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CRACKING
THE CODE
perfectly legal.”
“Larry has been very important
in getting people focused on the
issue,” said Larry Kramer, a longtime acquaintance of Lessig’s and
president of the Hewlett Foundation, which is examining funding
campaign finance reform efforts.
Large organizations are coming
to the realization that the influence of money in politics is impeding progress on their primary
issues. Hilary Shelton, NAACP
senior vice president for advocacy, explained that money “plays
a spoiling role in campaigns,” by
limiting the number and type of
candidates who hail from lowerincome and minority communities. The goal, he said, is to get
those elected to “better represent
the real values of the communities
in which they’re running.”
“We’re realizing these days
that we have no chance of fighting climate change and creating a
clean energy economy, much less
protecting wildlife and wild land,
if we can’t also protect our democracy,” said Sierra Club President Michael Brune.
The best solution to this, according to Lessig, is the legislation offered by Sarbanes and
supported by other reformers,
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10.27.13
because it shifts the focus of fundraising away from big donors
and toward the millions of Americans who cannot afford to make
$1,000 contributions.
“I don’t think the problem gets
solved unless we have citizenfunded elections,” Lessig said.
THE MODEL that Lessig, Sarbanes and other reformers are
championing is inspired by the
public funding system that New
York City adopted in 1999. That
system provides a 6-to-1 match
of public dollars on the first $175
of all contributions made to participating candidates. It has been
hailed a big success for empowering donors in lower-income and
Rep. Chris
Van Hollen
(D-Md.)
co-authored
a bill with
Rep. David
Price (D-NC)
that would
provide a
5-to-1 match
on the first
$250 of any
contribution
up to
$1,250 for
congressional
candidates.