laws to hide the sources of campaign money, to the detriment of voters. As voters head to caucuses in Iowa tonight, ahead of New Hampshire’s primary next week, managers of so-called Super PACs have seized on an especially […]
Turning on the television in Iowa recently has meant getting hit by an unrelenting arctic blast of campaign ads stunning in volume and ferocity. Residents here say they have never seen anything like the constant negativity in decades of witnessing the quadrennial combat of the state presidential caucuses. The ads have transformed the Republican race for a […]
In a major victory for campaign finance laws enacted to prevent corruption, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals this week upheld the constitutionality of New York City’s “pay to play” campaign contribution restrictions. The Second Circuit decision in Ognibene v. Parkes upheld the lower limits that apply to campaign contributions from lobbyists and others […]
Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer Today, the three Republican Commissioners on the six-member FEC have once again shown their disdain for the nation’s campaign finance laws they are supposed to implement and enforce. The three Republican Commissioners blocked an effort by Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) to initiate a rulemaking by the agency […]
Today the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 filed a complaint urging the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to investigate possible violations of campaign finance law by presidential candidate Rick Perry’s campaign committee, RickPerry.org, and the Perry-supporting Super PAC Make Us Great Again. Based on published media reports, the Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 believe […]
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