In 1976, the Supreme Court ruled in Buckley v. Valeo that “contribution ceilings were a necessary legislative concomitant to deal with the reality or appearance of corruption inherent in a system permitting unlimited financial contributions.” [emphasis added] Thus, the Court upheld the limits on campaign contributions to candidates enacted in response to the Watergate scandals. In 2002, Congress banned […]
Today’s campaign finance system floods Washington with unprecedented levels of influence-seeking and influence-buying campaign money. It is an unfair and corrupt system. It is also an obscene system where, for example, former President Donald Trump reportedly told top oil executives they should raise $1 billion for him. In return Trump said he would, if elected, immediately reverse […]
“If money is buying influence and results over government policies, then most Americans are shut out, because the campaign finance system is dominated by people who are putting up very large sums of money.” – D21 President Fred Wertheimer There’s a corner of the 1970s Watergate scandal with far-reaching impact, according to National Public Radio’s Planet Money in […]
Representative John Sarbanes (D-MD), joined by Representatives Joe Neguse (D-CO), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), and Chellie Pingree (D-ME), recently reintroduced the Government By The People Act, which would establish a small-donor campaign matching program for candidates running for the House of Representatives. Democracy 21 strongly endorses the Government By The People Act, essential legislation that would help […]
This week, in lieu of a Fred Note, here’s a “Fred Listen”: “If money is buying influence and results over government policies, then most Americans are shut out, because the campaign finance system is dominated by people who are putting up very large sums of money.” – D21 President Fred Wertheimer There’s a corner of the […]
In my more than 50 years of working to curb the influence of big money on politics and policy, I have never heard of a case where a presidential candidate asked a group of donors to raise one billion dollars for his campaign, much less to do so in exchange for favorable government policies. Yet that reportedly […]
“States and municipalities aren’t waiting for Congress to lead on limiting big money in politics,” Democracy 21 advisor Matt Keller and Christine Wood, co-director of the Declaration for American Democracy Coalition, write in an op-ed published in The Hill. “All in all, 14 states and more than 20 localities provide the option for candidates to take advantage […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Sign up for Democracy 21’s email list(s) to receive “Wertheimer’s Political Report” our weekly newsletter released every Thursday and/or our regular news releases. (And, we won’t share your email.)
