Potatoes

The Democrats' campaign finance reform plan is small potatoes. After the Supreme Court repealed limits on political spending by corporations, small potatoes won't save our democracy. Can you deliver a bag of small potatoes to Sen. Schumer to let him know that this bill isn't enough? Click Here

Dear MoveOn member,

Last week, Democratic leaders—including New York Senator Charles Schumer—announced the Democratic plan to stop the flood of corporate money into politics.¹

Unfortunately, the Democratic plan is small potatoes—especially compared to the threat posed by the Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited corporate spending on political campaigns.

The good news is that the plan isn't final, so we can definitely still have an impact, if enough of us speak out.

Can you drop by Sen. Charles Schumer's office tomorrow or Thursday and deliver a bag of small potatoes to let him know that this proposal isn't enough? All you need to do is grab your potatoes (really, any size potatoes will do) and print a flyer to bring with you. We'll provide a flyer you can bring with you. Click here if you can do it:

http://pol.moveon.org/smallpotatoes/index.html?location_id=11&pri=1&id=18955-10220574-bD7TlLx&t=3

The Democratic plan, proposed by Representative Chris Van Hollen and Sen. Schumer, currently includes these main provisions²:

• Public disclosure: The proposal includes a number of provisions intended to make sure the public knows which corporations are funding the ads we see on TV during the election.
• Foreign corporations: The plan would bar most political spending by foreign-owned corporations.
• Government contractors: The proposal would stop government contractors from spending on political campaigns.

This just doesn't cut it—not after the Supreme Court put our democracy up for sale to the highest bidder. This is a plan that basically says it's OK for most corporations to buy elections, as long as they tell us they're doing it.

Under the bipartisan Fair Elections Now Act, a fund would be created from a small fee on big government contractors and media corporations. Then, candidates who only take contributions below $100 will get those small donations matched four times over from the Fair Elections fund.³

The Fair Elections Now Act is modeled on successful citizen-funded elections in states like Maine and Connecticut, and a new poll shows it's a winner with voters across the political spectrum.⁴

To save our democracy, we need citizen-funded elections, not small potatoes like the Van Hollen-Schumer plan.

You can help by delivering a bag of small potatoes to Sen. Schumer's office tomorrow or Thursday with a flyer urging Congress to pass the Fair Elections Now Act? It's urgent, so it needs to happen right away. Click here if you can do it:

http://pol.moveon.org/smallpotatoes/index.html?location_id=11&pri=1&id=18955-10220574-bD7TlLx&t=4

Thanks for all you do.

–Steven, Anna, Ilya, Wes, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Lawmakers Want to Reinstate Barriers on Campaign Spending by Corporations, Others," The New York Times, February 11, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=86474&id=18955-10220574-bD7TlLx&t=5

2. "Breaking: Congress's response to Citizens United," Fix Congress First, February 11, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=86475&id=18955-10220574-bD7TlLx&t=6

3. "Fair Elections Now Act Bill Summary," Public Campaign, accessed February 16, 2010
http://www.publicampaign.org/node/38166

4. "Supreme Court ruling fuels ire," Politico, February 9, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=86430&id=18955-10220574-bD7TlLx&t=7

Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 5 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

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