Voters will withhold donations to federal candidates unless they support "citizen-funded elections" for Congress – public funding plus Obama-style small donations
Durbin-Specter lead bipartisan bill in Senate, Larson-Jones in House
NEW YORK – On Friday, Change Congress co-founder Lawrence Lessig put the political world on notice: He declared a political "donor strike" pressuring Congress to pass legislation making congressional elections "citizen-funded, not special-interest funded."
Lessig asked citizens to join the strike at Change-Congress.org. On the site, people are pledging not to donate to any federal candidate unless they support legislation taking special-interest money out of congressional elections. Bipartisan bills being pushed this year would create a system of public funding – plus Obama-style small dollar funding – for congressional elections.
"We all have issues that we care about most, but progress will be blocked on every big issue until we solve the threshold problem: special interests having disproportional clout in our public debates," said Lessig. "Especially with the economic crisis we face, it makes no sense for leaders to spend their time begging for campaign contributions from the very special interests that got us into this mess."
Lessig, a Stanford law professor and author of several books, co-founded Change Congress last year with political strategist Joe Trippi. Harvard recently named Lessig the new head of its ethics center starting in September.
"2008 proved that small-dollar donors are the future," Lessig said. "Now we're giving Congress a choice: you can have our money or money from special interests, but not both. We will only donate to politicians who believe in cleaning up the system and giving us an honest public debate."
Bipartisan legislation is expected to be offered this year by Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Arlen Specter (R-PA), and Representatives John Larson (D-CT) and Walter Jones (R-NC).
Under this proposal, congressional candidates who raise a threshold number of small-dollar donations would qualify for a chunk of funding – several hundred thousand dollars. If they accept this funding, they couldn't raise big-dollar donations. But they could raise contributions up to a certain amount (such as $100 or $250), which would be matched several times over by a central fund. No new taxpayer dollars would be required. TV broadcasters, who currently get access to our public airwaves for free, would pay into the central fund.
A recent poll by Celinda Lake showed the public supported this plan 69% to 13%. Among the sponsors, Durbin is the 2nd-ranking member of the Senate and Larson is the 4th-ranking member of the House. Barack Obama was among 10 senators and nearly 60 House members to sponsor similar legislation last Congress.
Joining Change Congress in support of the donor strike are long time campaign finance reform groups Public Citizen, Common Cause, U.S. PIRG, Americans for Campaign Reform, and Democracy Matters. Their statements are below.
COMMON CAUSE: "We are working with reform-minded members of Congress right now to push for real change in the way America pays for its campaigns," said Common Cause President Bob Edgar. "If millions of small donors make it clear to Congress that they are serious about real reform now, that will make a huge difference in our ability to get Congress to do what more and more members are realizing they need to do: End their addiction to money from a handful of big donors, once and for all."
PUBLIC CITIZEN: "We're near a tipping point in Washington politics. Small donors made a huge impact in 2008, but unfortunately, big money still has more sway. Now small donors have a chance to change the pay-to-play system and have their voices heard," said David Arkush, Director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch division.
U.S. PIRG: "In order to see change on critical issues like the economy and our healthcare system, we need a clean campaign funding system that allows regular voters to be heard by our politicians. In 2008 citizens engaged in an election like never before; now is the moment to build on that, take the big money out of our system, and incentivize small dollar donors," said Lisa Gilbert, U.S. PIRG Democracy Advocate.
AMERICANS FOR CAMPAIGN REFORM: "The 2008 election showed that small donors can be a driving force in our democracy. It's time we envision a totally new system of funding political campaigns that does away with big money and puts the people back in their place. What we're seeing is the small donor revolution starting to leverage its power on a broken Washington system," said Dan Weeks, President of Americans for Campaign Reform
DEMOCRACY MATTERS: Adonal Foyle, Founder of Democracy Matters, said, "As a professional basketball player, I am proud to pledge that I will donate only to candidates who support citizen-funded Congressional elections." Joan Mandle, Executive Director of Democracy Matters, added, "Young people everywhere are joining the donor strike to create a new tomorrow where our elections aren't auctions to the highest bidder."
