PRESS BRIEFING TOMORROW: New Proposal Seeks to Boost the Power of Small Donors After Citizens United
MEDIA ADVISORY for Wednesday, August 21, 2012 at 11:00 A.M. EST
Contact: Kathryn Beard, 202-355-9600, kbeard@democracy21.org, Jeanine Plant-Chirlin, 646.292.8322, Jeanine.plant-chirlin@nyu.edu
PRESS BRIEFING: New Proposal Seeks to Boost the Power of Small Donors After Citizens United
New Plan Could Alter the Way We Finance Campaigns
WASHINGTON, DC —On WEDNESDAY AUGUST 22, the Brennan Center for Justice and Democracy 21 will hold a press call to discuss the launch of a new policy proposal aimed at countering the outsized role of big money in politics after Citizens United.
The proposal seeks to boost the power of small donors in federal elections through multiple matching funds and take advantage of recent breakthroughs in Internet and social media fundraising in presidential campaigns.
The report is the first to show how a small donor matching fund model — used successfully in New York City, and elsewhere — could work for Congressional elections.
The proposal is issued just days before the Democratic and Republican national conventions — as Super PACs and political non-profits are spending and raising unprecedented sums on behalf of candidates in the most expensive presidential race in history.
On the call, the authors of the report will discuss how a small donor public matching program for federal candidates would work, how it would maximize participation in the political process, and how it could have a revolutionary impact on the way we finance campaigns in this country.
WHO: Fred Wertheimer, Founder and President, Democracy 21
Adam Skaggs, Senior Counsel, Brennan Center’s Democracy
Program
WHAT: Press briefing on new policy proposal, Empowering Small Donors in Federal Elections
WHEN: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 22, 11:00 A.M. EST
WHERE: 1.404.920.6442
Code: 225941#
The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law is a non-partisan public policy and law institute that focuses on the fundamental issues of democracy and justice. Part think tank, part public interest law firm, and part advocacy group, the Brennan Center combines scholarship, legislative and legal advocacy, and communications to win meaningful, measurable change in the public sector.
Democracy 21 is a nonprofit, non-partisan public policy and advocacy organization that works to strengthen our democracy, empower citizens in the political process and promote government transparency and accountability. A nationally recognized leader on campaign finance reform, the organization engages in public education, litigation, watchdog efforts and policy development to accomplish its goals.
