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CRACKING
THE CODE
too focused on short-term returns, and we have to take a play
out of the conservative playbook
and think about funding for
structural issues, which means
we have to think in a longer time
scale and be less concerned with
specific programs initially and
more with the overall strategy
and health of the field,” said Nick
Penniman, president of the Fund
for the Republic.
The large membership organizations that have recently joined the
reform effort note that their members are ready to be mobilized.
“The thing that we bring to
this whole fight has always been
our greatest strength, whether
it be us or the Sierra Club or the
NAACP, which is our members
and getting them engaged in the
process,” said Shane Larson, legislative director for the Communications Workers of America.
Given the partisan gridlock in
Washington, any chance for success also relies on motivating conservatives as well as liberals.
“I think that actually the right
is a natural base,” Lessig said.
“We’re never going to get a majority of Republicans in Congress, but I do think we can get a
majority of outside-the-Beltway
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Republicans to agree with this
point, absolutely.”
Richard Painter, a former ethics counsel to President George
W. Bush, agrees. “I’m of the view
that there’s no way you’re going to limit the size and scope of
government unless you deal with
the money in the campaigns, because all these people do, who
want to soak off the government
for more contracts, is hire lobbyists, put a little campaign money,
and then you get enormous leverage from it,” he said.
Painter is a proponent of the
concept of tax credits or vouchers
for contributions, which would
give all Americans the means to
take part in the money election
that precedes the general election.
John Silver
is the CEO of
Represent.
Us, a new
reform group
organizing
around its
own bill to
empower
small donors
and change
lobbying
laws.