News

Wisconsin Supreme Court Urged to Affirm Constitutionality of State Restrictions on Coordinated Spending in John Doe Case

Democracy 21 joined the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause in Wisconsin and the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin in submitting an amici brief to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, to be filed upon leave of the court, in Three Unnamed Petitioners v. Peterson.  The brief urges the court to find Wisconsin’s restrictions on the coordination […]

Reform Groups Urge House Members to Co-Sponsor Price-Van Hollen Bill

In a letter sent today to House members, 11 reform groups strongly urged members of the House of Representatives to support and co-sponsor H.R 425, the Stop Super PAC-Candidate Coordination Act, introduced by Representatives David Price (D-NC) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD). The groups included the Brennan Center for Justice, the Campaign Legal Center, Citizens […]

Reform Groups Call on Justice Dept to Enforce Campaign Finance Laws in 2016 Election

In a letter sent today to the Justice Department, Democracy 21, joined by the Campaign Legal Center, applauded the Justice Department’s recent action to enforce the coordination standard in the campaign finance laws and emphasized how important it is for the Department to play an active role in enforcing the campaign finance laws in the […]

Reform Groups Urge Representatives to Oppose Latest Attempt to Repeal Presidential Public Financing System and EAC

In a letter sent today to the House Administration Committee, reform groups urged Committee   members to oppose H.R. 412, legislation introduced by Representative Tom Cole (R-OK) to repeal the presidential public financing system. The groups also urged Committee members to oppose H.R. 195, legislation introduced by Representative Gregg Harper (R-MS) to terminate the Election Assistance […]

Fred Wertheimer Statement on Groundbreaking Criminal Prosecution for Illegal Coordination Announced Today by Justice Department

The Justice Department today issued a release announcing a criminal conviction for violating the federal rules prohibiting coordination between federal candidates and their campaigns, and Super PACs and other outside spending groups. According to Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer: This is an extremely important development and sends a warning signal to all federal candidates in […]

Donald Simon Testimony for McCutcheon ANPRM

Two weeks ago, according to press reports, a roomful of multi-millionaires decided they are going to raise and spent about $900 million to make the 2016 elections turn out their way.  This money is going to be donated to outside spending groups in very large amounts by very rich people.  Much of the money will […]

Fred Wertheimer for American Constitution Society on Citizens United

The American Constitution Society Five Years Later, Citizens United Wreaks Havoc on Our Democracy By Fred Wertheimer, President, Democracy 21. Democracy 21 is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to strengthen democracy, prevent government corruption and empower citizens in the political process.    On January 21, 2010, five Supreme Court justices rejected decades of the Court’s […]

Explanation of Stop Super PAC-Candidate Coordination Act (H.R.425)

The Stop Super PAC-Candidate Coordination Act (H.R. 425) sponsored by Representatives David Price (D-NC) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD deals with two important campaign finance problems. The Act shuts down individual-candidate Super PACs and strengthens the rules that prohibit coordination between other outside spenders and candidates and parties. The provisions in the Act are also […]

Summary of DISCLOSE Act

The DISCLOSE Act is sponsored in the House by Representative Van Hollen and in the Senate by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and has been introduced in each of the past two Congresses. In the Citizens United case, the Supreme Court, while striking down the ban on corporate expenditures in federal elections, upheld, by an 8 […]

Summary of Stop Super PAC-Candidate Coordination Act

The Stop Super PAC-Candidate Coordination Act is also sponsored by Representatives Price and Van Hollen and contains just the super PAC/coordination provisions found in the Empowering Citizens Act.  Both bills define a super PAC to be coordinated with a candidate when: – the super PAC is directly or indirectly established by or at the request […]