Left aims to gain ground on super-PACs
By Kevin Bogardus - 02/04/14 03:20
PM EST
Groups like Sierra Club, Communications
Workers of America and the Progressive
Change Campaign Committee are endorsing legislation from Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) that would offer
tax credits to campaign donors as well as matching funds to candidates who
forgo traditional PAC contributions.
Other major liberal groups are
expected to line up behind the bill as well.
“We are sick and tired of seeing money
from a small section of multimillionaire donors drown out our voice across the
board,” said Courtney Hight, director of the democracy program at the Sierra
Club, told The Hill. “Issue-based groups that have not traditionally gotten
into the fight over campaign finance are now seeing the threat to our
democracy.”
The bill, which Sarbanes will
introduce Wednesday, aims to even the playing field for small donors who are
being outgunned in the new era of unlimited political spending created by the
Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.
Unions, environmental
organizations and other liberal-leaning groups say they hope to empower their
members by having their small contributions swell candidates' coffers.
Sarbanes’s office said he expected
to have roughly 100 co-sponsors of the Government by the People Act by the time
of its introduction on Wednesday. A number of supportive groups, along with
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), are expected to join him at a
press conference unveiling the bill.
“It is designed to make the voice
of the small or grassroots donor as powerful as the large donor,” Sarbanes
said.
One part of the legislation would
give small donors a $25 refundable tax credit for their contribution to a
candidate’s campaign.
In addition, candidates would be
able to secure funds to match their small donors under the bill if they agreed
to limits on their fundraising.
For example, a candidate who does
not accept PAC money could match small-dollar donations of $150 or less at a
rate of $6 to $1. Those candidates who only depend on small donors would see
those contributions matched at a rate of $9 to $1 — so a $50 campaign
contribution could become $500 instead.
Further, candidates that raise
$50,000 in small-dollar contributions 60 days before the general election could
be given more resources to combat late campaign attacks under the act.
Sarbanes said he believes boosting
small donors will change Congress since lawmakers would be less dependent on
high-priced fundraisers.
“I think you will see a change in
candidate behavior, as candidates turn in the direction they would love to
turn, which is back towards their constituents, back towards everyday citizens,
spend their time doing that rather than sort of ‘call time’ to high donors and
PACs,” Sarbanes said.
Liberal groups said the bill would
force lawmakers to pay more attention to voters.
“It's all about changing
incentives for politicians. Instead of sucking up to big-money donors, they
will be sucking up to everyday people. That's the bottom line,” said Adam
Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “Politicians
are much more likely to act against foreclosures and big polluters and on
issues like the minimum wage if they are talking to normal people.”
Democrats are also pushing for
action in the Senate to change campaign finance rules.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) plans to
re-introduce his Fair Elections Now Act soon, which sets up a public financing
system for campaigns and emphasizes small donors, according to his office.
Supporters of campaign finance
reform are watching the Supreme Court, which is expected to rule soon on the
campaign finance case McCutcheon vs. FEC. That decision could remove the
aggregate limit on how much a donor could contribute each election cycle, which
would allow rich donors to contribute to as many members of Congress as they
choose.
“We're waiting now for the
McCutcheon decision, which will move the process even more in favor of the
wealthiest and corporate interests by removing restrictions on aggregation,”
said Candice Johnson, a spokeswoman for the Communications Workers of America.
“The Sarbanes bill is one way we can start to provide for public financing of
elections, and make sure that the voices of smaller donors also count.”
Sarbanes’s bill comes from the
work of a House Democrats’ taskforce set up by Pelosi that has been drafting legislation to strengthen public
financing and small donors.
But the legislation will have a
tough road in Congress, as the Republican-controlled House is unlikely to have
a vote on Sarbanes’s bill.
Other efforts to change campaign
finance laws, such as the Disclose Act, have failed to move in the Senate. In
addition, business groups have opposed efforts to shed more light on political spending
and beat back an effort at the Securities and Exchange Commission to have
public companies disclose their political contributions.
Some liberal groups were wary of
the Disclose Act in the past, but are now pushing harder for new limits on
money in politics.
“We are in competition with the
Koch brothers, the fossil fuel industry and the Chamber of Commerce, who are
funneling money into various campaigns. What we spend is a drop in the bucket
compared to them,” said Hight with Sierra Club, whose super-PAC spent almost
$1.2 million on independent expenditures for the 2012 election cycle.
“I think we need a more organized
group of people who are pushing back on the big money, and that is why we are
part of this alliance in support of the bill.”
Nancy
Pelosi is the minority leader for the U.S.
House of Representatives, an investor in the Clean Energy Fuels Corp., and Cecile
Richards was her deputy chief of staff.
Note: CleanSkies.tv
Network is a peer group programmer for the Clean Energy Fuels Corp, and the Sierra Club.
America Votes is
a national partner with the Sierra Club.
Cecile Richards
was the founder & president for America
Votes, Nancy Pelosi’s deputy
chief of staff, is the president for the Planned
Parenthood Federation of America, and married to Kirk Adams.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Economic Policy Institute.
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and
a contributor for MoveOn.org.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Roosevelt Institute, and the Economic
Policy Institute.
Reality
Coalition is a partner with the Natural
Resources Defense Council, and a partner with the Sierra Club.
Wendy
Schmidt is a trustee at the Natural
Resources Defense Council, and the president & co-founder for the Schmidt Family Foundation.
Schmidt
Family Foundation was a funder for the Natural
Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra
Club.
Paul
S. Sarbanes is a governor for the Roosevelt
Institute, and was a member of the U.S.
House of Representatives.
Larry
Cohen is a director at the Economic
Policy Institute, and the president for the Communications Workers of America.
Health
Care for America Now is a steering committee member for the Communications Workers of America, and MoveOn.org.
Adam
Green was an organizer for MoveOn.org.,
and is a co-founder for the Progressive
Change Campaign Committee.
Stephanie Taylor
was an organizer for MoveOn.org., an
organizer for the Service Employees
International Union (SEIU), and is a co-founder for the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
America Votes is
a national partner with the Service
Employees International Union (SEIU), and the Sierra Club.
Kirk
Adams is the International EVP for the Service
Employees International Union (SEIU), and married to Cecile Richards.
Cecile Richards
is married to Kirk Adams, the president
for the Planned Parenthood Federation of
America, was the founder & president for America Votes, and Nancy
Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff.
Mary Kay Henry is
the president of the Service Employees
International Union (SEIU), and a director at the Economic Policy Institute.
Larry
Cohen is a director at the Economic
Policy Institute, and the president for the Communications Workers of America.
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