Hillary Clinton Faces a More Liberal Democratic Fund-Raising Landscape - NYTimes.com

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/06/30/us/politics/hillary-clinton-faces-a-more-liberal-democratic-fund-raising-landscape.html?referrer=

Q&A: What The Post’s money-in-politics reporter will be watching for in Q2 fundraising numbers - The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/06/30/qa-what-the-posts-money-in-politics-reporter-will-be-watching-for-in-q2-fundraising-numbers/?wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1

Gary Hart: America’s Founding Principles Are in Danger of Corruption | TIME

http://time.com/3937860/gary-hart-america-corruption/

Two Years After Shelby County: Congress Must Restore Voting Rights Act | Brennan Center for Justice

http://www.brennancenter.org/press-release/two-years-after-shelby-county-congress-must-restore-voting-rights-act

Alabama’s campaign finance laws get stronger

The transparency that campaign finance laws are meant to create is critical to the political process. Alabama voters deserve to know who is funding campaigns and how candidates are spending money. This measure, passed well ahead of the 2016 elections, is a commendable step in enhancing these laws for the benefit of the electorate and clarifying them for the benefit of candidates. When interpretation is needed, it now can be provided by a trusted body free of partisan political ties.
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/opinion/editorials/2015/06/16/alabamas-campaign-finance-laws-get-stronger/28829213/?from=global&sessionKey=&autologin=

Donors to Congressman's Fundraiser Vie For a Maserati - The Intercept

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/19/congressman-lures-donors-fundraisers-prize-maserati/

Maine Leading the Way on Government of, for and by the People | Brennan Center for Justice

Until the Supreme Court overturns Citizens United, and the Congress rediscovers reality, our best hope for effective campaign finance solutions rests with states like Maine.
https://www.brennancenter.org/blog/maine-leading-way-government-and-people

Lawrence Lessig Criticizes Tweedism in Public Elections at ASM | The Phillipian

 "I think this is the civil rights issue of our age. We have allowed our government to evolve to a place where we have fundamental inequality of citizenship, meaning citizens have a radically unequal role in influencing their government. The way we fund campaigns is just one part of it, but I think it is the most urgent part to solve right away."
http://phillipian.net/2015/05/15/lawrence-lessig-criticizes-tweedism-in-public-elections-at-asm/

The FEC’s cry for help - The Washington Post

It's not news that the campaign finance system is out of control. It's not news that the FEC has watched, haplessly, as candidates and their super PACs have made a mockery of individual contribution limits and as a torrent of unreported "dark money" sweeps through a system premised on disclosure.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-fecs-cry-for-help/2015/06/12/b287be84-1121-11e5-9726-49d6fa26a8c6_story.html

Constitution Check: Is jail time a good answer to campaign finance abuse?

"The rise in super PAC spending has been quite significant," the Center study said, "but the more remarkable recent phenomenon is the decreasing separation between candidates and supporting super PACs." Without fear of the FEC, the Center said, federal candidates "have gone further and further toward ensuring that super PACs are not independent, but are the principal organ of their campaigns."

Brennan Center of Justice, 

http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2015/06/constitution-check-is-jail-time-a-good-answer-to-campaign-finance-abuse/

Magna Carta Said No Man Is Above the Law, but What About Corporations? | BillMoyers.com

And, surely, the best celebration of those premises in the United States must be the extension of the movement to amend the US Constitution to declare that corporations are not people, money is not speech and citizens and their elected representatives have the authority to organize elections — and systems of governance — where our votes matter more than their dollars.
http://billmoyers.com/2015/06/16/magna-carta-said-no-man-is-above-the-law-but-what-about-corporations/#.VYBLEaUVIpU.twitter

This Web site allows political donors to give money based on how lawmakers vote. Just don’t call it bribery. - The Washington Post

The aim is to give small donors greater influence over whether lawmakers are reelected, based on actual votes they cast rather than empty promises made on the campaign trail.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2015/06/11/ifthenfund/

The Koch brothers and the Republican Party go to war — with each other

The RNC is now openly arguing, however, that the Kochs' political operation is trying to control the Republican Party's master voter file, and to gain influence over — some even say control of — the GOP.
https://www.yahoo.com/politics/the-koch-brothers-and-the-republican-party-go-to-121193159491.html?wpisrc=nl_daily202&wpmm=1

Arkansas Approves Ballot Initiative to Let Voters Decide on Citizens United - Free Speech for People

 call upon the Arkansas congressional delegation to propose and support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to establish reasonable limits on the raising and spending of money to influence elections. This constitutional amendment would overturn the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, making it the eighth time the Constitution has been amended to overturn a controversial court decision. That 2010 decision gave corporations the green light to spend unlimited sums to influence elections.
http://freespeechforpeople.org/arkansas-approves-ballot-initiative/

Study: members of Congress 231% more likely to meet with you if you've paid them

What does it take to get the personal attention of a member of Congress? A good idea backed by a strong, logical argument? Reams of academic research backing your point of view? Broad-based grassroots support for your ideals from millions of people around the country?

If you nodded your head in the affirmative to any of those possibilities, that's adorable. The correct answer is money, and a recent study by a pair of U.C. Berkeley political scientists published in the American Journal of Political Science proves it conclusively.
http://www.dailydot.com/politics/congress-meetings-donation-study/

New Iowa group to push campaign finance reform

DES MOINES, Ia. — A new bipartisan group in Iowa is pushing for campaign finance reform in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.

The organization, called "Iowa Pays the Price," was set to officially launch Tuesday. The effort is being chaired by Democrats, Republicans and an independent and is funded by Issue One, a national group also focused on similar issues.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2015/06/09/iowa-pays-the-price-pushes-campaign-finance-reform/28749841/

Campaign Finance Reform Advocates: Media Should "Significantly Increase Coverage" Of Money In Politics | Blog | Media Matters for America

A coalition of 18 groups that advocate for campaign finance reform are calling on broadcast media outlets to devote more coverage to America's broken campaign finance system and the need for reforms, especially as some estimates suggest that spending for the 2016 presidential election could top $10 billion.

On June 4, the groups sent a letter to the heads of the major news networks, calling on them to "take greater action in the future to ensure that Sunday political talk shows and nightly news devote appropriate attention to campaign finance reform." The letter, which was sent to Fox News, CBS News, NBC News, ABC News, and PBS, comes after a series of Media Matters analyses indicated that the crisis of big money in politics -- an issue that is of deep concern to a bipartisan majority of Americans -- was rarely covered by these networks.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/06/04/campaign-finance-reform-advocates-media-should/203871

Tea Party Activist has reform proposal

Tax credits would offset campaign donations by the middle class.

 

https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/06/08/mini-groundswell-right-promising-campaign-finance-reform/

 

George Soros funds voting rights legal work

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/06/05/bankroller-of-democratic-voting-rights-cases-george-soros/

When the Supreme Court is this wrong, it’s time to overrule them

To hope that the current court will fix things is folly. That is why the 28th amendment is necessary to overturn Citizens United, just as Americans have used the amendment process to overturn the Supreme Court six times before.
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/06/02/when-the-supreme-court-is-this-wrong-its-time-to-overrule-them/

When the Supreme Court is this wrong, it’s time to overrule them

Surveys show that a large majority of American citizens across the political spectrum oppose the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United decision that opened the door to unlimited political spending by global corporations and powerful unions. Yet when asked about the prospect of passing a constitutional amendment to reverse the decision, too many people argue that it would be "too hard," even "impossible."

This argument lacks historical perspective. Every step on the path to fulfill the promise of the American Revolution was "too hard," but Americans did it anyway. Hard, yes; yet constitutional amendments have come in waves during times of challenge — and Supreme Court obstinacy — much like our own.

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2015/06/02/when-the-supreme-court-is-this-wrong-its-time-to-overrule-them/

Fired On Day One For Medical Marijuana & Lawrence Lessig On Campaign Finance Reform | WGBH News

Harvard Law's Lawrence Lessig (@lessig) talks about money corrupting politics and how to fix it. 

​Please go to minute 10.07 to listen to Lessig.​

http://wgbhnews.org/post/fired-day-one-medical-marijuana-lawrence-lessig-campaign-finance-reform

Gyrocopter pilot Doug Hughes' website

http://thedemocracyclub.org/

Morning Plum: Americans don’t care too much about big money in politics - The Washington Post

And get this: 54 percent do not believe political donations should be protected as free speech, and 78 percent support limits on contributions to groups unaffiliated with a candidate.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/06/02/morning-plum-americans-dont-care-too-much-about-big-money-in-politics/?tid=trending_strip_5

Poll Shows Americans Favor Overhaul of Campaign Financing - NYTimes.com

Americans of both parties fundamentally reject the regime of untrammeled money in elections made possible by the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling and other court decisions and now favor a sweeping overhaul of how political campaigns are financed, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll.

The findings reveal deep support among Republicans and Democrats alike for new measures to restrict the influence of wealthy givers, including limiting the amount of money that can be spent by "super PACs" and forcing more public disclosure on organizations now permitted to intervene in elections without disclosing the names of their donors.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/03/us/politics/poll-shows-americans-favor-overhaul-of-campaign-financing.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1

PACs promote Sanders, whether he likes it or not

"A major problem of our campaign finance system is that anybody can start a super PAC on behalf of anybody and can say anything. And this is what makes our current campaign finance situation totally absurd."
Sen. Bernie Sanders, running for Democratic presidential nomination
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/05/30/pacs-promote-sanders/28159039/