“Money and Influence in American Elections” forum on 03/24/10

From my inbox:

Community for Change and the League of Women Voters Wisconsin will sponsor a forum on “Money and Influence in American Elections” on Wednesday, March 24th at 7pm at Gateway Technical College in Racine. The forum will feature special guest speakers, Mike McCabe, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and Andrea Kaminski, Executive Director of the League of Women Voters Wisconsin.

The main topic for conversation will be how the climate of campaign contributions has changed in Wisconsin over the last decade and how it will continue to shape Wisconsin politics in the future. In November of 2000 Wisconsin voters were asked if they supported campaign finance reform that would limit contributions and expenditures and require complete and timely disclosure. Over 90% of the voters answered “yes” in this referendum. Awareness of public sponsored financing of campaigns has gained momentum as voters see the escalating influence of corporations and special interests in political campaigns.

Since 1995, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonpartisan watchdog group and its Executive Director, Mike McCabe have been working for clean, open and honest government. WDC has tracked campaign contributions and votes, and published dozens of reports detailing the intricate dealings of campaign finance in the Capitol.

McCabe has emerged as a preeminent authority on the evolution of campaign contributions and finance in Wisconsin politics. As elections become more and more costly, candidates have fewer choices in looking for big dollars. A proponent of public financing of campaigns, McCabe states: “You’ve got to get at the money in the campaigns. As long as you’ve got races costing $3 million, and you’ve got $32 million races for governor, I think the process is going to belong to a handful of powerful people and a small constellation of extremely wealthy donors”.

The League of Women Voters in Wisconsin is a nonpartisan political organization that promotes informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. As Executive Director, Andrea Kaminski has advocated for strong public financing of campaigns to ensure fair and democratic elections. The League of Women Voters was established in 1920.

This forum is free and open to the public and will also include a question and answer session, it will be held in the Great Lakes Room at the Racine Campus of Gateway Technical College. The Racine Building entrance and parking are located on Pershing east of Main Street.

The public is invited to learn more about the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and the League of Women Voters before and after the event or by going to their websites at: wisdc.org and www.lwvwi.org. For more information, please contact Community for Change at communityforchange@gmail.com

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1 thought on ““Money and Influence in American Elections” forum on 03/24/10

  1. Money should be contributed by the INDIVIDUAL VOTER, period. This bullshit of unions, PACs, and other large entities pooling money is nothing more than a ploy to circumvent any campaign reform laws. Votes are made by the individual, not the union, not the PAC. If an individual wants to contribute, so be it, but it is at their discretion. Union dues and other monies should never be used for anything political.

    Look at our local friend Gwen Moore; less than 10% of all her money comes from an individaul. So ask yourself whose pockets her hands are in? Or whose hands are putting the greenbacks in her pockets? And if you tell me your union is actually doing you a service, I’ll throwup, because all they do is feed money to DC for their own agendas, not your own.

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