Game changer: Why now’s the time to move from special interest-funded elections to citizen-funded elections
An overwhelming majority of Americans want a public health insurance option. But members of Congress have received hundreds of millions in campaign contributions from health and insurance interests.The result? A big battle in Congress when the will of the American people is clear.
As Congress debated a $700 billion Wall Street bailout in October 2008, Americans cried out for Wall Street accountability. But members of Congress had campaigns to fund and were collecting campaign cash from the very special interests they were supposed to be regulating. The final bailout was great for Wall Street, less so for the public.
Whatever your top issue, progress will be slowed on all major reform until we fix a corrupt campaign finance system that gives special interests disproportionate clout in public policy. Momentum is building in Congress for a new system of “citizen-funded” congressional elections—a hybrid of public funding and Obama-style small donations. Come hear from those at the center of the fight, and learn how you can be part of it.
Lawrence Lessig is co-founder of Change Congress, an organization formed in 2008 to fight corruption by removing the undue influence of special interests on our political system.
Lessig is a Professor of Law at Harvard University and previously founded Stanford Law's Center for Internet and Society. Prior to joining the Stanford faculty, he was the Berkman Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and a Professor at the University of Chicago. He clerked for Judge Richard Posner on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Antonin Scalia on the United States Supreme Court.
David Donnelly is Public Campaign Action Fund’s (PCAF) National Campaigns Director, and the Director of its Campaign Money Watch project to hold elected officials accountable for the special favors they do for their political contributors. Before joining PCAF, David managed successful “Clean Elections” initiative campaigns in Maine and in Massachusetts, and provided strategic advice to reformers in Vermont, North Carolina, and Connecticut leading to the passage of public financing laws in those states. A book David co-wrote in 1997, Are Elections for Sale?, is in its second printing (Beacon Press). His work was recently featured in the Washington Post.
Adam Green is co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (BoldProgressives.org), a 750,000-member grassroots online organization that helps elect bold progressive members of Congress and advocate on progressive policy issues.
For four years, he worked as Director of Strategic Campaigns and Civic Communications Director for MoveOn.org. During this time, he spearheaded the “Open Debate Coalition” with Prof. Lawrence Lessig and online voices on the left and right, which successfully opposed some of the top-down practices that surround presidential debates.
Previously, Adam served as the Democratic National Committee’s press secretary in Oregon for the 2004 presidential campaign, communications director for the New Jersey Democratic Party in 2003 and 2004, and press secretary for Sen. Tim Johnson's re-election campaign in South Dakota in 2002.
Adam is a graduate of GWU’s political communication program -- where he’s recently taught a course on Internet & Politics -- and received his law degree from the University of Virginia.
