May-July 1997
Campaign Finance Reform:
Exploring the "Clean Money" Option
Day after day new revelations of campaign fundraising abuses rocked the capital, from possible foreign espionage to the systematic selling of access to wealthy private interests by politicians of both parties. Eleven major investigations were underway or soon to be launched. Public disgust with the system had never been greater. Senate and House panels were slated to start work in mid-May, and President Clinton called on Congress to pass campaign finance legislation by July 4. Yet despite unprecedented attention to the problem, little was being done to devise a workable solution.
Campaign reform activists, however, were organizing around a new approach under which candidates who agreed not to raise or spend any private money (including their own) would receive public financing. From 1993 to 1997, citizens had been organizing throughout the country for "Clean Money Campaign Reform." Broad coalitions had come together in Arizona, Vermont, North Carolina, Michigan, Massachusetts, Missouri, Idaho, and Illinois to create Clean Money financing systems for their own state elections. The concept was endorsed by USA Today, the Boston Globe, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and backed by as much as two-thirds of the public in polls.
To build public awareness of the Clean Money strategy, the Mainstream Media Project booked 22 guests in over 100 interviews on radio stations across the country.
Guest Speakers
John B. Anderson, Former Independent Presidential Candidate
John Bonifaz, Founder and Director, National Voting Rights Institute
Becky Cain, President, League of Women Voters
David Donnelly, Director, New England Money in Politics Project
Ed Garvey, President, Progressive Communications Systems
Rep. Cecil Heftel (ret. D-HI), Former Five-Term Congressman
Arnold Hiatt, Chairman, Stride Rite Foundation
Randy Kehler, Co-Founder, Working Group on Electoral Democracy
Jeff Klein, Editor in Chief, Mother Jones magazine
Harry Lonsdale, Director, Campaign for Democracy
Ellen Miller, Founder and President, Public Campaign
Nick Nyhart, National Field Director, Public Campaign
Jamin Raskin, Associate Dean, American University Washington School of Law
Sen. Paul Simon (ret. D-IL), Former Senator; Director, Simon Policy Institute, Southern Illinois University
Rep. John Tierney (D-MA), Congressman
Rev. Jim Wallis, Editor, Sojourners magazine
Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-MN), Senator
Harriett Woods, Past President, National Women's Political Caucus
Additional Participants (Regional Contacts)
George Christie, Executive Director, Maine Citizen Leadership Fund
Janice Fine, Founder, New England Money in Politics Project
Anthony Pollina, Director, Vermont Public Interest Research Group
Samantha Sanchez, Director, Western States Center
+ grassroots "clean money" activists from more than 20 states
