The current plan to give $700 billion away to Wall Street – the same ones who got us into this mess – is a sign we need Clean Money public financing of campaigns more than ever.  Finance, insurance, and real estate firms have poured over $5 billion in contributions into politicians’ hands since 1990.  They’ve already been paid back by special interest giveaways many times over, and now they’re asking for over $2,000 from every man, woman, and child in the country.

Clean Money is the Only Way to Stop this Madness From Happening Again and Again!

Urge Governor Schwarzenegger to sign AB 583, the California Fair Elections Act, to start ending special interest dominance of politics by sending him a fax right now:

www.CAclean.org/letters

By providing for Clean Money for Secretary of State candidates, AB 583 would let California show the rest of the nation that there’s a much better way, not to mention making sure that the elected official responsible for the very integrity of our elections doesn’t have to fundraise.

Once you’ve sent your fax, please make a call to the Governor as well.  It’s quick because AB 583 has already gotten so many calls that they had to make it one of only five bills (out of 875!) that have their own automated response option.

CALL 916-445-2841 NOW!

You’ll get an automated system when you call so won’t need to even talk to anybody. Do the following:

> Press 1 for English

> Press 2 to “Voice your opinion on legislation”

> Press 5 “about AB 583, regarding the Political Reform Act”

> Press 1 “to register your support”

The line may be busy at first because so many people are calling.  Keep trying until you get through – you should after a few tries.

The Governor said it best:  Special interests have a stranglehold on Sacramento.  Here’s how it works.  Money comes in.  Favors go out.  The people lose..

Remind the Governor of his chance to change that by sending the fax and making the call:

www.CAclean.org/letters

California Clean Money Campaign

www.CAclean.org  

AB 583, the California Fair Elections Act, is likely to have its floor vote in the State Senate today and definitely by Sunday – two steps from the Governor’s desk!  But the vote is going to be a nail-biter.

Lobbyists and the California Chamber of Commerce are trying to kill the bill because it partially pays for the system by raising registration fees on lobbyists to the same level as they are in Illinois ($350 a year), though they’re really worried about not having as much access to elected officials because the $143 million they spend every six months lobbying won’t mean as much if candidates can get elected with public funds.

Let’s not let them stop Fair Elections!  Please send a free fax to your State Senator and to Senate leaders asking them to vote yes on the bill.  Over a thousand people have faxed already, but the more faxes they get today, the better:

www.CAclean.org/letters

Then call up your Senator and ask them to vote Yes!  The fax tool will show you’re their number.

This is the closest a Clean Money bill has ever made it to getting through both houses of the legislature in California, and AB 583 makes the perfect pilot project by funding Secretary of State races to make sure they never have to take money from the likes of Diebold or other private contributors.  So let’s make it happen!

California Clean Money Campaign

www.CAclean.org  

(A first step.  Should be interesting. – promoted by David Dayen)

AB 583, the California Clean Money and Fair Elections Act, has a new funding source to pay for full public financing for Secretary of State campaigns – a $350 annual registration fee on lobbyists, lobbying firms, and lobbyist employers.  As you might suppose, the lobbyists are up in arms at the idea of having to pay the same fee they pay in Illinois – not to mention losing access to elected officials they can’t donate to because they’re using Clean Money instead of private money – and are coming out to fight it.

Let’s not let them stop Clean Money!  The Senate Appropriations Committee hearing is in room 4203 in the state capitol building on Monday morning at 10:00am, and it’s huge.  We’ve got to pack the hearing room with people power to stop the lobbyists from killing it.  Carpools of Clean Money supporters from all parts of the Bay Area all the way down to Orange County are driving up, but we need even more.

If there’s any chance you can come, please join us!  Send an email to [email protected] to tell us you’re coming or to be hooked up with a carpool.

Can’t make it?  Send a fax!

If you can’t make it, use the California Clean Money Campaign’s online letter-writing tool to send a free fax to Appropriations Chair Tom Torlakson, Senate President pro Tem Don Perata, and other targets.  The more faxes they get this week, the better!

www.CAclean.org/letters

This is the closest a Clean Money bill has ever made it to getting through both houses of the legislature in California, and AB 583 makes the perfect pilot project by funding Secretary of State races to make sure they never have to take money from the likes of Diebold or other private contributors.  So let’s make it happen!

California Clean Money Campaign

www.CAclean.org  

According to public, campaign finacning regulations tommorow, November 29th, is the last day to receive matching funds through public financing.

So if you make a contribution tonight or tommorow to Dennis Kucinich, this means that your $50 contribution becomes a $100 contribution, $200 equals $400 … up to $250.  

From the Kucinich campaign:

There are literally just weeks left before the primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. We are proud of how far we’ve come, and the way the American people have embraced our message of “Strength through Peace.” According to recent polls we are in 4th place in New Hampshire. You could help put us over the top in New Hampshire by making a contribution today, and Double Your Impact, by taking advantage of the federal matching funds program.

Your support is essential as you can help us:

* Run advertisements and media

* Hire field coordinators and staff

* Provide housing for volunteers willing to come to New Hampshire to help get Dennis’ message out.

* Have all the resources we need to compete in New Hampshire and other early primary states

You know our campaign does not take contributions from corporations or from special interest groups. We have relied on people like you to help support our campaign. You have always come through during our end of quarter drives.

This is such an important opportunity for us and we cannot let it go by. Kucinich has disporpotiantely been supported by small donors and so the fact of doubling our contribution is something that we simply need to take advantage of. Even a small donation now becomes more significant. If you have already donated, I sincerely thank you. But, if you can make the extra committment for Mr. Kucinich’s leadership, it will go twice as far until tommorow.

Let us not forget what Kucinich’s leadership has been:

The only Democratic Candidate to oppose the War and the subsequent Occupation

The only Democratic Candidate to show the judgement and Constitutional integrity to vote against the Patriot Act

One of only six House members to vote against the Homegrow Terrorism Act

The only Democratic Candidate who is taking the threats to our Democracy seriously and actually holding this Administration accountable through Impeachment

The only Presidential Candidate offering a truly universal, not-for-profit health care system

The only Democratic Candidate who will cancel U.S. involvement in job killing, deficit building, human expoliting, environmental raping trade agreements, NAFTA/WTO

Really it goes on. We have seen this leadership. Kucinich has been the heart and soul of this party; the only Democrat willing to stand up for the party’s principles, rather than play party politics; the only one willing to put the Constitution and all Americans ahead of politics.

We need to support Dennis because he is speaking for us. And we need to support him now before it is too late. Please follow this link and make your contribution now.

Thank you for your support!

This is deadline week in the California State Assembly.  Hundreds of bills will be voted upon so that they can be moved on to the Senate.  Obviously, major special interests want to have something to say about which bills pass and which leave.  The best way for them to impact that is through campaign contributions.  And this year, they’ve got a new campaign to which to contribute.

The law bars them from donating more than $7,200 directly to Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles). But nothing has prevented teachers, doctors, gambling enterprises, insurers and others from giving much, much more to a cause close to Nuñez’s heart.

Those interest groups wrote checks for as much as $250,000 to help bankroll a ballot measure that would tweak California’s term limits to give Nuñez another six years in the Legislature. Seventeen unions, corporations, utilities and professional associations have donated a combined $1.68 million for a signature-gathering effort to put the measure before voters next February.

The contributions, all made within the last two months, come as lawmakers led by Nuñez are deciding on hundreds of bills of concern to the donors. The groups had already spent a combined $3.5 million in the first three months of this year trying to influence the Legislature, governor’s office and state agencies, state records show.

This is not a problem in and of itself, unless the bills that come out of the Assembly match up favorably with the campaign contributors.  We’ll be watching.  But the appearance is certainly not pristine.

over…

Jay Stewart, executive director of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Better Government Assn. in Chicago, said he doubted that union members and corporate shareholders were clamoring for a term-limits overhaul. But the large donations are certain to be noticed by Nuñez, he said.

“Common sense tells you that if you support an issue near and dear to any legislator … to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars, you’re probably going to get your phone call returned,” Stewart said.

There’s a list of donors here.  A lot of them are trade unions.  We’ve always known that special interest dollars on all sides corrode the trust that people have in their government.  The best way we can change this is to lobby on behalf of AB 583, the pilot program for public financing of elections which will be voted on tomorrow.  However, this won’t impact special interests giving to initiative committees that, in this case, extend the term of service for legislators.  So initiative reform is something that we need as well.

Last Tuesday, California Assemblywoman Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) revitalized the push for clean money in California state elections.  According to an Associated Press story that appeared in the Orange County Register, Hancock’s bill is modeled after the systems of voluntary public financing already in place in Arizona and Maine.

Basically, candidates who choose to use public funds for their campaigns must first collect a specified number of “qualifying contributions,” or $5 donations, in order to show substantial public support.  This addresses one potential fear of publicly funded elections–that “fringe” candidates will receive tax payers’ dollars to run a campaign.  Hancock’s bill didn’t get a vote on Tuesday from the Elections, Redistricting and Constitutional Amendments Committee, but if approved by lawmakers and Governor Schwarzenegger, the bill would be up to the voters in June 2008.

After the failure of Proposition 89, California needs a good public financing initiative that follows the example of the law in two states where clean elections have been successful for the last three election cycles.  Public financing is the only way to ensure that our representatives are elected on the merits of their ideas rather than their fundraising prowess and are beholden only to their constituents. 

Supporters of public financing see it as the only way to break the link between special interest money and elected officials.  According to the story in the Orange County Register:

If we expect legislation that is written and enacted in the public’s interest than we must eliminate the influence of special interest money on the political process.  The same rationale for demanding a system of public financing for state elections in California applies to federal elections.  That is why it is important to support the Fair Elections Now Act, a bill recently introduced in the Senate by Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Arlen Specter (R-PA).  The California delegation, which holds important positions in both houses of Congress, will be absolutely vital to getting this legislation passed in the Senate and eventually in the House.

Back at home though, Californians who believe in a fair electoral process free from the corrupting influence of special interest money should contact their state legislators to demand a clean elections system in California.  Public financing is a reform that 75 percent of Americans want, and if you are one of them, demand it for your state.

Frank Russo has all the details about Fabian Nunez’ redistricting proposal announced today.  (It’d be nice if the Speaker would come around and announce it on this site himself, but hey, we do what we can.) Essentially it puts redrawing the state boundaries in the hands of the Little Hoover Commission, minus the legislators that normally sit on that panel.  This would have to go before voters as an initiative once it passes the legislature with a 2/3 vote (it’s a Constitutional amendment).

EDIT by Brian: The initiative that went our for signatures is not the same as ACA1, which the Speaker discussed yesterday. I discussed ACA 1 very briefly when the changes were first announced yesterday. Check out California Progress Report for more.

Without the lawmakers, the Little Hoover Commission includes 4 citizens appointed by the legislature and 5 citizens appointed by the governor.  Seven panel members would have to agree for a plan to move forward.

The Little Hoover Commission has a decent enough reputation as an independent study group; their report on California’s corrections crisis was well-done.  I’m a bit wary of subjecting district shapes to be subject to referendum, it seems to invite an endless series of low-information elections.  And overall, I don’t think redistricting geographically will have as massive an impact as everybody thinks.  People largely gerrymander themselves.

But there you have it, and I’ve seen worse plans in my life.  I ultimately believe that two candidates with the same basic money pool can overcome any gerrymander thrown at them, which is why I think that election reform begins and ends with public financing.

Since the introduction of the Fair Elections Now Act, the labor community has thrown its substantial weight behind the measure, which would create a voluntary system of publicly financed congressional elections.  No doubt, labor’s support was instrumental in winning Republican co-sponsorship from Arlen Specter (R-PA), a strong labor advocate.  Support for the bill comes from the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, CWA, and SEIU. 

While labor’s position on California’s Clean Money and Fair Election Act (Prop. 89) was spotty due to a number of factors that had little to do with the actual merits of public financing, it is clear that labor stands firmly behind the Fair Elections Now Act.

Remember, this is a bill that is designed to curb the influence of special interest money on the political process.  Though labor unions contribute to political campaigns, they are simply outspent by business.  In fact, by some estimates, business outspends labor 6 to 1.  According to opensecrets.org, labor has contributed $585 million to political campaigns since 1990.  Compare that to the more than $1 billion that business has contributed in the same time period.

None of that would matter if our system wasn’t so influenced by money.  But the reality is that important labor reforms, such as a drastic increase in the minimum wage (and by drastic I mean more than the “hike” made in the Democrats’ first 100 hours) and the Employee Free Choice Act are at risk of being overlooked by representatives who fix their eyes on the green of large contributions from groups sympathetic to business interests.

Another reason for labor to support the Fair Election Now Act is that labor unions, at their core, are about organizing people and allowing those people to have a fair shot at being heard by the powers that be, regardless of their inability to make large contributions.  If the influence of money is eliminated, labor unions remain strongly influential due to their organizing power. 

Ultimately, however, our representatives should vote according to their constituents’ wishes, many of whom are not represented by business or labor groups.  If we want legislation that serves the broadest public interests, then we need to eliminate the destructive influence of special interests, be they business or labor.