Fred Wertheimer: 14 Current Republican Senators Voted for Disclosure Legislation Enacted in 2000

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Democracy 21 Calls on Republican Senators to Recognize Secret Money Corrupts Democracy and to Return to Past Support for Disclosure Laws Fourteen Current Republican Senators Voted for Loophole-Closing Disclosure Legislation Enacted in 2000   Statement of Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has spent his entire career obstructing, filibustering and opposing […]

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Senate Cloture Vote on July 16th on DISCLOSE Act; Senators Face Clear Choice: Public Disclosure or Secret Money

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SENATE CLOTURE VOTE ON JULY 16 ON DISCLOSE ACT SENATORS FACE CLEAR CHOICE: FOR DISCLOSURE TO INFORM CITIZENS OR FOR SECRET MONEY IN ELECTIONS The Senate is scheduled to vote on July 16th on cloture on S.3369, the DISCLOSE Act of 2012 sponsored by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI). The DISCLOSE Act would close gaping disclosure […]

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RNC Court Challenge to Aggregate Contribution Limits Opposed by Reformers

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RNC Court Challenge to Aggregate Contribution Limits Opposed by Reformers Today, the Campaign Legal Center, together with Democracy 21, filed an amici brief in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to defend the aggregate contribution limits against a challenge brought by the Republican National Committee (RNC) and Shaun McCutcheon.  Despite clear Supreme […]

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RNC Lawsuit Challenging Contribution Limit Would Open Door to Corrupting Million Dollar Party Contributions

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RNC Lawsuit Challenging Contribution Limit Would Open Door to Corrupting Million Dollar Party Contributions By Fred Wertheimer, Democracy 21 President In a lawsuit filed recently in federal district court, the Republican National Committee challenged the constitutionality of a long standing contribution limit that was enacted to prevent corruption and that was upheld by the Supreme […]

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Fourth Circuit Overturns Decision That Struck Down Century-Old Law Banning Corporate Contributions to Federal Candidates & Parties

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Fourth Circuit Overturns Decision That Struck Down Century-Old Law Banning Corporate Contributions to Federal Candidates & Parties Today, in U.S. v Danielczyk, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed a district court decision which had ignored U.S. Supreme Court precedent in order to strike down the century-old federal ban on corporate contributions […]

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Wertheimer op-ed: Senator McConnell “Pounds the Table” in Opposing Campaign Finance Disclosure Long Upheld by Supreme Court

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Senator McConnell “Pounds the Table” in Opposing Campaign Finance Disclosure Long Upheld by Supreme Court By Fred Wertheimer, Democracy 21 President There is an old saying in the legal profession that goes like this: “If you don’t have the law pound the facts, if you don’t have the facts pound the law, if you don’t […]

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Statement by Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer on Supreme Court’s Decision to Leave Citizens United Standing

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Statement by Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer The Supreme Court today has left standing the disastrous Citizens United decision and the enormous damage it is doing to our democracy and political system. Nevertheless, the battle in Congress, the states and the courts for effective campaign finance laws to prevent the corruption of our officeholders and […]

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Center for Public Integrity: “Nonprofits outspent super PACs in 2010, trend may continue”

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The Center for Public Integrity Nonprofits outspent super PACs in 2010, trend may continue Micheal Beckel June 18, 2012 While super PACs were cast as the big, bad wolves during the last election, the groups were outspent by “social welfare” organizations by a 3-2 margin, a trend that may continue amid reports that major donors […]

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Mother Jones: “Follow the Dark Money”

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Mother Jones Follow the Dark Money The down and dirty history of secret spending, PACs gone wild, and the epic four-decade fight over the only kind of political capital that matters. By Andy Kroll July/August 2012 “There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money and I can’t remember what the […]

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Endorses Bill Introduced Today by Senator Mark Udall to Repair the Presidential Public Financing System

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Democracy 21 Endorses Bill Introduced Today by Senator Mark Udall to Repair the Presidential Public Financing System Statement by Democracy 21 President Fred Wertheimer June 19, 2012 Democracy 21 strongly endorses the legislation introduced today by Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) to repair and modernize the presidential public financing system. Companion legislation has been introduced in […]

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