Citizens United let loose a flood of unaccountable super PAC spending. Candidates can stop this with a simple pledge. We're here to spread that pledge.
As our elections become increasingly flooded with special interest money, Americans have lost hope in our democracy. We are a group of concerned citizens committed to making our elections more accountable. By running campaigns that incentivize candidates to take reform pledges that bring greater accountability to their own campaign practices, we generate models of reform that demonstrate its possibility and underscore its value.
11/28/2016
Great event being hosted by our friends at California Common Cause this Wednesday evening in Berkeley...hope to see you there!
http://act-ca.commoncause.org/site/Calendar?id=104666&view=Detail
Common Cause Join state and national leaders of the government reform movement as they discuss how major California victories in 2016 are pushing the nationwide democracy agenda forward.
11/02/2016
Larry Noble of The Campaign Legal Center: “The whole thing makes a mockery of the disclosure system”
How politicians hide their spending from the public Trump and others have found a way to mask where their money goes by funneling it through consulting firms.
10/24/2016
From the Los Angeles Times: In "individuals can give $4,200 per election to a legislative campaign, more than legal limits for donating to congressional candidates. But if the same person decides to instead support Assembly or Senate candidates by donating to a political party, the maximum they can give soars to $35,200.
It’s true that political party leaders could spread that money around to several candidates, but they also can funnel it all to a single candidate — thus allowing wealthy donors to have a much larger role than promised under the law."
"So who made that legal? Chances are, you did."
Political Road Map: How unlimited cash gets funneled into legislative campaigns Donations made to a candidate for the state Assembly or Senate are usually a small part of California’s political money machine, a function of the relatively low limits on the size of contributions.
09/24/2016
Super PACs have raised a record almost $1.1 billion this cycle.
USA TODAY reports: "That surpasses the $846.8 million that poured into these groups during the entire 2012 election cycle, the first presidential race in which super PACs operated. Nearly half the money — $500.8 million — flowing to super PACs in this election came from 62 individuals, companies and unions that gave $3 million or more apiece"
USA TODAY analysis: Super PAC donations surge past $1 billion Just 62 people and groups account for nearly half the total raised.
09/15/2016
In this special report The Guardian confirms just how badly our campaign finance system is working post- . Definitely worth a read.
Leaked court documents expose secret influence of corporate cash on politics Sealed Wisconsin court documents from Scott Walker investigation expose extent of corporate influence on democratic process rarely seen by the public
We're watching closely as Kevin de León and Senator Ricardo Lara consider amendments to , the California DISCLOSE Act. Will they take a strong stand against dark money, or will they allow the bill to get watered down and let secret donors continue to hide?
http://us13.campaign-archive2.com/?u=5116210bd2bfdba8e7d82757a&id=7eb3176d95&e=[UNIQID]
As CA DISCLOSE Act Amendments are Considered, CounterPAC Renews Promise of Accountability Reform-Focused Independent-Expenditure Committee Watches Closely as Landmark Disclosure Bill Undergoes Amendment Process
08/15/2016
I'm going on Reddit to answer questions about Kongregate, CounterPAC, and the California Disclose Act that we're trying to keep from getting gutted...
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/4xukkt/iama_founder_of_kongregate_and_now_am_trying_to/
IamA founder of Kongregate and now am trying to reform money in politics with CounterPAC. AMA • /r/IAmA Hi, I started a web games site called Kongregate, and then I used the money I made from that to start a SuperPAC called CounterPAC. We're fighting...
08/03/2016
The federal appeals court made it all that much easier for super PACs to confuse voters:
"The decision appears to break down another of the rather flimsy barriers between candidates and ostensibly unconnected super PACs supporting those candidates but raising donations in unlimited amounts"
Court: Super PACs can be named after candidates A three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the Federal Election Commission appeared to have violated the First Amendment.
08/01/2016
The and their network of 400 donors met this past weekend to strategize which races to invest their enormous warchest on. They remain committed to not getting involved in the presidential race.
Koch brothers network rules out anti-Clinton ads The powerful political network helmed by Charles and David Koch is ruling out running advertisements intended to hurt Hillary Clinton, another sign of their insistence on avoiding the presidential race.
07/27/2016
"Under the party’s new fundraising policy, detailed by the Washington Post in February, lobbyists cannot participate in Democratic National Committee (DNC) events with President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden or their wives. But lobbyists can attend party events with White House staffers, according to a MapLight review of DNC emails. The messages were part of the nearly 20,000 emails from hacked DNC accounts that were released by WikiLeaks on Friday."
What WikiLeaks Emails Reveal About The DNC, The White House And Lobbyists | MapLight - Money and Politics President Obama with White House Political Advisor David Simas / Getty Images July 26, 2016 - Under the Democratic party’s new fundraising policy, detailed by the Washington Post in February, lobbyists cannot participate in DNC events with President Obama, Vic...
07/13/2016
From The Huffington Post:
and nonprofit groups have already spent at least $101 million in most of the states hosting contested Senate races that will determine which party controls the chamber in 2017...More than half of the Senate outside spending this cycle ― $54 million ― has come from these [nonprofit] groups.
Super PAC And Dark Money Spending Already Tops $100 Million In Fight For Senate Control And Republicans are outpacing Democrats in a number of key states.
07/13/2016
Spending Becoming More Bipartisan http://www.bna.com/super-pac-spending-n73014444062/ via Bloomberg BNA
“More money is moving to super PACs because they don’t have finance limits....It’s not surprising that the same lobbying that occurs with inside money would happen with outside money too.”
Super PAC Spending Becoming More Bipartisan Groups simultaneously funding Republican and Democratic super political action committees are becoming increasingly common, a Bloomberg BNA analysis of Federal Election Commission reports has...