Democracy 21 developed and is fighting to enact a new, alternative way to finance presidential and congressional campaigns, based on matching small contributions with public funds.
- The system would match small individual contributions up to $200 with public funds at a ratio of 6 to 1. Thus, a $200 individual contribution would provide $1,400 to a candidate using the system.
- The new system would empower ordinary Americans and make their contributions far more valuable to federal candidates. The system would free officeholders from the iron-grip of influence-seeking, big money funders.
- The new system is financed not by taxpayers but entirely by corporate lawbreakers and wealthy tax cheats who pay a surcharge to the government on the penalties, fees and settlements they provide o the government for breaking the law.
- There is a growing, nationwide citizen demand for elections free of the taint of influence-buying, special interest money. More and more states and municipalities — from Seattle to New York City to Maryland to Connecticut to Maine — have adopted successful small-donor campaign finance systems.
- The small-donor, public matching funds system (H.R 1) passed the House in 2019 and has 47 sponsors (S. 949) in the Senate.
Reform Groups Strongly Oppose Any Appropriations Riders That Will Increase Opportunities to Corrupt Members of Congress
|Press Releases |Money In Politicsby DianeReform Groups Strongly Urge Opposition to Republican Efforts to Use Appropriations Bill to Damage Campaign Finance Laws
|Press Releases |Money In Politicsby DianeReform Groups Urge Senators to Oppose Sen. McConnell’s Efforts to Sneak Campaign Finance Revision into Appropriations Bill
|Press Releases |Money In Politicsby DianeFred Wertheimer for Huffington Post “2014 Election Confirms Citizens United Decision Based on Fundamentally Flawed Premises”
|Op Eds |Money In Politicsby DianeFEC Issues Seriously Flawed Regulations Today to Implement Citizens United, Nearly Five Years After Decision
|Press Releases |Money In Politicsby DianeFormer Supreme Court Justice Stevens Criticizes Supreme Court Decision in McCutcheon Case
|Press Releases |Money In Politicsby DianeFred Wertheimer – “Did Chief Justice Roberts Dissemble or did the Chief Justice Have no Idea What He Was Talking About?”
|Press Releases |Money In Politicsby DianeFred Wertheimer for SCOTUSblog on McCutcheon & the Supreme Court
|Op Eds |Money In Politicsby DianeFred Wertheimer “The Consequences of Today’s Disastrous Decision by the Supreme Court Majority in the McCutcheon Case”
|Press Releases |Money In Politicsby DianeFred Wertheimer Statement on McCutcheon vs FEC
|Press Releases |Money In Politicsby DianeFred Wertheimer on MSNBC: “Did Citizens United Corrupt Elections?”
|Archive, Op Eds |Money In Politicsby DianeFred Wertheimer: Citizens United and the 2012 Election: A Disaster for Democracy
|Archive, Op Eds |Money In Politicsby DianeDemocracy 21/Brennan Center Report: “Empowering Small Donors in Federal Elections”
|Press Releases |Money In Politics Public Financingby DianeStatement by Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer on Supreme Court’s Decision to Leave Citizens United Standing
|Archive, Press Releases |Money In Politicsby DianePolitico op-ed by Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer- “Citizens United: Watergate redux”
|Archive, Op Eds |Money In Politicsby Diane