Do you think it’s hopeless to challenge the advantage of big money in politics, especially after the Citizens United decision? Mark Schmitt points out that programs that amplify the power of small donors with “clean” public grants or matching money are effectively giving candidates the resources to wage viable campaigns. And even after CU, the [...]
Soon after donating $100,000 to Obama's 2013 inaugural committee, the Southern Company announced it was “newly optimistic” about prospects for gaining an $8.3 billion loan guarantee from the federal government for building a new nuclear power plant. Is a quid pro quo involved here, asks Public Citizen. Answer: “We need more information to answer that [...]
Despite the flood of self-serving money swamping the 2012 elections, better souls are not giving up: They're taking the long view, looking for an alternative to elections as auctions among billionaires. One component of any long-term strategy involves creating new streams of clean money for campaign financing. Even if a constitutional amendment reversed the worst of [...]
Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., Republican member of Congress from eastern North Carolina, is again stepping up to sponsor legislation to reign in the power of big money in politics. In 2010, he co-sponsored the Fair Elections Now Act, which would provide a much-needed alternative path for candidates to finance their campaigns. Yesterday, he’s joined [...]
The recent Supreme Court decision knocking down rescue funds is pushing advocates of public campaign financing to look at alternative models that meet many of the goals of the Voter-Owned or Clean Elections approach. In a new report, the Campaign Finance Institute has applied its favorite model to state legislative elections in six Midwestern states. [...]
The US Supreme Court issued its expected 5-to-4 rejection of the matching or rescue funds provision in Arizona’s public campaign financing program. Some worried that the activist justices would overreach (as they did in the Citizens United decision) and find some means to outlaw public financing altogether. That didn’t happen; maybe the public’s outrage over [...]
Former Sen. Alan Simpson, a conservative Republican from Wyoming, uses a supply-and-demand market analysis to dissect why governance in Washington is broken. It’s broken because the campaign finance system is a private monopoly controlled by wealthy special interests. Everything favors their private agenda, not the public interest, and as a result the nation is going [...]
The federal Fair Elections Now Act was introduced in Congress on Wednesday, followed by a press conference featuring actor Alec Baldwin calling for an alternative to politics dominated by special-interest fundraising. The bill provides a path for ordinary community leaders to become viable candidates and national policy makers, thanks to a program that matches small [...]
The US Supreme Court will hear arguments on Monday about the constitutionality of the matching (or rescue) funds provision in Arizona’s public financing program. We have a similar provision in our North Carolina programs, so the ultimate decision (expected in late summer) will affect us, too. The Brennan Center has an overview of the issues [...]
Republicans in the US House, with support from Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC) and few other Democrats, gleefully stabbed the presidential public financing system in the heart, draining its funds for other purposes. Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) was the only Republican in the US House to agree that the program is broken but insist that it [...]