Common Cause Blog :: Home is where the heart is

Home is where the heart is

By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Wed May 23, 2007 at 11:33:45 AM EST

And when you lose your home, it's heartbreaking. We've been documenting parts of the home foreclosure crisis here in the past couple weeks--like the 1.2 million home foreclosure filings last year, a 42% rise--and our latest Ask Yourself Why report linked average Americans losing their homes to the $210 million the mortgage lending industry spent to stop Congress from regulating predatory lending.

The link is clear. The mortgage lending industry used its millions to keep profits rolling in at the expense of many aspiring homeowners. And, sadly, we've seen the same strategy from many special interests--spending big money to win political favors at the expense of average Americans.

That's why we need to pass Fair Elections Now, a bill that will create a public financing system for Senate elections and stop the money chase.

And Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) can play a key role in winning this key reform to put voters back in charge of our democracy again.

Feinstein chairs the powerful Rules Committee, and has committed to hold a hearing on the Fair Elections Now Act. What she--and others--need to hear from constituents is how important this reform is, how troubled we are by the influence of big money in politics, and how much support she will have if she'll help lead the fight for Fair Elections.

We need folks in California to make a short phone call to tell Sen. Feinstein: "Passing Fair Elections Now, S. 1285, will mean getting the influence of big money out of politics, and we need your leadership."

She has four state offices:

San Francisco: (415) 393-0707
Los Angeles: (310) 914-7300
San Diego: (619) 231-9712
Fresno: (559) 485-7430

Please give her a call, then drop a comment here to let us know how the call went. We need Fair Elections for Congress!

Tags: Dianne Feinstein, california, fair elections, public financing, Money in Politics (all tags)

Home is where the heart is :: 4 Comments

Building momentum

While I no longer live in California so I can't call Feinstein as her constituent, I was heartened to read yesterday in Roll Call (subscription req'd) that while the Senate pushes ahead, many House members publicly voiced support for real solutions to stop the money chase:

"Many of us talk about public financing," [Rep. Nancy Boyda (D-Kan.)] said.

"The ultimate solution is real, fundamental overhaul of the campaign finance system," agreed Rep. Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.).

The freshmen, many of whom unseated Republican incumbents by promising to eliminate the corruption and conflict-of-interest scandals exposed during the past few years, meet weekly with Pelosi.

Wasting no time, the subject of public financing was broached during last week's meeting with the Speaker.

That's exciting, but the Senate is moving even more quickly with the hearing in Feinstein's committee. We're not inventing momentum--it's there, but we need to keep pushing.

by Josh Zaharoff on Wed May 23, 2007 at 12:41:55 PM EST

Feinstein staffer response to Fair Elections call

In response to a CC email, I called Feinstein's DC office and talked to Scott, who didn't know anything about the Fair Elections Now bill, and said that nobody else had called about it. Didn't help that I didn't have bill numbers for reference; in the future those should be included in emails to activists. With me still on the line, Scott found two bills on thomas.loc.gov, numbers S936 and S1285. I don't know the difference between them.

He was under the impression that public financing of campaigns was a dead issue because of the Supreme Court action striking down campaign spending limits, was more aware of Feinstein's work for ballots with a paper trail. He wasn't rude, but I was left with the impression that notes on my call would be filed under the 'Oddball call on a nonissue' category.

If Scott is any indication of the general awareness level, we've got a huge fight to even get public campaign financing on the radar screen, much less passed.

Les Dethlefsen

by dethlefs on Wed May 23, 2007 at 01:46:41 PM EST

Good to know

The bill is S. 1285 and I've updated the post to reflect that. Thanks for pointing out the omission.

As for Scott, well, I'm glad you've educated him some and it suggests we have a ways to go. Hopefully other staff in her office are more familiar with it than he is.

But one thing you (and Scott) should know is that public financing is very much alive: the system proposed under the Fair Elections Now Act, much like the ones in Maine, Arizona, and Connecticut, is a voluntary, opt-in system. So while candidates must agree to spending limits in order to qualify for public funds (and must also raise enough small contributions to prove their viability), they are not required to use public funding, so the bill is perfectly constitutional. It has been upheld by the Supreme Court as such. And the experience in the states is that popular support has led to a large majority of candidates opting in and using public funds, and we'd expect the same long-term result in Congress.

These calls help to educate the staff and also to give us feedback on what they still need to know--so thanks, Les, for your help and effort!

by Josh Zaharoff on Wed May 23, 2007 at 03:19:48 PM EST
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Home is where the heart is

By Josh ZaharoffPosted on Wed May 23, 2007 at 11:33:45 AM EST

By Josh Zaharoff
Posted on Wed May 23, 2007 at 11:33:45 AM EST