Recently in Campaign Finance Category

Buddy Roemer, former Louisiana governor and invisible Republican presidential candidate, was also on the ballot in Iowa.  Roemer, who refuses corporate and PAC money and who also limits individual contributions to $100 per person, has been unsuccessful getting noticed by the media and voters. He was very frustrated during the debates, being denied even an opportunity to share the stage with the better known candidates.  Last night, he went on a Twitter binge that was...

I realize it has been awhile and I want to whole-heartedly apologize my legion of fans (all two or three of them) for my absence. As you might imagine, I've been doing a lot of book stuff, but I've always entered into dialogue with our favorite Tea Party people from the north. While we disagree on a lot of issues, I found one issue where we (progressive type people) and them are in complete agreement:...

This quote by Virginia Senator Jim Webb referenced in Frank Rich's op-ed yesterday entitled, "Still the Best Congress Money Can Buy" says all we need to know about our broken, corrupt, two-party system:"Webb has pushed for a onetime windfall profits tax on Wall Street's record bonuses. He talks about the "unusual circumstances of the bailout," that the bonuses wouldn't be there without the bailout."I couldn't even get a vote," Webb says. "And it wasn't because...

There are 2 words I never again want to see associated with any Supreme Court decision. Those 2 words are "judicial activism." The reason being that yesterday the Roberts Court reached the apex of "judicial activism" in a travesty of justice known as Citizens United v. FEC. January 21, 2010 became, to borrow a phrase from FDR, a date which will live in infamy, aka The Day Democracy Died. A date marked by the sound...

As the calendar moves towards the end of 2009, we should take a step back and marvel at what the new administration has been able to accomplish. Yes, I know this seems daunting at times, but we should remember that change always comes slowly. I was playing with my IPhone on vacation and came up on two new applications I had to download. Apple was offering the Federalist Papers and Common Sense for free. I...

The best laid plans of mice and Republicans oft go awry. "The congressional legislation intended to defund ACORN, passed with broad bipartisan support, is written so broadly that it applies to "any organization" that has been charged with breaking federal or state election laws, lobbying disclosure laws, campaign finance laws or filing fraudulent paperwork with any federal or state agency. It also applies to any of the employees, contractors or other folks affiliated with a...

As many of you know, I am a cradle Catholic and a volunteer with my parish. Those two facts alone make many of the people there believe that I am actually a conservative. It's actually kind of humorous, a few of us there are underground liberals. There has been talk of developing a signal where one of us draws half a donkey and the other one finishes it. It's a lonely world we live in,...

As the public continues to focus on health care reform, there is one piece of reform Congress could pass that would have a much larger impact on the political process and society at large. The health care debate is a good start. Everyone should know by now about the huge political contrubutions from the health insurance industry. That is only the tip of the iceberg. Just like health care reform, campaign finance reform is a...