Today’s badly broken campaign finance system benefits wealthy interests, and leaves hundreds of millions of ordinary Americans on the outside looking in at Washington’s rigged system.
Today, Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer appeared before the House Administration Committee in support of H.R. 1, the comprehensive democracy reform bill introduced by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and co-sponsored by 225 other House Democrats. (Watch the video here.) Wertheimer also submitted written testimony on behalf of Democracy 21 in […]
Meet a Younger Mitch McConnell as Bold Campaign Finance Reformer By Fred Wertheimer Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is the nation’s leading opponent of campaign finance laws. But it wasn’t always that way. Today McConnell is playing true to form, attacking H.R.1, the historic democracy reform legislation sponsored by Rep. John Sarbanes (D-MD) and […]
Enclosed for your information is a piece refuting spurious arguments being made by opponents of H.R. 1 to defend secret contributions. According to the piece: Secret, unlimited contributions made to groups which spend money to influence federal elections are a particularly dangerous means for corrupting government decisions. Without disclosure of these unlimited contributions, there is […]
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | February 7, 2019 “Underlying these and other attacks is a simple goal of reform opponents: to allow big money donors to continue secretly injecting large sums into our elections with no public accountability and therefore no way to determine if the donors and the Members who benefit have exchanged large […]
Enclosed for your information is an opinion piece entitled, “To end Washington corruption, officeholders and candidates must have a new way to finance their campaigns,” which was published here in The Hill on January 30, 2019. According to the piece: If federal officeholders and candidates are not provided with an alternative way to finance their […]
President Trump is crashing in the polls. Two recent polls have a Democrats’ “blue wave” in the making, with 14– and 12-point leads in the generic vote for House races. And the stage is being set in Congress for a historic effort to begin early next year to fix our broken and corrupt political system, […]
In a complaint filed today with the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE), Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer called on the OCE to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the conduct of Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA). “Rep. Hunter and his wife were apparently ripping off their campaign donors by living off of their campaign contributions in gross […]
Federal law prohibits a person from soliciting contributions, including in-kind contributions, from foreign nationals in connection with a federal election. The prohibition on soliciting a contribution is violated regardless of whether the person receives the contribution being solicited. President Trump has admitted, in writing, that the June 9, 2016 meeting in Trump Tower between senior […]
In a letter sent to Members of Congress today, reform organizations and experts called on Members to support and cosponsor the “Curtailing Lobbyists and Empowering Americans for a New Politics Act (CLEAN Politics Act).” This legislation was introduced today in the House by Representatives John Sarbanes (D-MD and in the Senate by Senator Michael Bennet […]
Americans in nearly 200 cities and towns around the country held candlelight vigils on Wednesday night to confront government corruption and demand democracy, a signal to lawmakers that the public is ready for their leaders to take action to protect the rule of law and make sure every voice can be heard in the political […]
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