Huffington Magazine Issue 72 | Page 63

CRACKING THE CODE tisan leadership and support, because someone has always got 41 votes out there, unless some things change,” Wertheimer said, noting the number of votes needed to maintain a Senate filibuster. Wertheimer worries that the Sarbanes bill’s low matching fund threshold would not prove attractive to Republicans and would not provide enough money for candidates looking to compete in elections that feature super PACs lurking around the corner. Time is also a concern for groups seeking to reform the system. Big membership groups now engaged on the issue envision a 10-year plan to organize support for a reform bill, and new groups focused on building a movement similarly take a long view. Lessig believes, however, that reformers need to strike while Americans are still outraged by the Citizens United decision and before they accept the new levels of spending and sink into cynicism. “This 10-year movement, I guess, I don’t buy it,” he said. “And I don’t buy it because I think it’s got the physics of reform wrong.” Lessig advocates finding the “Saturn V equivalent” to blast the reform effort “into orbit.” HUFFINGTON 10.27.13 Reform veterans point out that there will never be a final fix for campaign fundraising. “Nobody ever says, ‘Pass one tax bill and you’re done,’” McGehee said. “Why should there be one campaign finance bill and then you’re done? So it’s kind of this constant struggle.” The new reformers are not blind to the challenges of passing cam- BY BEING TIED TO A LARGE POOL OF FUNDS, SMALL DONORS BECOME AS VALUABLE AS BIG ONES. paign finance legislation, particularly given the current partisan divide in Congress. But they still want to think big and bold. “I’m not naive on that point, but what’s the alternative to trying to press for something different here?” Sarbanes asked. “You can’t keep a democracy going in a functional and constructive way if only 10 percent of the people you represent think your institution is functioning in an acceptable way. That’s just not viable.” Paul Blumenthal is a reporter for The Huffington Post covering money and influence in politics.