Campaign Finance Reform
TBOR President Francis Johnson, Board Member Dr. Richard Painter, and Executive Director John Pudner attended the Intercollegiate Studies Institute Gala. Read the story on the event here. https://catholicvote.org/conservatives-see-faith-as-key-to-saving-western-values-in-higher-ed/. Pudner then spoke at the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia as a keynote speaker for partner organization American Promise’s Constitution Day event. You can watch John’s portion of the Constitution Day live stream below and hear his comments about why getting big money out of politics is so important. American Promise Constitution Day live […]
Read MoreTake Back Our Republic along with Pennsylvania’s American Promise members are launching a campaign to make the Keystone State the 23rd to call for the American Promise constitutional amendment to stop big money corruption. Hundreds of Pennsylvanians have signed the American Promise Citizen Pledge, ranging from former Governor Tom Ridge to a small business owner in Carlisle, PA who says that the excessive amount of money in our elections threatens “the very nature of democracy.” We encourage all of our […]
Read MoreEarlier this morning TBOR Executive Director John Pudner joined Andy Moore at The National Association of Nonpartisan Reformers (NANR) as a guest on their podcast. John and Andy discuss how best to reform American democracy so that politicians are incentivized by good governance rather than foreign money and by fair representation rather than special interests. The description of the podcast outlined on NANR’s website is below followed by the link to listen. A reformed political operative himself, John Pudner founded Take […]
Read MoreIf you missed the following stories yesterday, please click on this report on Fox News or this story in FoxNews.com detailing the findings of Take Back Action Fund regarding Act Blue. As these stories detail, more than 4.7 million donations totaling more than $346 million passed through Act Blue to liberal causes and candidates this cycle from people claiming not to have a job (or potentially others using their names to donate). In 2019, before the pandemic skyrocketed unemployment, 47.4% […]
Read MoreThe problem with funneling tens of millions through secret channels in the past decade is that, in the short term, it lets the politicians have their cake and eat it, too. As they line at least their allies’ campaign coffers or in some cases even their own pockets with secret money that no one knows about, nothing will stop unless they get arrested on bribery charges. The best-case scenario is an official gets arrested and everyone they know sees it […]
Read More“I believe the simplest way to blunt the impact of transactional donations is to incentivize ordinary citizens to make small donations that can, in aggregate, compete with the money from transactional donors. New Jersey should offer taxpayers a refundable tax credit of up to $25 per candidate with an aggregate limit of $100 per year for donations made to state or local campaigns. The tax credit would encourage small donors while making it possible for campaigns to win without the […]
Read MoreThe Chicago Sun-Times urges an end to what President Barack Obama once called “legalized bribery” in Illinois. “Converting campaign cash into personal funds is one of many ways that big-donor money gets between ordinary people and the elected officials who are supposed to represent them. It’s part of a web of dark money and flabby regulation that undermines democracy in Illinois.” To read the article in its entirety click here.
Read More“Saikat Chakrabarti, the chief of staff to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, just resigned. As her top aide, he was also under investigation for campaign finance violations, including the creation of two PACs that seemed to be operating illegally. He is being accused of setting up two companies, where roughly $1 million was funneled, in order to profit and possibly skirt campaign disclosure requirements. This points to one absurdity of the current system: Hefty financial transfers from PACs to private LLCs are not necessarily improper, […]
Read MorePolitical activists are passionate about their causes – right or left, R or D – and, while the era of social media has tainted citizen engagement as disruptive to civil discourse, the reality is that those who are highly involved form the backbone of our democracy. But, sadly, predatorial political operatives and/or con artists have manipulated the system to use those intense feelings for their own gain. They do this through political action committees that claim to be supporting a […]
Read MoreIn the 2020 race for president, South Carolina will, once again, be the place that narrows the field from survivors – those who can simply carry on from Iowa and New Hampshire – to real competitors capable of running national campaigns for their party’s nomination. However, with the ever-expanding race on the Democratic side, the feel could be significantly different than even the massive 2016 Republican field. With the number of candidates likely to reach at least the mid-twenties, South […]
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