Support the Fair Elections Now Act

Americans of all political persuasions can surely agree that Congress is currently dysfunctional. Much of the problem stems from the enormous influence of special interest groups – through lobbyists — on elected officials. The importance of this issue increased last January with the landmark Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, which overturned a ban on political spending by corporations.

There will be a vote in the House of Representatives this week on a bill that addresses the problem of campaign financing. It’s a bipartisan bill called the Fair Elections Now Act. Basically, it provides a way to finance the election campaigns of congressional candidates with contributions from individual citizens rather than special interests.

There is an explanation of how the bill works on the Fair Elections Now website. There’s a difference, for example, between how funds are raised for Senate races and House campaigns.

Here are some comments from Congressional sponsors. (emphasis added)

Dick Durban (D-Ill), Assistant Senate Majority Leader:

Americans would be shocked if they knew how much time Members of Congress and candidates seeking office must spend dialing for dollars and attending fundraisers. Without a fundamental reform of the way we finance campaigns, we cannot bring real reform to Capitol Hill. Our bipartisan bill will give candidates the opportunity to focus on dealing with our nation’s problems and not chasing after campaign cash.

John Larson (D-Conn), House Democratic Caucus Chairman:

States across the country, including my home state of Connecticut, have acted as laboratories for reforms like the Fair Elections Now Act. States have shown overwhelming success in taking the influence of big donors out of their legislative process and allowing lawmakers to get back to the people’s business rather than spending their time dialing for cash. Now it is time to bring this kind of real change to Washington. President Obama showed us all how small donations and average Americans can make a difference in an election. With the Fair Elections Now Act we can bring that sort of grassroots enthusiasm and involvement to our Congressional races.

Walter Jones (R-NC), Representative:

It’s time to return government to the people. And the first step is for Congress to debate legislation like the Fair Elections Now Act, which would help ensure that the average citizen has a voice.

Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), Representative:

The American people deserve a better government than they are getting. The big banks and drug companies have way too much influence in Washington. If they want to invest in our government, let them pay their fair share of taxes rather than paying for politicians who’ll write them special tax breaks. It’s time to get corporate money out of politics and put elections back in the hands of ordinary Americans.

How to support the bill

This Thursday, September 23, the Committee on House Administration will vote yes or no on whether the bill can proceed to the full House of Representatives. Here’s a site where you can send an email to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, asking her to support the bill. All you need is your 9-digit zip code (or street address). You don’t even need to add any words of your own to the pre-written email.

Here’s a page where you can find phone numbers for your Senators and Representative and see whether or not they already support the bill.

Lobbying affects health

Fair elections are a health issue. As described in the last post, children of low-income mothers will go without formula because formula makers successfully lobbied the Senate.

Americans pay more for pharmaceutical drugs than any other nation. We have pharmaceutical lobbying to thank for that.

Americans pay more for health care than any other developed country. The insurance industry lobbyists want to keep it that way.

The food we eat – an essential ingredient for health – is determined by the lobbying of agricultural and food processing interests.

Many fewer people would have died from lung cancer if tobacco lobbyists had been less successful.

Global warming will affect food, water, disease-bearing insects, bacteria, weather, and civil unrest. All will have an impact on health. As long as the lobbyists for energy industries continue to be successful, we will be unable to take action on climate change.

Watching political news on TV can be depressing and distressing. Even the most respectable news organizations treat politics as a sporting event. The Fair Elections Now Act is a chance to express support for something that could make a positive and important difference in the legislative future of the United States. It would be an enormous win for the common good.

Update 9/23/10:

First the good news. The Fair Elections Now Act passed the House Committee on Administration this afternoon. Nick Mitchell of You Street writes:

The significance of this cannot be overstated. This is the furthest that comprehensive campaign reform has advanced in the House since the Watergate era. And today’s vote clears the way for a vote by the full House whenever Speaker Pelosi adds it to the House calendar.

It’s even more important now to send an email to Speaker Pelosi.

Here’s a press release from Common Dreams.

Senate Democrats again fail to pass campaign disclosure law (Washington Post)

Now, the bad news:

Senate Democrats failed again Thursday in their attempt to require corporations, unions and other interest groups to provide more details about their political spending.

The measure, known as the Disclose Act, fell one vote short of the 60 needed to break a GOP filibuster in the divided Senate, with Republicans uniformly opposed to the bill. The legislation had also been blocked by Senate Republicans during an earlier vote in July.

The 59-39 vote marks a bitter defeat for Democratic leaders and President Obama, who has repeatedly urged Congress to pass the bill in response to a Supreme Court ruling lifting restrictions on corporate and union political spending.

The outcome represents a major victory for Republicans and major business groups, which lobbied hard against a proposal that they said was an attempt by Democrats to silence GOP-leaning business groups. …

Democratic aides had acknowledged even before Thursday’s vote that they were unlikely to get any Republicans to break ranks with their party. But several aides said they were hopeful the defeat would provide benefits by allowing Democrats to tie the GOP to corporate interests ahead of the midterm elections.

Update 9/25/10:
Despite DISCLOSE Act Disappointment, Campaign Finance Advocates Soldier On (Washington Independent)

What about Obama’s campaign?

Public financing has been a touchy subject among the Obama administration and good government groups ever since Obama decided to opt out of the public system of presidential campaign financing while on the campaign trail in 2008. He declared the system antiquated (which it was) and pledged to fix it when he got elected (which he hasn’t).

Update 10/16/10:
Long Battle by Foes of Campaign Finance Rules Shifts Landscape (The New York Times)

A history of conservative opposition to campaign finance reform.

Conservatives opposed to campaign finance restrictions acknowledge that they are driven partly by raw political motives and the belief that fewer limitations on wealthy individuals and companies would mean more money for Republicans. That notion is borne out by the contributions Mr. McConnell, other members of his party and now outside groups have received over the years from donors in major industries like tobacco, pharmaceutical and casinos.

Beyond that, conservatives say they are guided by less partisan motives: the fervent belief, shared by some liberal groups like the A.C.L.U., that the First Amendment should prevent the government from enacting campaign finance restrictions that can chill free speech, even if it means giving anonymity to donors and rights to corporations. …

Fred Wertheimer, the dean of campaign finance advocates and president of the liberal advocacy group Democracy 21, said the push to loosen funding restrictions threatens “a return to the wild, wild west” in the pre-Watergate reform era, when campaigns were sometimes financed through bags stuffed with cash from anonymous donors.

Resources:

Image source: Food World Order

Fair Elections Now

Public Campaign: Clean Money Clean Elections

You Street: America’s road back to democracy