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The Empowering Citizens Act, sponsored by Representatives David Price (D-NC) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), is the most comprehensive campaign finance reform legislation in Congress. The legislation would repair the presidential public financing system, create a public financing system for congressional races, shut down individual-candidate super PACs and strengthen the rules prohibiting coordination between candidates […]
Five years ago today, the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Citizens United, a 5 to 4 decision that has wreaked havoc on our democracy. Chief Justice Roberts and his four colleagues ignored the country’s history, the Court’s own jurisprudence and the need to protect America’s representative system of government against corruption. Instead, Citizens United […]
Reuters Democracy is drowning in a sea of dark money By Fred Wertheimer The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United five years ago left the nation’s campaign finance system in shambles and our constitutional system of representative government dangerously undermined. Citizens United threw out a century of national policy and overturned decades of Supreme Court precedent to […]
Democracy 21 joined with the Campaign Legal Center yesterday in filing rulemaking comments urging the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to follow the Supreme Court’s recommendations in McCutcheon v. FEC to prevent corruption of candidates and circumvention of the base contribution limits after the court struck down the aggregate cap on contributions. The watchdog groups pressed […]
Last week, Democracy 21 joined with Public Citizen to file an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court defending the constitutionality of a Florida law which bans the solicitation of campaign contributions by state court judges. The brief was filed on December 23, 2014 in the case of Yulee v. The Florida Bar. The State of […]
Who Shot John: The Story of How $777,600 Contribution “Limits” Ended up in The Omnibus Bill By Fred Wertheimer | HuffPost | 12/15/14 Campaign finance laws are generally enacted to solve problems and deal with corruption scandals. The Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974 (FECA) followed the Watergate scandals of the 1970s. The Bipartisan […]
Reform groups today sent a letter to President Obama stating that if the Omnibus Appropriations legislation becomes law, it includes the most corrupting campaign finance provisions ever enacted. The letter is enclosed below. Dear President Obama, The Omnibus Appropriations legislation, if it becomes law, includes the most corrupting campaign finance provisions ever enacted. The provisions […]
Reform groups today sent a letter to Congress strongly urging Senators and Representatives to vote no on the Omnibus Appropriations bill. If enacted, the bill contains the most corrupting campaign finance provisions ever passed by Congress. Dear Representative, Our organizations strongly urge you to vote NO on the Omnibus Appropriations bill. If you vote […]
The nation has been crying out for our leaders in Washington to work together. The incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been talking about wanting to put together bipartisan agreements and legislation. But I don’t think the destruction by Republican Leader McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Reid of critically important anti-corruption campaign finance laws […]
Bipartisan bargain in Omnibus will allow donor to give $776,600/year or $1,553,200/election cycle to the 3 national party committees CLARIFICATION The release enclosed below was sent out at 10 pm last night and dealt with the total amount an individual could give to a national party – the DNC and the RNC – under the […]
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