Tag Archive for: Campaign Finance Reform

Trump’s Dangerous Rhetoric

In this week’s note, Fred examines two issues in the news — first, the growing dangerous rhetoric coming from former President Donald Trump, and second, Washington’s corrupting campaign finance system and the record-breaking growth of influence-seeking money in politics.  >> Trump’s Dangerous Rhetoric An adage among lawyers goes like this: “If the facts are on […]

A Watergate Lesson

Next week marks the 50th anniversary of the “Saturday Night Massacre” – the firing of Special Watergate Prosecutor Archibald Cox in October 1973 that set off a firestorm and created a constitutional crisis. The Watergate scandals led to Richard Nixon’s resignation, the first and only resignation of a President, and spurred a series of historic […]

Is Bipartisanship Dead?

As the country faces a potential government shutdown at the end of September, Senators appear to be working in a bipartisan way to avoid the shutdown and fund the government for this fiscal year. But, in the House, it’s a completely different story. Bipartisanship is dead. It wasn’t always like this. For decades, in working […]

Why Political Money Corruption Thrives In Washington & How To Fix It

Fred Wertheimer’s Weekly Note | March 30, 2023 Presidential and congressional candidates from both parties, a feckless Federal Election Commission (FEC), and a Supreme Court majority extremely hostile to campaign finance laws have combined to eviscerate federal contribution limits – a key to restricting political money corruption in Washington. The result: a campaign finance system […]

Statement Of D21 President Fred Wertheimer On Senate Introduction Of DISCLOSE Act

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) today reintroduced the DISCLOSE Act to continue his decade-long effort to end secret contributions, or “dark money,” from being spent in federal elections. The Act was first introduced in 2010 by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Representative Chris van Hollen (D-MD) and has been introduced and advocated by Senator Whitehouse in […]

D21 Strongly Urges Senate To Pass The DISCLOSE Act That Requires Public Disclosure Of Large Donors To Dark Money Groups

Democracy 21 today strongly urged the Senate to vote to invoke cloture and support enactment of S. 4822, the DISCLOSE Act, when it comes to the floor this week. The DISCLOSE Act would require 501(c)(4) dark money groups which spend money in federal elections to promptly disclose donors who have given $10,000 or more during […]

The Billionaires’ And Millionaires’ Democracy

Fred Wertheimer’s Weekly Note | August 25, 2022 Our nation’s capital today floats on an ocean of influence money provided to elect favored candidates and/or to seek results in Washington. Case in point: Peter Thiel is a multibillionaire venture capitalist who co-founded PayPal and was Facebook’s first outside investor. Peter Thiel symbolizes today’s campaign finance […]

LISTEN: D21 President Fred Wertheimer On Supreme Court Siding With Sen. Ted Cruz In Campaign Finance Case

  “The U.S. Supreme Court’s conservative majority sided with Republican Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday, ruling that a federal ban on outsiders repaying a candidate’s campaign loan to himself after an election violates the constitutional guarantee of free speech,” National Public Radio correspondent Nina Totenberg reported on Monday. The decision, Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer told NPR, […]

“Follow The Money.”

Fred Wertheimer’s Weekly Note | March 17, 2022 The most well-known quote to come out of the 1970s Watergate scandals is, “Follow the money.” While the actual origin of the quote is not clear, its meaning is: To understand the ways of Washington you must look at the impact of money on the actions that are taken. […]

D21 President Fred Wertheimer On Trump’s “Rip-Off” Fundraising Scheme

   TRUMP WATCH: The Grift Continues Statement Of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer On Donald Trump’s “Rip-Off” Use Of Recurring Donation Buttons In Fundraising From his Mar-A-Lago bunker and super-spreader rallies, Donald Trump continues to spread his Big Lie about the presidential election being stolen from him. Trump is fomenting dangerous distrust of our democracy […]