While today’s lack of bipartisan support for a vote on the #FreedomToVoteAct was not an enormous surprise, it was still disappointing to see this reaction to the most significant #votingrights bill in a generation. 1/5 #FreedomToVote
campaignlegal.org/update/senates…
This is a transformative piece of legislation that, if enacted, will increase Americans’ access to the ballot box, neutralize partisan and racial gerrymandering and increase transparency in our campaign finance system to counteract the impact of dark money secret spending. 2/5
In an era where we see politicians erecting deliberate barriers to voting, with both parties enacting partisan gerrymanders and dark money pouring into elections in as-yet-unseen amounts, this compromise legislation would provide some of the most comprehensive advances... 3/5
...American democracy has seen in decades. @CampaignLegal has urged Congress to address these issues and others included in the #FreedomToVoteAct. Every American voter should feel that they have an equal voice in our political system,... 4/5
...and this legislation, supported by seven in 10 Americans, would help make the promise of #democracy real for us all. Today’s vote cannot be the end – in order to ensure that democracy is working for all Americans, Congress should pass the #FreedomToVoteAct. 5/5

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More from @thetrevorpotter

15 Oct
The @FEC is responsible for enforcing campaign finance laws for presidential & congressional campaigns.

Today is its "birthday," but there's not much to celebrate: it has repeatedly failed to do its job, w/ real consequences that impact our lives. Thread:
campaignlegal.org/update/lets-ce…
Its commissioners routinely deadlock and fail to hold bad actors accountable. The @FEC is not just another example of a dysfunctional government bureaucracy: the problem at the @FEC is about commissioners who do not believe in the role of the agency.
This matters. The @FEC's failure to enforce our campaign finance laws has led to an explosion in secret spending, and our politics are increasingly rigged in favor of special interests.

This tilts the playing field and affects almost any issue we care about, regardless of party.
Read 6 tweets
21 Jul
Yesterday, top Trump donor & fund-raiser and inaugural committee chairman Thomas #Barrack was arrested & charged with illegally working to influence the foreign policy of the U.S. government.

Here's a thread with some of my thoughts 👇 #BarrackIndictment
nytimes.com/2021/07/20/us/…
This case is about transparency and ethics, but this is also a tale of the problems and dangers of our current campaign finance system: a system that enables wealthy interests to gain outsized influence with our government, creating the conditions for the privileged access and...
...influence they enjoy and often utilize for their own personal gain.

Thomas Barrack, a billionaire, is close to Trump & was a major donor to Trump’s joint fundraising committee (Trump Victory) & Republican groups: since the 2016 cycle, he has personally given over $1 million.
Read 9 tweets
2 Jun
Substantively, this matter is about the importance of transparency—the voters obviously should have known about McDougal’s allegations well before the elections, and AMI’s illegal hush money payment meant they did not.
But this isn’t an example of @FEC enforcement—it is almost five years after the 2016 election, and all the investigative work was done by the federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York. The FEC is just free-riding here.
The @FEC is supposed to be responsible for enforcing laws that govern campaign finance for campaigns for president & Congress. Yet, this is another example of the @FEC being an afterthought in campaign finance enforcement as DOJ takes the lead, with all the problems that creates.
Read 6 tweets
31 Mar
A7: #S1TownHall #S1’s small-donor program builds on programs that have been successful in cities and states across the country. Because candidates are incentivized to seek support from small donors and small donors are empowered by the matching funds to provide impactful...
...financial support to their preferred candidates, these programs have led to big increases in small donors and significantly decreased reliance on wealthy special interests. Freed from dependence on a few big donors, elected officials can focus on implementing policies that...
…benefit their constituents, not just those that bankroll their campaigns. For example, following the first election after Connecticut implemented its Citizens’ Elections Program...
Read 4 tweets
31 Mar
A1: #S1TownHall Economic inequality means that most personal wealth in the US is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a small minority, and the historic legacy of racism and sexism means that these wealthy few are overwhelmingly white and male. The heavy reliance of our...
...campaign system on individual and corporate PAC contributions in turn, means that our government is often tilted towards the interests of a white male donor class, and the donor class looks nothing like the American public, but has a disproportionate level of influence over...
...who can competitively run for office and what policies are considered and prioritized. People of color and Americans of average means often have their voices drowned out...
Read 4 tweets
24 Mar
I’m about to head into the U.S. Senate Rules Committee to testify in support of the #ForThePeopleAct, #S1. This legislation will strengthen democracy for all Americans, regardless of political party. The livestream of the hearing should be available here:
rules.senate.gov/hearings/s1-th…
The #ForThePeopleAct will crack down on political corruption in both parties, limit the influence donors have over politicians, prevent foreign money from coming into America's elections, strengthen ethics laws...
campaignlegal.org/update/how-hr-…
...to prevent politicians from enriching themselves, create more transparency and accountability in government, reform the Federal Election Commission (@FEC) and protect voting rights for all eligible citizens.
campaignlegal.org/update/people-…
Read 5 tweets

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