News

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 […]

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 […]

Democracy 21 Releases Excerpts from dozens of Editorials Across the Nation Supporting the DISCLOSE Act

Below are excerpts from dozens of examples of the nationwide editorial support that exists for campaign finance disclosure and the DISCLOSE Act. During the recently concluded national elections, well over a hundred million dollars in secret contributions was spent by outside groups to influence congressional races. For the first time in nearly forty years huge […]

Reform Groups Press ‘Disclosure Only’ Bill in Senate; New Study to be Released on Contribution Disclosure

On Thursday November 18, 2010 at 10:30 a.m. a coalition of reform groups will hold a press conference at the Capitol to discuss the effort to pass a stripped-down version of the DISCLOSE Act focusing solely on the disclosure provisions of the bill.  Such a bill would take away the issues raised by critics of […]

Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer on Today’s Findings by House Ethics Committee Panel in Rangel Case

According to an AP story by Larry Margasak, the findings today by a panel of  the House Ethics Committee that Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) committed multiple ethics violations included a finding that Representative Rangel had solicited donors for a New York college center named after him with interests before the Ways and Means Committee, leaving […]

E.J. Dionne WashPost Column: A lame and spineless duck?; The Hill: Midterms may have just tested the waters of campaign finance ruling

The Washington PostA lame and spineless duck?By E.J. Dionne Jr.November 15, 2010 The lame-duck session of Congress that kicks off this week will test whether Democrats have spines made of Play-Doh and whether President Obama has decided to pretend that capitulation is conciliation. Congress faces an enormous amount of unfinished business, largely because of successful […]

Statement, Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer on Secret Financing of 2010 Elections, Campaign Finance Reform Battles Ahead

The Supreme Court decision in Citizens United eliminated one of the nation’s principal laws to protect against government corruption and opened the door to campaign finance scandals which began to play out in the 2010 congressional races. As a result of the decision, one of the worst in Supreme Court history, this is the first election in […]

CED Money in Politics Forum: CED poll of business leaders released; Remarks of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer

  I would like to thank the Committee for Economic Development and its President, Charlie Kolb, for holding this forum today. A decade ago, CED provided a powerful and pivotal business voice in the successful effort to enact the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002. CED’s return to the campaign finance reform issue is a […]