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.

Tag Archive for: Money In Politics

Reform Groups File Amicus Brief Defending Law Limiting Corrupt ‘Soft-Money’ Contributions to State and Local Parties

  Democracy 21 joined with Public Citizen and the Campaign Legal Center in filing an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court defending the constitutionality of contribution limits to state and local parties used for federal electioneering purposes, established by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA). Before BCRA’s enactment, state parties could use unlimited […]

Fred Wertheimer – Trump Today Sets Very Dangerous Path for Himself and for the Country

  President-elect Trump today has set a very dangerous path for himself and for the country. President-elect Trump’s press conference today establishes that he will maintain ultimate ownership of his business empire. This approach is bound to result in serious conflicts of interest and appearances of conflicts for his presidency. Conflicts of interest, furthermore, can […]

Reform Groups Urge Members to Oppose All Campaign Finance Riders to Funding Bills

  In a letter sent today, reform groups urged members of Congress to oppose all campaign finance riders and other “poison pill” riders to any CR or omnibus bill to be considered in the remaining days of this Congress. The groups included the Brennan Center for Justice, Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, CREW, Democracy 21, […]

Democracy 21 Study — Outside Groups Greatly Outspend Candidates in Seven Battleground Senate Races

  Super PACs and other outside spending groups have played a dramatic and dominant role in the 2016 elections, spending $1.2 billion to date, according to Open Secrets.  Outside money is playing its most pronounced role in the battle between Republicans and Democrats for control of the Senate. In seven of the eight key battleground […]

Fred Wertheimer for SCOTUSblog: “The Court after Scalia: A new liberal Justice means a new campaign finance jurisprudence”

SCOTUSblog has been hosting an online symposium in which guest authors have been invited “to explore the impact that a conservative or liberal nominee replacing the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the bench might have on certain areas of law on which the Court may rule in the future.” Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer was invited […]

Watchdog Groups Call on DOJ to Investigate Trump Campaign

  In a letter sent today to the Justice Department, Democracy 21 and the Campaign Legal Center called for an investigation into whether Donald Trump’s campaign committee has engaged in knowing and willful violations of federal campaign finance laws. According to the letter, “Based on numerous published reports, it appears that the Trump committee has […]

Reform Groups Applaud House Democrats Comprehensive Reform Package to Fix Political System

  The following statement is being issued today by the Brennan Center for Justice, Common Cause, CREW, Democracy 21, Democracy Matters, Every Voice, People For the American Way, Public Citizen, Rootstrikers project at Demand Progress, U.S. PIRG and Voices for Progress. Our organizations applaud House Democrats for the comprehensive reform package they offered today to fix our […]

Hillary Clinton Super PAC Accepted $200,000 in Illegal Contributions from Government Contractor

  FEC Should Investigate Contributions Made to Priorities USA from Suffolk Construction Company  Priorities USA Action, a super PAC backing Hillary Clinton, accepted $200,000 in contributions from a government contractor in violation of federal law. While Priorities USA – following press coverage of the illegal contribution – returned the money to Suffolk Construction Company, it […]

Reform Groups File Complaint Against Donald Trump For Soliciting Foreign Money to Fund His Campaign

  WASHINGTON – Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign committee is violating black-letter federal law by sending campaign fundraising emails to foreign nationals – including foreign politicians – in at least Iceland, Scotland, Australia and Britain. The Campaign Legal Center and Democracy 21 today will file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission highlighting this violation and demanding […]

Reform Groups Urge House Members to Vote for Amendments to Strike Undermining Campaign Finance Riders

  In a letter sent today, reform groups urged House members to vote for amendments that would strike undermining campaign finance riders from the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act (HR 5485). The groups included the Campaign Legal Center, Common Cause, CREW, Democracy 21, Demos, Issue One, League of Women Voters, People For the […]