February 4, 2010

Open Letter to Congress

It's time to take a side, regarding co-sponsorship of the Fair Elections Now Act (FENA), H.1826 and S.752.

There are now 133 co-sponsors in the House — including Washington State Reps. Adam Smith and Jim McDermott. Last week, Senator Maria Cantwell signed on to co-sponsor S.752 in the Senate.

Is the U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Citizens United v. FEC) not enough evidence to convince our lawmakers, that the appearance of a Congress "for sale" is a growing threat? Certainly they know that the American people are demanding some response from lawmakers and the majority in command.

There are rising voices that want a Constitutional amendment, declaring that "corporations are not natural persons under the law" — and therefore do NOT enjoy First Amendment freedom to muck around in our democracy, let alone buy it outright.

But we may be some years away from that — and even then, will compaigns be for sale to the highest bidder?

The ONLY solution on the campaign side, is public financing of campaigns.
That is exactly what the FENA bill is all about.

Some lawmakers might have concerns about how the bill is to be financed. The answer is: it's proposed to be financed through a reasonable tax on large government contracts. In other words, the money that Halliburton and others now spend on lobbying and campaigns (in their corporate interest), might be diverted instead into a fund that benefits the public voice.

We simply must cut the cash that empowers corporate lobbyists, who under the status quo, with a wink and a nod, promise re-election cash to those lawmakers who do the bidding of Wall Street and special interests. We hope our federal representatives are not among them, but we need written proof as a co-sponsors, beyond verbal comments to groups now and then that public financing is an idea worth exploring. Given the recent Supreme Court ruling, it's now: "What side are you on?"

We need to know our federal representatives are on the people's side in this fight.

Please push your representatives to co-sponsor the FENA bill — and very soon!

True democracy depends on it.

January 4, 2010

Judicial bill makes a difference!

Will the year 2010 see a repeat of 2006 — when $4.2 million was spent in campaigns for just three seats on the state supreme court? Probably so. But we can do something about it ...

Our courts should be impartial. And so, WashClean is once-again promoting a judicial bill in this year's legislative session — HR 1738, and SB 5912, public financing for state supreme court campaigns.

We know that even if it passes, it won't be in time to affect record-setting spending in this year's races — because 2012 is when a new program would kick in. But we have to start somewhere.

So you might ask: Yikes, such an small step .. when the entire U.S. Congress seems for sale! Is this worth the effort?

Answer: YES!

Of course, we must continue to push our federal reps to co-sponsor and champion the Fair Elections Now Act — providing public financing of Congressional campaigns.

Anyone who doubts that, need only consider how health care reform has been watered down by Wall Street lobbyists (PDF) and campaign cash. And there's probably more scandal to come — on banking, global warming, and other issues. Important bills in Congress are likely to meet the same fate, until we buy back our democracy with Clean/Fair Elections.

But keep in mind: We won't achieve real campaign finance reform without a robust citizens movement, mobilized and demanding change. That's what WPC is about.

The proposed judicial bill in this year's legislative session is a building block in that movement — and it's an essential program to keep our courts impartial and fair — justice not for sale.

We may not get it all the way to the finish line (the governor's desk) this year — but we're going to try.

But let's understand: This effort — to raise public awareness and push the legislature on a supreme court bill — is related to achieving similar reform, eventually, in the U.S. Congress. The issue is the same at every level: the corrupting influence of special-interest cash.

In short, a judicial bill is not only important to keeping the courts impartial, it's also a surrogate for tackling the generic problem.

It provides an opportunity to talk with friends, neighbors and co-workers — about how our democracy is supposed to work, and what we must do, to reduce the influence of special-interest campaign cash in lawmaking, budgets and every aspect of public policy.

The issue is the same, whether applied to the state supreme court, or the Congress of the United States.

Courts do matter!

How many of your friends recognize the power and influence of the court, and therefore the importance of a court that remains impartial?

Public financing for supreme court races DOES matter! The supreme court makes decisions that affect every aspect of our lives — tax policy, growth management and environmental regulation, safety on the job — and even what laws and initiatives are constitutional.

Anyone who thinks that doesn't matter should think again! The supreme court is as influential as the statehouse, the governor, and the legislature - and it should be impartial, not bought by any special interest.

As our legislators reconvene, let's tell them:

• We're fed up with money seeking to "buy" seats on the court.
• Give us a program so the supreme court can remain impartial.
• Wisconsin did it — just weeks ago. And years earlier, North Carolina and New Mexico.
• Justice must remain impartial — never for sale.
• Enact a program of public financing for the Washington State Supreme Court.

Raise YOUR voice! Our influence depends on you.
Click here for info to contact your legislators.

~ Craig Salins, Executive Director, WPC

December 20, 2009

If we want real health care reform in America, we must change campaign finance laws — and enact public funding of campaigns for Congress, such as the Fair Elections Now Act (S.752, HR. 1862).

Why? Because Congress is largely for sale, beholden to mountains of cash. Lawmaking is auctioned off to special interests that spend millions in lobbying, backed by the promise of campaign contributions for re-election.

What fate awaits the "public good" and Main Street households when Wall Street spends $1.4 million per day to lobby behind the scenes for changes in law to benefit corporate profits — regardless of progress toward affordable health care for all?

A clue to who's winning is the fact that stock value for the largest private insurance companies hit a 52-week high this past week, once it was announced that a health care public option was off the table.

Robert F. Kennedy once said it best: Corporations should NOT be running our government because they don't want democracy, they want free markets, they want profits ... and oftentimes the easiest path is to use the campaign finance system to get their hooks into a public official, to dismantle the marketplace for monopoly control and a competitive edge and to privatize the commons — to steal our air, our water, or our public treasury, and liquidate it for private profits.

Indeed, it's time to launch a fight against private special interest — and to reclaim our democracy. Public funding for campaigns, while not by itself a silver bullet, is an essential prerequisite. Without that, we won't see real progress on any of the items of paramount concern to most Americans — including jobs and a bailout for Main Street, re-regulation of Wall Street (such as re-enactment of Glass-Steagall), and serious steps to fight global warming and leave a healthy environment to our children.

- Craig Salins, Washington Public Campaigns

November 17, 2009

Health care profits and lobbying the Congress

Six top health care insurers on Wall Street reported earnings of over $3 billion for the third quarter of 2009. At that rate, these six companies alone will earn $12 billion in profit in 2009 — a year when many Americans are having to suffer layoffs and belt-tightening.

For details, click here. Or at the end of this article, click on links to details for each company.

Meanwhile, their lobbying the Congress continues at a furious pace.

So far in 2009, the health industry sector has spent more than $396 million on lobbying costs. In addition, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has spent $65 million in lobbying. Details here on our website as a PDF handout.

But of course. Consider the profits at stake — and the return-on-investment for their lobbying efforts. By the way, these figures do NOT include the ads we're seeing on TV each hour, urging a particular point of view regarding health care reform.

Isn't it time for Congress to rein in this industry? But will they?

Is democracy for sale? Whose voice is loudest? — as Congress shapes health care reform?

This is why campaign finance reform is essential.

The Fair Elections Now Act (public financing for campaigns for Congress) might not by itself be a silver bullet. But until we stop the choke hold by Big Money in Congress, we cannot achieve real progress on the many other issues that concern most Americans, including budget priorities, a sustainable environment, appropriate regulation of Wall Street, and much more.

The ads on TV try to sway your opinion on health care reform (or, on what Rx drugs to "ask your doctor" about, etc.).

But our message to you is different. Washington Public Campaigns is urging you to join our movement for REAL reform in campaign finance laws and practices. Money is polluting our democracy, skewing every decision that is made, to the benefit of lobbyists and the profiteering companies they represent. You know it - and so do most Americans. Read this poll.

We have to change it — and we can. But not without a fight.

Please raise your voice. Contact your member of Congress.
Tell them: Listen to the voters, not the special interests.
And tell them: Support the Fair Elections Now Act, by co-sponsoring the proposals in Congress.

And please support our work. You can contribute online.

Or, send a contribution to:
Washington Public Campaigns, PO Box 70452, Seattle WA 98127-0452

Thank you! — Craig Salins
Washington Public Campaigns

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Selected health insurance corporations are as follows:
Click on each for links to their 3rd quarter 2009 earnings details.

UnitedHealth Group - $1.03 billion (3rd quarter 2008 was $920 million)
WellPoint - $730.2 million (3rd quarter 2008 was $820.7 million)
AFLAC - $363 million (3rd quarter 2008 was $100 million)
CIGNA - $329 million (3rd quarter 2008 was $171 million)
Aetna - $326.2 million (3rd quarter 2008 was $277.3 million)
Humana - $301.5 million (3rd quarter 2008 was $183 million)

Congress must enact Fair Elections

Scratch any issue before Congress, and we find special-interest money influencing the result.

Want evidence? Consider the recent Wall Street bailouts. Or the deregulation of the financial services industry, bought with $5 billion in lobbying and campaign contributions during 1998-2008, that led to our current economic misery. Or the current debate over health care reform, where special-interests are spending $1.4 million per day in lobbying costs, to influence the outcome.

In many ways, our entire system of lawmaking is increasingly for sale. It's like an auction: The bidder with the deepest pocket wins the prize.

Unfortunately, the cost of this corruption is passed along to all of us - in the form of budgets and laws that favor profiteering and special interests rather than meeting the needs of most Americans.

This is why we need fundamental reform of our campaign finance laws - in the form of public financing of campaigns, at every level.

The good news is, this change is possible. Public financing of campaigns is working in several states and cities (E.g. Maine, Arizona, Connecticut, North Carolina, and even Portland, Oregon).

It frees candidates and lawmakers from the task of dialing for dollars. It restores voter confidence that lawmakers are working for constituent voters and the common good, rather than for special-interests who eagerly bankroll the campaigns in exchange for political access and favors.

In some states it's called "Clean Elections", elsewhere it's "Voter-Owned Elections."
But the principle is the same: campaigns are financed publicly, so that the financial playing field is level, and elections are decided by honest debate over issues, not by whoever can best romance the wealthiest campaign backers.

When campaigns are financed publicly, there will still be lobbyists - but they won't be writing big checks at campaign fund raisers. Instead, they'll have to stand in line behind the voters.

These reforms won't be handed to us on a silver platter. We have to fight for them, through grassroots action. National polls show there is strong support, but citizens have to rise up and say: "We are tired of deal-making, political favors, and pay-to-play politics. We believe in government that is truly "of the people, by the people, and for the people" - and we want budget priorities and laws that represent the people rather than the profiteers.

The only way to bring that about, to buy back our democracy, is to establish public financing of campaigns, Voter-Owned Elections.

And so today, we again call on Congress to enact the Fair Elections Now Act (HR 1826, and S 752). And we urge our U.S. Senators and members of Congress to co-sponsor these bills. ~ Craig Salins, Executive Director, WPC

More info: www.washclean.org/bill-in-congress.htm
Download this text as a printable PDF

September 28, 2009

WPC Update—News is sickening; but progress lurks

The news makes one sick – and perhaps, determined to fight for reform.

For months, Congress has debated health care reforms that shovel $ billions to private insurance, who add no real value to health care coverage. Indeed, these Wall Street middlemen profit hugely on the dollars streaming through their corporate bank accounts, denying claims and screening out sick folk, while spending hugely on propaganda campaigns and lobbyists to keep Congress from pulling the plug on their game.

Medicare for all would be ideal. At minimum, we need a robust public option; can we get it? Here are some downloadable fact sheets on the health care reform debate, including info on lobbying and campaign spending in Congress.

But it's not just at the Wall Street level that Americans are being taken to the cleaners. Our health care system is drunk with profit at every level. Consider the Valley Medical CEO who recently was awarded $1.73 million retirement pay - to keep him from retiring! Read the news

Or physicians in McAllen, Texas, who launched their own investor-owned hospital (Doctors Hospital at Renaissance), purportedly to offer higher quality care. Why didn't they simply invest in an upgrade to the public hospitals, instead? Atul Gawande, MD: The Cost Conundrum, New Yorker, June 2009.

Now and then, we put a deserving individual in prison. Norman Hsu, Democratic fundraiser, was recently sentenced to 24 years for fraud and violating campaign laws. Earlier, it was Jack Abramoff. Deserving scapegoats, to divert our attention from the systemic problem?

Democracy for sale? — Read the entire article

September 22, 2009

A quote by former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis captures a central issue in America today:

"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have
wealth concentrated in the hands of a few; we cannot have both."

Lately, concentration of wealth is winning - and democracy is losing out.

It is the reason why we must support public financing of campaigns - at every level, especially Congress, through the Fair Elections Now Act.

Where's the money?   Read entire article

August 5, 2009

JULY 30th HEARING ON FAIR ELECTIONS NOW ACT

Dear friends and supporters,
We have just had two GREAT jam-packed days advancing the Fair Elections Now Act (H.R. 1826, S.752) in Congress, built around the July 30th bill hearing in the Committee on House Administration. Here's a quick summary, in chronological order.

WATERSTON VISITS DC: Last Wednesday, noted actor Sam Waterston came to town to draw attention to Fair Elections prior to the hearing. He appeared on a live local newscast, then went to Capitol Hill where he had brief sit downs with House Administration Chair Robert Brady, GOP lead sponsor Rep. Walter Jones, and Rep. Chellie Pingree, followed by individual standup conversations with another 23 lawmakers just off the House chamber.
YouTube video, Waterston on ABC News
Rep. Pingree, I should add, made repeated trips to the House floor to bring more members back to meet with Waterston. Following his lobbying at the Capitol, Waterston was interviewed by pundits E.J. Dionne and Mark Shields, as well as a reporter from the National Journal.

Left, a front page article from yesterday's Roll Call that covered Waterston's Hill visit.
Read Roll Call article (PDF)

BUSINESS LEADERS AD RUNS IN ROLL CALL: Thursday's Roll Call also featured a full page ad in which 34 business leaders from around the country called for the passage of Fair Elections.

The signers of the ad included venture capitalist Alan Patricof, former Stride Rite CEO Arnold Hiatt, Crate & Barrel founder Gordon Segal, former Delta Airlines CEO Gerald Grinstein, Universal Remote Control Board Chair Chang Park, former Playboy CEO Christie Hefner, and Hasbro executive Alan Hassenfeld, among many others.

The ad's message, aimed at Capitol Hill lawmakers, their staff, and lobbyists, is that it's time to end the "mutually wasteful, degrading" campaign money chase - the theme that our bill leaders on the Hill believe is most effective with their colleagues. A giant (5'x3') blow-up of the ad was featured at the bill hearing. View the full ad (PDF)

HEALTHCARE MONEY IN POLITICS in New York Times and Washington Post: As part of our partnership with Healthcare for America Now, the front page of last Wednesday's New York Times ran a story on a now-famous hospital's attempts to use campaign contributions to make themselves more of a player in the healthcare policy debate. Our research turned up a very large bundled contribution to the DSCC, which the Times reporters then fleshed out into a full story.

Earlier in the week, we published a report examining the healthcare industry contributions to lawmakers sitting on the five committees that are central to the crafting of healthcare reform. It was covered on the Washington Post's online site, the Huffington Post and by other outlets as well. Friday's WaPo story on Blue Dogs' healthcare industry contributions was also informed by our data and analysis.

THE HEARING:
Three strong legislative proponents of the Fair Elections Now Act spoke first. HouseDemocratic Caucus Chair John Larson (D-CT), Rep Chellie Pingree (D-ME, pictured right), and Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) all advocated forcefully for the policy, each noted the success of their home state public financing programs.

They were followed by a second panel the included Maine House Speaker Hannah Pingree (Chellie Pingree's daughter, who has used public financing for her races); Jeff Garfield, the head of Connecticut's State Elections Enforcement Commission, which oversees the state's public financing system, and Arn Pearson, national Common Cause's Vice-President for Programs.

The three noted the successes of the state programs in their testimony, with Arn eloquently summarizing why such a move is the right one for Congress at this time. Representatives of the Center for Competitive Politics and Cato Institute (Brad Smith and John Samples) testified against the bill. Roll Call's coverage is pasted in below.

WORTH NOTING: The reform community's collaborative organizing has led to 20 new co-sponsors coming on board the Fair Elections bill in recent weeks. Last night, we learned two New York City Congressmen, Rep. Jose Serrano and Rep. Charlie Rangel were joining the list of supporters. Rangel, Chair of the powerful Ways and Means Committee is an especially important pick-up. They will bring our total number of co-sponsors to 77.

Thanks for your work,
Jeannette Galanis, National Field Director, Public Campaign · publicampaign.org

July 5, 2009

PUBLIC PLAN WILL SET PRECEDENT—VOICE YOUR OPINION

Please do NOT sit out the health care debate.

If you do, the special interests win.
They are already lobbying heavily—read this Washington Post article.
All we have is our voices!—but ONLY if we speak up.

Not convinced? Read this—Washington Post, July 6, 2009

There is a spirited debate in Congress over what should be the design of any public plan option, as part of health care reform legislation this year. This is emerging as THE central issue in the proposed legislation.

If you are following this issue and this debate, you probably know the details and the arguments, pro and con, for the various design proposals.

Whatever emerges in final legislation regarding a public plan will be precedent-setting, and perhaps on the books for years—probably with a growing nationwide enrollment, and eventually even its own built-in lobby (as happens with most major programs, such as Social Security).

For that reason, it is extremely important and urgent that citizen-voters express an opinion about the design of a public plan—and do so now, before the ink is dry.

Here are the choices:

• If you want a public plan to work like Medicare (but with improved benefits and reimbursements to health care providers)—essentially a single-payer system, where the public sector collects the premium fees and pays health care providers directly—you will need to say so ("Public Plan like single-payer Medicare, please!"). Forcefully... and now!

  See details on Public Plan Option proposed by House HELP Committee.

• If instead, you prefer a "public plan" that uses private insurance—essentially guaranteeing that private insurance will gain profit and stability from the huge additional revenues that are contemplated—then you should voice that position to your lawmakers ("Public plan through private insurance, please!").

Whatever you do—please don't be silent!

Here is the core issue in the national debate: Should health care coverage be delivered as a "public good" through government agencies?—like Social Security, Medicare, our nation's highways, schools and public safety services.

Or instead, should health care coverage be treated as a "commodity" in the marketplace, priced and delivered according to potential corporate profits or losses—like Wall Street investments, private housing, and other consumer products.

Be assured: Washington Public Campaigns will continue to organize and fight for public financing of election campaigns—such as the Fair Elections Now Act in Congress (details here). That is our core mission, and we have not strayed from that educational and advocacy work.

Meanwhile, the 2009 struggle over the shape of health care reform in the U.S. is a surrogate for a deeper issue—whether the public sector and the government of the United States belongs to the people—or to the special interests that can "buy" legislation to their liking, regardless of the cost to taxpayers.

That is why I'm writing to you about this important debate in the Congress—being played out in health care reform legislation. It's a poster-child example of special-interest influence in Congress...and why we need public financing of campaigns!

The truth is, even as we fight for the Fair Elections Now Act—urging our federal lawmakers to sign on as co-sponsors and champions of that important and fundamental reform—we also know that public financing of Congressional campaigns will not be approved in time to influence this year's historic opportunity to shape the nation's health care future. Instead, we have to speak up, directly and forcefully—and we have to do it now.

Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell are each on key Senate committees— writing the legislation. In the House, Reps. McDermott, Reichert, Inslee, and McMorris-Rodgers are on key committees—but all House members are involved in this issue.

Please contact these federal lawmakers this week—by phone and email—with your opinion. And keep contacting them throughout the summer—as long as health care legislation is still in play, in wet ink.

Info to contact members of Congress

More health care articles posted on this website

~ Craig Salins, Executive Director, Washington Public Campaigns

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June 21, 2009

Want Health Care Reform?
Public Financing of Campaigns is Essential!

If we want real health care reform in this country, we must also support public financing of campaigns. These are two advocacy campaigns that need a political marriage.

Real progress on many issues - including health care reform - depends on Fair Elections (public campaign financing) - so that decisions by Congress are made in the public interest, not skewed by lobbyists and campaign cash from insurance and pharmaceutical corporations.

Right now, money rules the debate. So long as decisions in Congress are shaped by the quid-pro-quo of lavish campaign contributions and spending on lobbying, we are unlikely to achieve affordable single-payer health care for all with comprehensive benefits. Policy debates in Congress are driven by campaign cash and corporate lobbying - rather than by logic or what's best for all Americans.

Let's keep in mind: A winning campaign for the U.S. Senate now costs nearly $10 million. That means raising over $27,000 every day of the year! Who has that kind of money?

The health insurance industry does. They get it from our premiums (even if paid by employers or by union benefit plans), and from our taxes funneled through federal programs that provide huge revenue streams to for-profit health insurers.

Last year, over $6.8 billion in profits was reported by just the top three companies alone - UnitedHealth Group ($2.9 billion), Wellpoint ($2.5 billion), and Aetna ($1.4 billion).

Do we think they won't use any means to keep the gravy train flowing?

The business of these companies depends greatly on Congressional action - and they've become expert at extracting favors from Congress.

Most sitting lawmakers want to keep their seats. They need campaign cash to get re-elected - even while they also need constituent votes. So naturally, they play the game - dialing for dollars where the big dollars are.

Corporate America is willing to oblige. In 2008, more than $550 million was spent on campaign cash and lobbying by health industry corporate players - $200 million by insurers alone.

It's mutual back-scratching. Money rolls in; political favors roll out. In effect, lawmaking is for sale to the high bidders - and all Americans pay the price, in higher prices for prescription drugs, skewed public policy, and more.

This is why we need to change the system!

We need public funding of Senate and Congressional campaigns. REAL health care reform - getting it, and keeping it - depends on changing the source of campaign cash, getting rid of "pay-to-play" politics, so that lawmakers listen to voters, not big donors. Of course, we'll need a robust grassroots movement for this - just as we need for real health care reform.

Fortunately, more and more Americans are learning how public financing of campaigns has changed politics forever in states that offer "Clean Elections" like Maine, Arizona, and recently New Jersey, Connecticut and others.

This year offers a "teachable moment" in many ways. With the bailouts, the economic meltdown brought by a deregulated Wall Street, and now the historic fight over health care reform, it's a lesson in how our campaign finance laws must change to bring about the promise of a people's democracy that is not yet fully realized.

If we're disappointed this year in progress toward affordable health care (even single payer), let's not be discouraged. Instead, let's redouble our efforts to get our democracy back - through a game-changer like public financing of campaigns.
_______________
Craig Salins is Executive Director of Washington Public Campaigns.

Download the above text as an 8.5 x 11-inch flier (PDF)

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May 17, 2009

Will health care reform be stolen by Wall Street?
The outcome depends on citizen action.

Grassroots action (citizen lobbying) is needed immediately and steadily on the health care issue.

Health care reform is moving rapidly through Congress. The Senate Finance Committee (chaired by Senator Max Baucus, MT) intends to release a proposed bill this week - by May 22nd. House committees are not far behind.

Guess what. They are caving in to political pressure from Wall Street and the insurance industry.

Are we surprised? More than $550 million was spent on campaign cash and lobbying in 2008, by health industry corporate players - $200 million by insurance alone. What are they buying? - self-interest, that's what. We have to respond.

Which headline will we read this fall?

"WALL STREET REAPS BONANZA in revenues and profits from health care reform. Lobbying and campaign cash pays off, terrific return on buying Congress."
OR ...
"MAIN STREET UPRISING brings REAL health care reform to America. Lobbyists disappointed - but average Americans get the health care they deserve."

The time to shape the headline and the outcome
is NOW!

Key points and questions: Read the rest of the article

April 20, 2009

Real health care reform needs Fair Elections

The national debate over health care reform has begun in earnest, in Congress.

Please read: Health Care Reform - Necessary Features (available as a PDF download). This provides an important perspective on the emerging debate over health care reform in Congress. Comments welcome.

Whatever law emerges from Congress in the next few months will shape
health care in America for years to come. It is an important public debate!

What role should the insurance industry play, in fashioning law and regulations (governing itself), to achieve affordable health care coverage for everyone in America?

In 2008, health industry players spent $97 million on direct campaign contributions and $464 million on lobbying - to influence Congress. By itself, the insurance industry spent almost $200 million on lobbying and campaign contributions! Read all about it

We need the Fair Elections Now Act, because we believe Congress should be accountable to the people - not to lobbyists or Wall Street corporate interests. Business enterprise drives our economy, and that's great. But today's huge corporations should not be running our government and deciding public policy - because they are concerned about profit and the bottom line, whereas Americans are concerned about a sustainable quality of life.

Connect the dots

The emerging health care debate is intimately connected to our goal of public campaign financing. How?

Real health care reform depends on Fair Elections (public campaign financing) - so that decisions by Congress are made in the public interest, not skewed by lobbyists and campaign cash from insurance and pharmaceutical corporations.

Conversely, the Fair Elections Now Act needs the support of citizen organizations - like health care reform groups - who realize we won't make real progress on issues without curtailing the political influence of lobbyists and special-interest campaign donors in Congress. When advocacy groups run into the wall of corporate lobbyists and special-interest campaign spending, it's a wakeup call that we need campaign finance reform in America! We should be there, with information about the Fair Elections Now Act.

These two issue campaigns need each other. Neither will make significant progress without the other. As we talk with friends and neighbors who care about either issue, let's connect the dots.

Update on Fair Elections Now Act (FENA bill):

• The FENA bill was filed March 25th, companion bills in both the Senate and the House.
• The bills are immediately assigned to committees, for deliberation, hearings, mark-up and action. In Congress, there is no deadline for action on bills (unlike our legislature in Olympia, where there are cutoff dates). Whenever there is sufficient support - and at the direction of Congressional leaders - bills may be brought to the floor for a vote.
• Advocates all over the country are now urging senators and members of Congress to sign on as co-sponsors of the bill - partly to indicate to Congressional leaders that there is widespread support.
• In Washington state, WashClean suppporters in each Congressional District should contact your member of Congress - and ALL of us should be contacting Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell - asking them to co-sponsor the bills.
• l We expect there may be hearings on the bill this summer, and we need to encourage that, to bring attention to the need for campaign finance reform.

We have a unique opportunity to gain public attention and support for the Fair Elections proposal. Wall Street banking bailouts and influence-peddling scandals in Congress have convinced the public that we need significant change.

A national poll (November 2008) revealed that by a 3-to-1 margin (67% to 20%), Americans support public financing for Senate and Congressional campaigns as proposed in the FENA bill. Sixty percent believe that lawmakers are beholden to campaign contributors rather than constituent voters. Most voters feel that far too much time is spent on fundraising for campaigns instead of dealing with problems faced by average Americans.

It's time for change - and the health care debate is a poster-child example of special-interest industry influence squaring off against the public interest in America.

Let's not squander this opportunity to seek real reform - government of, by, and for the people. Get involved; don't be a bystander!

~ Craig Salins, WPC Executive Director

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April 13, 2009

WashClean Volunteers hand out 400+ fliers at Murray Fundraiser

Sen. Patty Murray's Golden Tennis Shoe fundraiser Seattle Convention Center featured Sen. Dick Durbin, sponsor of the FENA bill in the U.S. Senate. WashCleaners urged grassroots support of the FENA bill, encouraging Sen. Murray to sign on as a co-sponsor. Attendees were pleased at receiving the info, and nearly unanimously supportive.
Read about the bill

Thanks! WPC volunteers Seth Armstrong, Jean Carlson, Ken Dammand, Jackie & Ed Dupras, Dina Johnson, Bob Loeliger, Elsie Simon (above), Duane Wentz, along with WPC director Craig Salins, spent Monday morning handing out info on the FENA bill ...

SMOKING GUN: How deregulation - bought by Wall Street campaign cash and lobbying - led directly to financial meltdown

A stunning and well-researched report, just released, details how the financial services industry spent more than $5 billion on federal campaign contributions and lobbying expenditures during 1998-2008.

Report co-author Robert Weissman writes,

"This extraordinary investment paid off fabulously. Congress and executive agencies rolled back long-standing regulatory restraints, refused to impose new regulations on rapidly evolving and mushrooming areas of finance, and shunned calls to enforce rules still in place."

"Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America" is a well-researched report just released by Essential Information and the Consumer Education Foundation. It details a dozen crucial deregulatory moves over the last decade - each a direct response to heavy lobbying from Wall Street and the broader financial sector.

Combined, these deregulatory moves helped pave the way for the current financial meltdown.

Read this entire article

"The powerful interests that dominate the health care industry could challenge even Mr. Obama's political deftness," writes Robert Pear, health reporter,
New York Times, 3-1-09

Read entire article

February 20 , 2009

Friends, we're intending to launch a series - "Connecting the Dots" - perhaps to become a special page on our website. Our intent is to explore how special interest money and lobbying skews public policy - and thereby to show how campaign finance reform is essential to restore accountability in our democracy to voters.

Corruption and cronyism is all-too-common, although often hidden. Occasionally we learn of back room deals, earmarked legislation - and sometimes, outright lawbreaking, as in the recent Pennsylvania case where two judges have been jailing youths in a kickback scheme that netted them $1.6 million in exchange for sentencing youths to for-profit youth detention centers.

Please read the article below. And send us your ideas: wpc@washclean.org
   ~ Craig Salins

CONNECTING THE DOTS: Prisons for profit

In Pennsylvania, two judges have been jailing youths in a kickback scheme that netted them $1.6 million in exchange for sentencing youths to for-profit youth detention centers.

But that's only the tip of the iceberg. The role of government - privatization versus public sector ownership - is a raging national debate. It spills into every issue area: health care, stewardship of public lands, financial bailouts - and now, jails and prisons.

Jails are being privatized - just one more area where taxpayers are taken to the cleaners, considering direct costs and long-term social costs to our communities.
Read entire article

We need campaign finance reform, to buy back our democracy! Candidates should be enabled to run - and win - without becoming beholden to campaign financiers. The Fair Elections Now Act would publicly fund all races for the U.S. Senate and House, paid for by a tax on the largest media conglomerates.

For too long, lawmaking in America has been for sale, up for auction. The high bidders win. Campaign cash rolls in; political favors roll out.

This is why we see bailouts for Wall Street and hedge fund investors, but not for homeowners. Read more

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The Fair Elections Now Act will soon be re-introduced in the current Congress, in the next 4-6 weeks, by Senators Dick Durbin and Arlen Specter in the Senate, and by Representatives John Larson and Walter Jones in the House.

Let's get our federal legislators on board! Senator Patty Murray sits on the Rules Committee of the U.S. Senate - which held a hearing on the Fair Elections Now Act in 2007. Will she support the program? What about Senator Maria Cantwell? And members of Congress from our state?

They all need to hear from us. Here's how to reach them ~ Craig Salins

February 12 , 2009

Injustice for sale: Judges jail youths - for profit!
Two judges in Pennsylvania are guilty of a 5-year-long scheme to sentence youths to privately-owned detention facilities - as a quid pro quo for kickbacks to a company they control in another state. First one judge closed the public detention center. Then, using the power of the court, his co-conspirator sent "customers" (the youths) to the privately-owned facilities in which they had an interest.

The two judges submitted guilty pleas to wire fraud and income tax evasion for taking $1.6 million in kickbacks in the scheme. Read more

It's a strange twist in the mounting national concern over justice for sale.

Of course this is an unusual case of moral depravity by judges. Perhaps the 5,000 youths who were inappropriately sentenced, and their families, will join a citizen movement for change. They should be outraged.

And yet, the real outrage is the billion-dollar political favors (for Wall Street, banks and corporate America) that characterize so much of lawmaking in the Congress - a tangled system that has produced unconscionable concentration of wealth - recently combined with job loss, economic instability, and growing worry for millions of Americans.

It's why we need fundamental reform: public financing for campaigns, through the Fair Elections Now Act.

Read the opinion piece, below. ~Craig Salins

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February 11 , 2009

Wealth and Democracy: Economic troubles reveal the need for
Campaign Finance Reform - the Fair Elections Now Act

A quote by former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis captures a central issue in America today:

"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have wealth
concentrated in the hands of a few; we cannot have both."

Lately, concentration of wealth is winning - and democracy is losing out.

It is the reason why we must support public financing of campaigns - at every level, especially Congress, through the Fair Elections Now Act.
Continued...read entire article

Wealth and Political Power: The coming federal battle over the right of workers to organize (Employee Free Choice Act) and the Fair Elections Now Act

Three days after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America Corp. hosted a conference call with conservative activists and business officials to organize opposition to the U.S. labor community's top legislative priority. This story, revealed by the Huffington Post of January 27th, reveals a high-powered lobbying campaign by the captains of industry, to scuttle the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) in Congress…Read more

January 27 , 2009

Supreme Court Fair Elections bill, HB 1738, filed in WA Legislature with 32 House co-sponsors!

A bill to create public financing for campaigns for seats on the Washington State Supreme Court has been filed in the House, with 32 co-sponsoring legislators - nearly a record! State Representative Marko Liias, from Mukilteo (21st Legislative District) filed the proposal on Monday, January 26th.

This is the proposal drafted with assistance from Washington Public Campaigns. It would create a program, optional for candidates running for the Supreme Court, whereby public funds would be available for their campaigns.

Candidates would qualify for public funds by raising at least $39,000 in small amounts from at least 500 donors, who must be natural persons residing in the state. Then the candidates receive public funds adequate to run a winning campaign. If they are outspent by a traditionally-funded opponent or face opposition from 'Swift-Boat' ads or independent electioneering, they would receive "fair fight" funds, dollar-for-dollar up to a robust upper limit, to keep a level financial playing field in the campaign. Read a summary of provisions of the bill (PDF)

In West Virginia, a Supreme Court justice was elected with $3 million in campaign aid from the CEO of Massey Energy, a coal mining company. A year later, that judge provided the deciding vote in a lawsuit to absolve the company of a $50 million fine, imposed by a jury following illegal corporate behavior. NY Times editorial.

Because of this outrageous case, the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide when judges should be required to recuse themselves.

Sadly, the 'purchase of special-interest justice' by Massey in West Virginia is not an isolated case. A study of Louisiana's state supreme court showed a 14-year long pattern where contributions to judicial campaigns by litigants before the court seemed to pay off, leading to decisions in their favor.

In Ohio, an ongoing case reveals similar special-interest influence in the top court.

And, lavish campaign contributions by special-interests pay off. In Wisconsin, $4 million in spending over two election cycles by the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce Association, led to election victories for their preferred candidate both times.

It doesn't have to be this way. North Carolina created a program of public campaign financing for upper-level judicial seats in 2002, and the program is successful and popular, used by most judicial candidates.

Justice must never be for sale! Integrity of our state's highest court is paramount. Equally important is public confidence in the fairness of the court - that decisions will never be made based on campaign financiers.

Public financing of these campaigns is the only way to achieve this result. It's time to eliminate private campaign contributions as a predominant method to fund upper level judicial campaigns.

Let's support the Supreme Court Fair Elections bill, HB 1738, in the Washington State Legislature. Visit WPC's webpage on the issue, with reports and handouts available for download.

~ Craig Salins, WPC

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January 7 , 2009

2009: A year of change?

Across America, public financing of campaigns is catching on. In the first year of Connecticut's program, eighty-one percent of state legislators who won, ran using public financing — so they owe their soul to no special interest, only the voters who elected them.

There are similar refreshing results in Arizona, Maine, New Jersey, and elsewhere. In North Carolina, a majority of top judicial seats were won by Clean Elections candidates.

But there's more to do — so that leaders everywhere are elected on the strength of their ideas, not the wealth of their financial backers.

That's what public financing of campaigns is all about — to buy back our democracy, and create a system where lawmakers work for the people, not for special interests.

Never is this more important then when major policy changes are on the table including spending and budget priorities. The Obama Administration promises a new energy policy, affordable health care, renewed regulation of banking and investment finance, and much more. Who will hold the trump card as these policy debates are settled? Will lawmakers still be obliged to vote for special interests who can fund their re-election campaigns? Or will we see a new day — when Democracy stands up, and finally there is government truly of, by and for the people — not the Wall Street profiteers.

Wealth and power aren't going away. But we can create a system where good public servants everywhere have the campaign resources to become elected without romancing special interests who simply seek profit at public expense.

Let's make 2009 the Year of Change!

Our 2009 priorities ...

In 2008 we made progress in Washington state — passage of the "Local Option" law so that cities, counties, PUDs and ports can enact public financing of campaigns for local office, provided local voters agree in a referendum.

In 2009, we face severe budget challenges at the state and local level, making it difficult to advocate for new programs of public campaign financing when essential services are being cut. Our support for fundamental campaign reform does not waiver, but we must acknowledge political and budgetary realities: there will not be legislative support to fund any new programs competing for scarce state dollars right now.

Public education AND legislative advocacy: Never should we waste a "teachable moment" — and evidence abounds of the need for fundamental change: the federal bailout of the financial industry, leaving Main Street in the dust; the "pay-to-play" politics at every level: in Congress, in statehouses, and occasionally to influence the courts. So let's connect the dots for an outraged and wary public: cronyism and corruption won't end without systemic reform of campaign finance laws — and changing the system will take an organized and muscular grassroots movement (the "hammer") combined with focused legislative proposals (the "nail").

Judicial public financing: Meanwhile, our courts are threatened — the very institutions that should preserve our rights. In many states including Washington, special interests are spending lavishly to buy seats on the court. It's an outrage! — and it demands our response. We say: Justice must never be for sale! And the only real solution is public financing for campaigns for the state supreme court.

What seems practical this year is to discuss (and perhaps enact) the program architecture of a judicial bill — to work out the details of a proposed program and create the program in law, to be funded at a point in the future when economic conditions allow.

Fair Elections Now Act in Congress: Our grassroots movement can walk and chew gum at the same time! So while pursuing a judicial bill in Olympia, we can also organize support for the Fair Elections Now Act in Congress. What could be more fundamental to the priorities of an incoming Obama Administration, than curbing the political power of special interests who — often out of corporate greed — have stood in the way of renewable energy, affordable health care for all, family-wage jobs and other Main Street concerns! While it's true we have a new president and some newly-elected members of Congress, the corporate lobbyists and the financial puppeteers have not exited the stage. We MUST change the campaign finance system, with public financing of campaigns so the trump cards are held by the public, not by special interest lobbyists.

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Transcript of the CNN story

Madoff and the Money Managers ...

It's not just stealing the money. The casino-like financial services industry has actually been destroying jobs and sucking value out of our economy, even while becoming a larger share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). So suggests Paul Krugman in a December 19th Op-Ed, well worth the read. (The financial services sector includes banking, insurance, financial investments, etc. — essentially the part of our economy that doesn't make things, fight wars, or provide hard services such as education, architecture or health care.)

Considering Wall Street shenanigans, it seems that campaign contributions (to both political parties) from the big-money boys have kept the regulators at bay. Let's see, are these contributions worth their cost (to the benefactors)? In 2008, combined political campaign contributions for the presidential race and ALL of the Senate and Congressional campaigns, all sources, including citizen contributions to the Obama campaign, were about $3 billion. But the financial services industry alone (regulated or not) encompasses well over $1 trillion in reported GDP activity. Some might suggest that with campaign contributions, Wall Street and corporate lobbyists have been buying government, purchasing public policy. How much would we "bid" to get it back? Maybe public campaign financing is a good idea, eh?

Talk about a nefarious underworld: It's time for Eliot Ness to clean up the town .. or perhaps instead we could enact the Fair Elections Now Act.

~ Craig Salins, WPC

VOTE for public financing as a priority for Obama Administration…

The organization (and website) Change.org is polling for 10 top proposals to be submitted to the Obama Administration, for action to change America.

The top 10 ideas are going to be presented to the Obama Administration prior to Inauguration Day, and will be supported by a national lobbying campaign run by Change.org, MySpace, and more than a dozen leading nonprofits after the Inauguration. Partly because of media publicity and grassroots attention, each idea among the top ten will gain traction.

You can sign up on the site, and then you have up to ten votes, among several dozen ideas that have been put forward.

One of the proposals is for public financing of election campaigns. If this proposal receives enough votes to be in the "top ten", it will get significant attention and lobbying support.

Voting ends at 5 PM, on Thursday, January 15th. So act now!
Here is the proposal for public funding of campaigns.

Justice Cannot Be For Sale!

Campaigns for supreme court must be financed by citizens - not by special interests.
In 2006, $4.5 million was spent trying to win just 3 seats for the Washington state supreme court. It's outrageous! We must change the system - so that judges are never suspected of influence by financial backers.

Read "Justice for Sale" Wall Street Journal, by James Sample, at the Brennan Center for Justice (NY University School of Law).

Let's have public funding for supreme court campaigns. Washington Public Campaigns - together with the League of Women Voters and many other organizations - is proposing a bill to the 2009 legislature, for public financing of campaigns for the state supreme court. DETAILS

We know the state faces a budget shortfall, but we cannot afford justice for sale. Together with sponsors in the Senate and House, we are proposing a modest-cost bill, that will achieve our goals: integrity for the supreme court, through public financing of campaigns.

It won't be a cakewalk, and we need all hands on deck for a grassroots movement. We must educate the public, and lobby our legislators, with a disciplined and powerful grassroots advocacy campaign. Join the movement: Become a citizen lobbyist! Write to: wpc@washclean.org, with your offers to help.

WHAT YOU CAN DO (PDF)

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U.S. Supreme Court to hear recusal case ...

In West Virginia, the state supreme court reversed a $75 judgement against a mining company that violated safety standards, leading to an accident and several deaths. The supreme court justice who cast the deciding vote in favor of the mining company refused to step down from the case, even though he had received over $3 million in bundled campaign contributions from the mine owner! Now the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal to decide when judges must recuse themselves. This is an important issue, in maintaining the integrity of the courts, everywhere. Stay tuned!

New Connecticut Legislature:
81% of seats won by Clean Elections candidates

Connecticut is the only state so far to enact a program of full public financing for statewide and legislative races through legislative action (rather than through citizen initiative, as in Maine and Arizona). The legislation, approved in December, 2005, also bans contributions from lobbyists and state contractors. And now, Connecticut's initial experience has exceeded the expectations of even its most enthusiastic supporters.

In its maiden run in 2008, three-quarters of the candidates (258 of 343) ran using the CE program. And now, 81% of the new legislature consists of members who were elected under public financing for their campaigns.

Nationwide, Clean Elections candidates gain nearly 400 seats

By Adam Smith, Public Campaign: "Voters expanded Clean Elections programs in six states this week, electing nearly 400 officials to statehouses, the judiciary and statewide positions..." DETAILS

A new day is dawning, with a fresh change of leadership in our nation's high command.

Let us rededicate to the task of creating "a more perfect union"— where democracy means governance of, by and for the people, not the special interests.

The Transition Team for the incoming Obama Administration has a webpage to receive comments from Americans. Write to them your vision about the importance of public financing — the Fair Elections Now Act — a needed change that makes possible the needed progress on many other issues.

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October 25, 2008

Judicial Selection Conference — November 21st in Seattle

A half-day conference - "Selecting Judges in Washington: Looking Back to 2008 and Forward to 2009" - will be held Friday, November 21st, at the UW Law School. The conference features a panel discussion about recent judicial races, a presentation (by WPC) on public financing for judicial elections, and commentary on the national scene by James Sample of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.
Conference flier/registration form (right-click to save file to folder)

The event is sponsored by the Judicial Section Coalition, a statewide group consisting of organizations and individuals concerned about the process for selecting judges in Washington State.

Check out VotingForJudges.org—a useful website with detail about the backgrounds and positions of judicial candidates in King County. The site is sponsored by the King County Bar Association.

Connecticut launches Clean Elections with 75% participation

Connecticut is the only state so far to enact a program of full public financing for statewide and legislative races through legislative action (rather than through citizen initiative, as in Maine and Arizona). The legislation, approved in December, 2005, also bans contributions from lobbyists and state contractors. The new law is in effect for the 2008 elections, it's maiden run.

And now, Connecticut's initial experience has exceeded the expectations of even its most enthusiastic supporters. Of the 343 candidates running in General Assembly elections, 258 - about 75 percent - are seeking public financing. NY Times: "Connecticut Hopefuls Flock to Public Financing"

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Changing the game to restore democracy:
Public campaign financing is how to get our country back.

You know what's wrong: Government is auctioned off. The high bidder wins face-time and the power to write laws! Do we need any more proof than the recent Bailout?

Special interest money continues to pollute our democracy and trump every policy decision.

Right after a taxpayer bailout, A.I.G. corporate executives, now flush with taxpayer money, took themselves on a lavish $400,000 junket retreat, spa treatments for everyone!

But these junkets are only the tip of the iceberg. The real problem is that public policy has been for sale to these private interests, and the result has been greed and corruption unparalleled in our history.

Sad to say, the media pundits are not talking about this! Instead, they keep handicapping the various campaigns like a boxing match. They're not paying attention to the deeper issues: the health of our democracy, the system by which major decisions are made.

We know better. We MUST change the rules of the game. If we want democracy to work - if we want to be the top bidder in the auction we call elections - we MUST support public financing of campaigns!

We have to change the source of the money that influences lawmaking at every level. Get the hogs out of the river, as Jim Hightower says, and put Main Street voters back in charge.

Public financing of election campaigns is a game-changer, a reform that makes all other reforms possible. Then we can get our airwaves back. Affordable health care. Sensible energy policy. Regulation of Wall Street. These become possible once we've bought back our democracy.

It won't be quick or easy - if you want a quick fix, you're in the wrong place.

But real change is possible. If enough of us raise our voice - talk with our neighbors, call our legislators - we can buy back our democracy. It's a game-changer, the only real answer. And it's essential to a future that pays more attention to Main Street than to Wall Street.

Don't be a bystander! Join the grassroots movement!
Lobby the Congress

Please support the organization working for the
change you know is necessary. Donate to WPC, now!

WPC introduction to Greg Palast event in Olympia ...

Friday, October 3rd: Our Executive Director Craig Salins was invited to make introductory comments at the public forum in Olympia with author Greg Palast, attended by at least 250 people.

Greg Palast is the investigative journalist and author of The Best Democracy Money Can Buy and Steal Back Your Vote.

If useful in your own talks to local groups, read or download the text:
Craig Salins' Comments at Greg Palast event

"No Deal" to this New Deal David Sirota, best-selling author & columnist: commentary on the recent "bailout"

ARIZONA: Federal judge questions "fair fight" funds...
but allows Clean Elections Act to proceed

In the wake of the Davis case, a federal judge in Arizona has ruled the provision of "fair fight" matching funds to be unconstitutional in Arizona's Clean Elections Act law - but refused to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) stopping use of the program this year, pending appeal to a higher court. The lawsuit was brought by the Goldwater Institute, an avowed opponent of public financing of campaigns.

Goldwater Institute commentary re: Judge Roslyn Silver preliminary ruling

Court watchers predicted a challenge to these matching funds provisions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the "Millionaire's Amendment" in federal campaign law earlier this year. But advocates of public financing predict the survival of public financing AND fair fight matching funds, noting that these programs are always voluntary to candidates, and that the availability of fair fight funds is simply a program detail specifying how much public money is available to participating candidates. It does not restrict nor burden any candidate, which was the central concern in the Davis case.

Paul S. Ryan, Campaign Legal Center: CLC Commentary, "Public Financing After 'Davis' - Reports of My Death Are Greatly Exaggerated." Read article

From the Brennan Center for Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court case, Davis v. Federal Election Commission: SUMMARY HERE

September 24, 2008

Fair Elections Now Act introduced in House:
From Public Campaign: This morning Congress took another big step forward towards making Fair Elections a reality. Rep. John B. Larson (D-Conn.) and Rep. Walter Jones, Jr. (R-N.C.) introduced the Fair Elections Now Act (HR 7022), the House counterpart to the Senate Fair Elections Now Act (S 1285), sponsored by Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.). Details on Bills in Congress.

With this bipartisan, bicameral legislation to create a full public financing option for congressional races now on the table, we are closer than we have ever been to curbing the influence of big donors on elections.

The 2007 introduction of the Fair Elections Now Act in the Senate put us on the road to making the Clean Elections systems that have succeeded in seven states and two cities a reality in Congress. Today's bipartisan introduction of this companion legislation in the House signals the traction this policy is gaining on Capitol Hill, where even long term incumbents are tired of relentless fundraising and eager for a change.

The need for this legislation has become crystal clear this week as Congress debates a $700 billion bailout for the financiers of Wall Street, the industry that has spent $5 billion, more than any other, to influence policy on Capitol Hill. This Fair Elections bill will remove the power of the big money crowd and return Congress to the voters.
~ Nick Nyhart, Public Campaign

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September 22, 2008

BAILOUT: Who's Buying?
Is Wall Street for sale to the government - or vice versa?

Some Wall Street vultures would make Al Capone blush! Is there no opportunity too self-serving even for them?

It's not enough that ordinary folk are asked to bail out speculators who along the way made millions in the casino-like atmosphere of Wall Street - at a taxpayer cost of perhaps $700 billion to $1 trillion (easily $2,000 for every man, woman and child in America).

Now Wall Street's primary lobbying group - the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association - is lobbying Congress so that huge fees can be earned for assisting with the bailout! New York Times, 9-22-08

Will any of these funds find their way into campaign coffers?

Money is choking our democracy to death!

The proposed bailout law is shocking in its breadth and scope - nearly unlimited power and authority given to the Treasury Secretary - a political appointee. The proposal even forbids review of Treasury Secretary decisions by any court or administrative agency.

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." (Section 8 - as proposed)

Read the 3-page text of the Bush-Paulson proposal

For an alternate view of what Congress could do - read the four principles / proposal by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.

We need to insist on fundamental campaign finance reform - so that lawmakers can resist the threats and lobbying pressure of huge private special financial interests.

Public financing of campaigns for Congress - if only a beginning - is an essential first step to stop the auction of lawmaking to the highest bidder, the wealthiest donor or lobbyist.

Raise your voice and insist on change!

Call and write to Senators Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell, and your member of Congress. In your own words, tell them, "Support the Fair Elections Now Act, S.1285, so that you can resist pressure by special interest lobbyists and financial speculators."

Email and phone numbers to contact Congress

Summary of the Fair Elections Now Act
[ http://www.washclean.org/ ]

P.S. Please send us a few bucks, so we can continue public education on this issue and organizing for change. Contribute Online, or mail a check to:
Washington Public Campaigns, P.O. Box 70452, Seattle, WA 98127-0452

Thanks! ~ Craig Salins

No surprise! Bailouts are driven by lobbying cash - just one more reason why we need public financing of Congressional campaigns. Take a read ...

Fannie, Freddie - $200M buys influence in Congress

Mortgage Giants Rescue Plan: Cost Unknown
When will it stop? First, unscrupulous lenders and real estate brokers, driven by fat fees, take advantage of subprime loan rates. But now, hundreds of thousands of families are being forced out of their homes when the ARMs re-adjust. Meanwhile, the big boys at the top have raked in unconscionable compensation: Daniel H Mudd, President and CEO, Fannie Mae: $19.2 million. Richard F. Syron, Chairman and CEO, Freddie Mac: $19.8 million.

And now, the federal Treasury (meaning: taxpayers) will foot the cost of the bailout. Again. Remember the Lincoln Savings fiasco?

Government should not be for sale to business interests, greedily wanting a lucrative deal! But with private financing of election campaigns, public policy is up for auction. Through "artful" lobbying and campaign contributions, the special interests get what they want, and ordinary Americans pay the bill. It costs us in prices higher than necessary - for gas, groceries, school tuition and health care - and in misplaced national priorities, favoring Wall Street and Pentagon contractors instead of the security found in healthy families, well-educated and earning living wages.

We don't have to take this! But it won't change so long as Congressional campaigns are privately financed. That's why we have to speak up and urge action on bills in Congress: the Fair Elections Now Act (Senate Bill1285) and the Clean Money, Clean Elections Act (House Bill 1614).

Keep up the pressure! Contact Senators Cantwell and Murray, and your member of Congress, until they agree to co-sponsor these bills in Congress and work for enactment.

In Washington State, a corporate takeover fight, greased by money
Puget Sound Energy wants a merger with the Macquarie Group, an international banking and investment firm, in a deal that would leave PSE as a privately-held company - and pay millions in fees and bonuses to executives and financiers. News story here

Simultaneously, PSE is asking for a nearly 10% rate increase to ratepayers.

The merger proposal needs approval by the State Utilities and Transportation Commission, whose staff public counsel has recommended against the takeover. Lawmakers and public officials have been mostly silent on the deal so far, perhaps worried about campaign support. For years the company has spread campaign contributions like candy to local candidates and around Olympia, all sides of the aisle - never enough to buy a vote, but enough to buy access and face-time, and perhaps silence.

Public financing of campaigns eliminates even the appearance of influence-peddling. ~ Craig

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August 29, 2008

Are you 'In the Know' - receiving WPC updates? If you're not receiving Email updates from us, you're behind the times! JOIN US The only way to bring about the change we seek is citizen lobbying…and when we speak together, we're more powerful!

So - join the WPC citizens lobby! Make sure we have your correct email address! Set your spam filter to accept mail from newsletter@washclean.org. It's how we communicate when we need to raise our voices collectively to push a legislative measure - drowning out the special interest lobbyists with grassroots citizen power!

200 Members of Congress sign Voters First Pledge
Washington State, are you included?

In just a few weeks, the Voters First coalition (Common Cause, Public Campaign Action Fund, and Public Citizen) will release the names of over 200 candidates for Congress that have signed on to the Voters First Pledge. Let's urge Senators Patty Murray, Maria Cantwell, and members of Congress from Washington to be among the counted! Contact them HERE.

Does public financing matter for Congressional campaigns?
You bet! You can help to bring it about…by asking Senators Cantwell and Murray - and each of our members of Congress - to co-sponsor the Fair Elections Now Act (S.1285) and companion measures in the House.

Raise your voice, and become a citizen lobbyist!
It's easy, it's satisfying…and it helps to bring about the world we want to see! How? See Lobby My Congress

Energy lobbyists want to buy public policy
Jay Mandle is W. Bradford Wiley Professor of Economics at Colgate University, and a contributing writer (Money on my Mind) at Democracy Matters, a student organization working for Clean Elections.

In an article, Breaking the Logjam on Global Warming (8-08) he writes:

Read also Who Does Congress Represent? (April 14, 2006).

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Courts matter!
A groundbreaking law forbidding out-of-county controlled corporations from making political contributions in Humboldt County, CA elections was challenged in federal court this week.

Measure T was passed by voter initiative in 2006. It prohibits non-local corporations from making direct or indirect contributions and independent expenditures in all elections within the jurisdiction of Humboldt County, including candidate campaigns, initiatives, referendums and recalls.

Among the findings written into Measure T: "Only natural persons possess civil and political rights. Corporations are creations of state law and possess no legitimate civil or political rights." and "Corporate contributions in electoral politics interfere with the right of the people to create and maintain the institutions needed for democratic self-governance." (Section 3 of law).

But now, federal courts will decide whether it's constitutional.
What do you think will be the outcome?
More info      Measure T ordinance text    

Judicial Bill: Not yet, but coming
WPC is launching a drive to win public financing for races for our state supreme court.

But we're not writing the proposed bill yet - on purpose. First, we will be talking with coalition partners and legislative champions, to build consensus around goals and provisions of a proposed bill. Legislative language might not be finalized until late November or later. But that should not stop us from spreading the word, talking with neighbors, and asking our legislators to support the notion in principle: public financing for state supreme court races. Justice in court should never be for sale to the highest campaign donor!

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