An Open Letter from Substantial Political Donors:

It’s Time to Reduce the Influence of Big Money in Politics and Increase the Voice of

All Americans

Dear Elected Official,

During the 2012 election cycle, just 32 Super PAC donors spent more to influence the

2012 presidential election than 3.7 million Americans combined. In federal and many

state and local elections, and even elections for state courts, extraordinarily wealthy

individuals and powerful corporations exercise vastly outsized influence. We urge you to

fix today’s broken campaign finance laws. Nothing less than our democracy is at stake.

We who sign this letter raise and give substantial sums for elections. The influence that

 people like us have will be curtailed by the changes we seek, but our democracy must

return to the First Amendment principle that all Americans, not just the wealthy, must

have their voices heard.

•  Depending on narrow special interests and the wealthiest individuals to finance

elections:

•  Fuels polarization by making officeholders fear every well-funded threat of

opposition;

•  Forces even well-intended officeholders to spend so much time raising money

that they cannot give full attention to meeting the nation’s challenges, or building

relationships with those across the partisan aisle;

•  Distorts policy, as elected officials seek to please their donors;

•  Erodes Americans’ trust in their representatives and in our democracy.

Voters must be able to tell who is really paying for the ads they see. Election enforcement

agencies must be able to implement campaign finance laws with fairness for all.

At the heart of any broad reform must be a system of public financing that:

•  Encourages all Americans to make modest contributions, utilizing mechanisms

such as tax credits, vouchers, and amplifying small donations with matching

funds;

 

•  Strongly incentivizes candidates to reach out to everyday constituents and spend

less time courting deep-pocket interests and dialing for long-distance dollars;

•  Passes constitutional muster by expanding political speech for millions of

Americans;

•  Is adequately funded to allow candidates to rely on small donations and public

funds and run a financially competitive campaign; and

•  Eliminates the conflict of interest that inevitably occurs when candidates raise or

 benefit from substantial sums provided by people who seek to influence policy.

All Americans pay a tremendous price for the current election system due to the

enormous financial costs of distorted conflict-of-interest decision-making and a

weakened democracy. If Americans are to rebuild their trust in elected officials, elected

officials must fix our broken campaign finance system. We urge you to speak out and

 build a government of, by, and for the people. We look forward to partnering with you in

this patriotic imperative.

Sincerely,

 Naomi Aberly Brian Arbogast Marc Baum

Boston, MA Seattle, WA New York, NY

Georgia Berner Loren Blackford Bob Bowditch

Zelienople, PA New York, NY Boston, MA

Elizabeth Broderick Jeff Clements Ben Cohen

Austin, TX Concord, MA Williston, VT

Alan Davis David DesJardins Marion Edey

San Francisco, CA Burlingame, CA Silver Spring, MD

Andrew Faulk Christopher Findlater Jeanne Findlater

San Francisco, CA Miami Beach, FL Lakewood, CO

Danny Goldberg Barbara Grasseschi Richard Graves

 New York, NY Healdsburg, CA Washington, DC

 

 

Christie Hefner Barbarina Heyerdahl Arnold Hiatt

Chicago, IL Montpelier, VT Boston, MA

Leo Hindery Steven Irwin Frank Jernigan

 New York, NY Pittsburgh, PA San Francisco, CA

Joel Kanter Betsy Krieger Steve E. Lichtenberg, MD

Washington, DC Baltimore, MD San Francisco, CA

Mike Lux Marcia Morris Holly Mosher

Silver Spring, MD Boston, MA Venice, CA

Sandy Newman Craig Newmark Yolanda (Cookie) Parker

Takoma Park, MD San Francisco, CA Los Angeles, CA

Frank Patitucci Alan Patricof Morris Pearl

Pleasanton, CA New York, NY New York, NY

Doug Phelps Carl Pope Charles Rodgers

Denver, CO San Francisco, CA Boston, MA

Paul Rudd Ben Schwartz Joshua Schwartz

 New York, NY West Springfield, MA Chicago, IL

Claire Silberman Daniel Solomon Jonathan Soros

Brooklyn, NY Bethesda, MD New York, NY

Mary Ann Stein Faye Straus Sandor Straus

Bethesda, MD Lafayette, CA Lafayette, CA

Pat Stryker Rachel Tabachnick Ritchie Tabachnick

Fort Collins, CO Carnegie, PA Carnegie, PA

Margery Tabankin Valerie Tarico Michael Thornton

Marina Del Rey, CA Seattle, WA Boston, MA

 

 

Matthew Tuchow John Vasconcellos Kate Villers

San Francisco, CA San Jose, CA Concord, MA

Phil Villers Patricia Weber Marc Weiss

Concord, MA Corvallis, OR New York, NY