Party Like Tom Latham!

Iowa Independent posted earlier this week about fundraising totals from Iowa's Congressional delegation. Part of their post discussed exclusive parties hosted by members of Congress. This is a common practice from Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA 04).

As the saying goes, once elected, a member of Congress must raise $10,000 a week to get re-elected. It sounds like hard work, but it doesn’t always have to be.

The nonprofit Sunlight Foundation, which was founded with the goal of increasing transparency in the United States Congress, has tracked down invitations to many of the exclusive get togethers that help fill a member of Congress’ campaign coffers and posted them on PoliticalPartyTime.org for the public to see. It’s surely not an exhaustive list, since the group relies on tipsters sending in their invites. But it does offer a glimpse of the D.C. lives of the Hawkeye State’s congressional team.

The most prolific party host in Iowa’s delegation, according to the Sunlight Foundation, is Fourth District Republican Rep. Tom Latham. He has started hosting his own “Supper Club” every month at different D.C. hotspots. The parties are limited to 10 attendees and feature a different special guest each month, which so far include congressmen from Kentucky, Georgia and California. To attend this months’ event, scheduled for Wednesday night at the ritzy Oceanaire Seafood Room in downtown D.C., will cost $2,500 per PAC and $1,500 for individuals. Latham will also host a golf outing to raise money for North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr and Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss on July 17.

Special Interests Spend over $235,000 to Wine and Dine Legislators

The Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board released a report yesterday showing special interest spent over $235,000 on events to wine and dine State Legislators during the 2009 legislative session.

From Iowa Independent...

Despite a poor economy, groups spent nearly $41,000 more in 2009 than they did in 2008. In fact, this year has seen the most spending on legislative receptions since 2005, according the the IECDB.

“These reports show that the political economy in Iowa remains robust,” said Charlie Smithson, the IECDB’s executive director.

Reports were filed for 90 receptions held during the session. Reports disclose the amount spent on food, beverage and entertainment regardless of the number of people who attend. Because every legislator is invited to attend, the parties are not subject to the state’s gift law, which prohibits gifts to government officials of more than $3.

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to special interest money seeping into the pockets of state lawmakers. Iowa should expand the gift law to include events like these, as well as enacting a campaign contribution limits similar to the $2,500 limit at the federal level. These would be easy to steps to clean up fundraising and provide greater transparency in the legislative process.

Campaign Contribution Limits Passes Out of Committee

The State Government Committee in the Iowa Senate passed a bill out of committee that would limit the campaign contributions in the state.

From Iowa Independent...

Senate File 181 was amended before passage to flip donation limits on individuals and political committees. Individuals would be prohibited from contributing more than to $4,000 to a candidate for statewide office, $1,000 to an Iowa House candidate and $2,000 to an Iowa Senate candidate during an election campaign cycle or the time period between elections.

Political committees and parties would be limited to a $2,000 contribution to a statewide candidate, $500 to an Iowa House candidate and $1,000 to an Iowa Senate candidate.

Iowa is one of 13 states that impose almost no restrictions on the amount of money politicians can accept from individuals and political action committees.

This is a step in the right direction when it comes to campaign finance reform. With the news of fraud and pay for play in Illinois, it is time that Iowa has some contribution limits.

Illinois Scandal Shows Need for Campaign Finance Reform

Ed Fallon wrote a guest column in the Des Moines Register yesterday about Rod Blagojevich's pay to play scandal in Illinois.

To learn that someone apparently would openly try to sell a U.S. Senate seat shocks and disgusts us.

Blagojevich is a menace and needs to go to the gated community where other Illinois governors before him have gone. But America's campaign-finance system is a far greater menace to democracy. If we can muster shock and disgust for Blagojevich, we should be utterly appalled at the pervasive role of money in politics.

Face it. What we call "elections" have become auctions. The auctioning of U.S. Senate seats occurs every six years - every two years for congressional and state legislative seats. Big donors, corporations and special interests "bid" on the candidate of their choice. In close races, the smart money bids on both candidates, and the one backed by the highest bidders usually wins.

We don't want to believe our elected officials can be bought. But as someone who served for 14 years in the Iowa House, I say with confidence that what big money wants, big money usually gets. Rank-and-file lawmakers may be well-intentioned but often are strong-armed by legislative leaders beholden to corporate donors and special interests. As a result, the most pressing challenges of our time - climate change, budgetary reform, health care, farm policy, to name a few - see practically no progress year after year.

So, while I hope the good people of Illinois fire Blagojevich and fire him soon, I have a more pressing hope that Americans across the country get fired up for campaign-finance reform. In Iowa, Senator-elect Pam Jochum is leading the charge on VOICE (Voter-Owned Iowa Clean Elections). This bill would make it easier for rank-and-file lawmakers to stand up to party leaders, allow more citizens to run for office and give the public far greater access to the halls of power.

To learn move about the VOICE bill and clean elections visit this site put together by Iowa CCI.

Join Gov. Culver Tonight for $5,000

If you have $5,000 you can socialize with Gov. Culver tonight...

Thursday, December 18, 2008
Governor Chet Culver

and

Lt. Governor Patty Judge

Chet Culver Committee

Please come and enjoy an evening of fine foods and friends.

5:30 p.m. -- 7:00 p.m.

Noah's Ark Ristorante (second floor)

2400 Ingersoll Avenue

Des Moines, Iowa

Patrons - $25,000

Hosts - $15,000

Guests - $5000

Please RSVP to Chris Khoury

Ph 515 288-2287 or email Chris@chetculver.com

Another example for the need for campaign finance reform. Iowa badly needs limits on campaign contributions and needs to pass the VOICE legislation that would bring voluntary public financing to campaigns.

NASCAR Politicians

I didn't think of this idea, but I think it is brilliant...

Members of Congress should wear uniforms like NASCAR drivers, so we can identify their corporate sponsors.

Now that would make government more transparent.

Iowans Support VOICE and Clean Elections

Iowa CCI conducted a poll of political donors across the state about their attitudes towards the influence of big money in politics and public financed elections...

CCI recently conducted a survey of current political donors to gauge their support of VOICE and taking big money out of politics. We conducted this survey because we believe that political donors would also support public financing to reduce the role that money plays in campaigning and the reliance on large contributions to candidates. The survey results show that those with a financial stake in the outcome of state elections believe that the current system is broken. We contacted 2,861 donors and conducted interviews with 1,502 people who were chosen because they donated to political candidates for state office. The charts that follow show the findings of this study, which break down support for VOICE by income, amount donated and political party.

http://www.voterownediowa.org/news/zata3-iapublicfinancingsurveyreport.pdf

While many may expect political donors to be content with the current system, our survey reveals that donors across the political and financial spectrum are in support of a system where people matter more, and money matters less.

The poll shows Iowans are against the influence of big money in politics.

When asked, "Many people believe there is too much money in the political process. Do you agree or disagree?" nearly nine out of 10 (88 percent of) donors said they agreed. Just six percent of respondents said they did not believe there was too much money in politics.

These sentiments go across party lines as well, with 89 percent of Democrats, 88 percent of Republicans, and 82 percent of Independents agreeing that there is too much money in politics.

The poll shows strong support across party lines for public financed elections and specifically the VOICE bill.

73 percent of political contributors support public financing as laid out in the VOICE Act as a way to reduce the role money is playing in our political process. (Only 20 percent were opposed.)2

This support also crosses party lines - 75 percent of Democratic donors, 70 percent of Republican donors, and 74 percent of Independent donors favor VOICE.

The support is pretty even across income levels as well...

Eighty-one percent of those polled that have a household income over $100,000 supported VOICE, and 74 percent of those with a household income less than $100,000 supported VOICE. (This leaves out a group who did not disclose their household income, which still supported VOICE at 65 percent.)

The last 2 legislative sessions, political leaders refused to allow the VOICE bill to come up for a vote. The VOICE legislation would bring voluntary clean elections to Iowa.

The VOICE bill would require candidates to get $5 donations along with their signatures to qualify. All of this money would go into a fund that would be used by candidates that have met the requirements to earn public money. The rest of the money would come from unclaimed property and a check off on your state income taxes.

Under the VOICE bill no taxpayer money would be used unless you want to mark the check off on your state income taxes. Overall, the system would cost around $10 million or less than 1/10 of 1% of the state's annual budget.

Alaskans Have Chance to Get Their State Back from Special Interests

Alaska has been inundated with scandals with Sen. Ted Stevens getting indicted, Rep. Don Young being under federal investigation for possibly taking bribes, and Gov. Sarah Palin facing a state probe.

This fall Alaskans will have a chance to take their state back from corruption and vote on a ballot measure that would adopt clean elections in statewide races.

"This is the most important ballot initiative, the most important people's initiative that we've had since statehood. If we get this right, we get our state back," said Tim June of Alaskans for Clean Elections.

The idea is to offer candidates money from the state to finance their entire campaign.

To qualify, candidates would have to get a certain amount of $5donations and signatures from voters in their district. Once that happens candidates would have to agree to give up any private donations as well as forego out-of-pocket cash expenditures.

"Instead of making a winner determined by who has the most money, Clean Elections levels the playing field by offering candidates an equal amount of funding to whoever they're running against," said June.

The measure hopes to limit the power of special interest groups.

"We have always been under pressure from very large multinational corporate interests, industry interest that are constantly trying to change Legislation," said June.

Alaska would be the eighth state in the country to provide public funding to state candidates."

There is a similar bill in Iowa that would limit the power of special interest groups called Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections or VOICE. Like the measure in Alaska, the VOICE bill would require candidates to get $5 donations along with their signatures to qualify. All of this money would go into a fund that would be used by candidates that have met the requirements to earn public money. The rest of the money would come from unclaimed property and a check off on your state income taxes.

Under the VOICE bill no taxpayer money would be used unless you want to mark the check off on your state income taxes. Overall, the system would cost around $10 million or less than 1/10 of 1% of the state's annual budget.

Unfortunately, the bill has been stalled in committee the last two years by Rep. Jo Oldson. Sen. Gronstal, Rep. Murphy, and Rep. McCarthy. As the fall election approaches, ask your local candidates what their opinion on VOICE is and tell them it is time for Iowans to get their state back from the special interests.

Oil and Coal Companies Spent $427.2 million This Year to Sway Public Opinion

Oil and Gas companies are madly spending to influence public opinion...

Public Campaign Action Fund, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving America's campaign finance laws, released a new analysis finding that the oil and coal industries spent $427.2 million so far this year of the year to shift public opinion and to capture the eyes, ears, and support of Congress on critical energy issues.

They looked at political contributions, lobbying expenditures, paid advertising, and other political spending to come up with their total.

A total of $37.4 million were given in political contributions. $129 million was spent lobbying Congress and the White House. $208.6 million was spend on paid advertising.

All of this money was spent from January 2008 to June 2008.

Obama Raises $25 million on the Last day of the Fund Raising Quarter

From the Politico...

After locking up his party’s presidential nomination, Barack Obama’s fundraising operation came roaring back to life in June, generating more than a million dollars on five days, including a whopping $25 million that came in on the last day of the month.

His one-day haul represents nearly half of his monthly total and more than Republican rival John McCain generated for the entire month. During the month, McCain did not have a single day in which he raised a million dollars.

Special Interests Spend Thousands to Influence Iowa Lawmakers

Special interests spent thousands wining and dining lawmakers during this past legislative session...

Well-heeled interest groups, businesses and some government agencies spent nearly $195,000 wining and dining lawmakers and their staffers during this year’s legislative session, according to new financial disclosure forms.

Groups ranging from the Iowa State Bar Association and the Greater Des Moines Partnership to Union Pacific spent a total of $194,848 on receptions, dinners and other social events during this year’s session, according to reports filed with the Iowa Ethics and Campaign Disclosure Board.

Some of the groups that spent the most were the Iowa Business Council, The Principal Financial Group, Iowa Gaming Association, the Iowa Wholesale Beer Dealers Association, and Hy-Vee Inc.

Now when you look at some of the big issues that were debated by lawmakers this past session you can see why these groups were so interested. These issues include: changes to collective bargaining, expanding health care to uninsured children, if casinos would be included in the smoking ban or not, and the expansion the bottle bill.

The article goes on to tell about the dramatic influence lobbyists and PAC's have on lawmakers and helping them get elected.

Disclosure reports for the year ending last June 30 showed that there were 610 groups who paid lobbyists a total of more than $8.5 million to influence lawmakers.

That financial influence was also shown in political action committee disclosures filed this month, with PACs having already given $872,509 to candidates this year.

I don't think I have heard a better reason for the need for clean elections and campaign finance reform in Iowa. Yet, political leaders refuse to allow the VOICE bill to come up for a vote. The VOICE legislation would bring voluntary clean elections to Iowa.

I'd love to sit down for dinner with Governor Culver, Sen. Gronstal, Rep. Murphy, and Rep. McCarthy and talk about the benefits of the VOICE bill, but I don't think I have enough money to afford it.

Obama: DNC Will Not Take Money from Lobbyists or PAC's

Obama at a campaign event in Virginia today...

I've sent a strong signal in this campaign by refusing the contributions of registered federal lobbyists and PACs, and today, I'm announcing that going forward, the Democratic National Committee will uphold the same standard and won't take another dime from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs. They do not fund my campaign. They will not fund our party. And they will not drown out the voices of the American people when I'm President of the United States.

IA-03: Campaigns of the Rich and Powerful

Ed Fallon responds in this online video to claims that Fallon has violated campaign finance laws by Bush Dog Democrat Leonard Boswell. Fallon is challenging Boswell in a primary in Iowa's 3rd district.

A misguided reporter from the popular Youtube show "Campaigns of the Rich and Powerful" steps into Team Fallon HQ to investigate the massive wealth of a grassroots campaign. Cuban cigars, Benjamin Franklins, caviar, and diamonds are paving the way for more progressive future... or not.

Fact: 100% of our funds come from people like you. That's right.

Fact: 0% of Team Fallon's funds ever are from paid lobbyists, or Political Action Committees with corporate ties and intentions. Nor have they ever been able to write a check to Ed Fallon in his 14 years as a State Rep or in his run for Governor in 2006. Instead Ed always self-imposed a cap on contributions, so that money can never be louder than voters.

Fact: 74% of Boswell's campaign money from 2007 came from lobbyists and PACs.

Fact: Of the 322 PAC contributions Boswell received last year, the largest percentage came from corporate PACs.

A Free Congress: Taking Money Out of Politics and Putting People Back In

From the inbox...

On Wednesday, March 5th, at 8 PM, Democracy Matters will be hosting a panel discussion in Des Moines at Pomerantz Stage, in Olmsted, about money in politics, and clean elections.

Featuring:
-Ed Fallon, Iowa Representative and candidate for Congress in the 3rd District
-Representative Pam Jochum, from the 27th District
-Sherrie Taha, from the Iowa League of Women Voters
-Adam Mason, from Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement
-Arthur Sanders, Drake Politics Professor

and moderated by Kyle Lobner of Iowa Common Cause. Panelist will share their viewpoints on money in politics and what we can do as ordinary citizens to push for reform in local and national politics.

In a time where running for public office can cost milllions of dollars, it seems almost impossible to take the corrupting influence of money in politics. But clean elections work. Seven states have full public funding systems for at least some of their elected offices: Arizona, Connecticut, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Vermont. In addition, studies show that areas that used Clean Elections increased the number of women and minorities who ran for office.

Find out more at http://www.democracymatters.org/content.php?type=whyreform

RJ Reynolds, Mid American Energy, and other Corporations Target Democrats

A group funded by RJ Reynolds, Mid American Energy, and other corporations is running TV and radio ads that target a handful of incumbent House Democrats that includes Elesha Gayman, Eric Palmer, McKinley Bailey, Bob Kressig, and Art Staed. The ads attack the candidates on the issues of property tax relief and fair share (which isn't even being debated this year).

The ads have run on cable TV and are paid for by the Iowa Leadership Council, a group organized under the Internal Revenue Code that allows it to raise unlimited contributions.

The council raised $214,550 in the last six months of 2007, according to IRS records, with the largest donors the Reynolds American tobacco company, which gave $40,000, and MidAmerican Energy Holdings, which donated $25,000.

These ads are applauded by Cyclone Conservative who goes searching for a slogan Republicans can spin in the election. He says that Republicans need to start the attacks now and repeat a slogan over and over again.

The slogan that he comes up with is that Democrats are against property tax relief and against keeping jobs in the state. This is absolutely ridiculous. He makes it sound like Democrats want all Iowans to be unemployed and want to force them to hand over all of their money in property taxes.

After running on slogans like "God, Gays, and Guns" for years now, Republicans should realize by now that they no longer are working. Republicans need to forget the slogans and focus on ideas. All of their ideas have run there course and now what is left, is an empty party that is only able to push wedge issues, while they attempt to come up with more meaningless slogans.

Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections

Popular Progressive had this post over the weekend asking if Voter Owned Iowa Clean Elections or VOICE will be heard during this session.

He also had a link to an interview with Adam Mason from Iowa CCI about VOICE.

What difference would Clean Elections make in IOWA, especially in reference to the issues you work on at ICCI?

Money talks less, and people talk more. The hope is that, with voter education, voter participation will be increased and to restore faith in government, and to reaffirm that the government is by the people and for the people. With Clean Elections, legislators can focus on constituents. In reference to farm factories, local people can have control of factory farms, giving them the chance to approve or deny farm factory licenses, where now legislators are backing out of their promise to give local control over factory farms because they fear the loss of their campaign contributions from factory farm owners and corporate interest wins, grassroots people lose. With Clean Elections, law makers would not have to rely on special interest money.

I have been disappointed about the lack of discussion about VOICE and clean elections. Before the caucuses, I heard over and over again from people on both sides about the ridiculous amounts of money candidates were spending on Presidential campaigns. Now is the time to have the debate.

Biden on Campaign Finance Reform and Why Iowa Should Be First

Joe Biden talks about campaign finance reform and why Iowa should be first at a recent campaign event in Iowa.

Dodd Becomes 4th Candidate Eligible to Accept Public Financing

From the Washington Post...

The Federal Election Commission declared Democratic candidate Sen. Christopher Dodd eligible for federal matching funds today, making him the fourth candidate to qualify for public financing. Sen. John McCain was the first to become qualified in August, and since then Rep. Tom Tancredo and former senator John Edwards have both been declared eligible. One other Democratic candidate who may be pursuing matching funds is Sen. Joe Biden, who asked his supporters last week to "Double your impact!" by giving up to $250 that the campaign would presumably put toward its application for public financing.

Edwards Calls for Campaign Finance Reform

I watched a townhall meeting in Keene, New Hampshire on CSPAN where John Edwards outlined One Democracy Initiative that would return power in Washington to regular people and limit the influence of special interests. Edwards' plan was based on campaign finance reform, ending the power of lobbyisits, and making the voting process more secure.

The part that really caught my attention was his plan on campaign finance reform.

John Edwards believes elections should be about ideas rather than money. Few Americans can afford to make $4,600 contributions to gain access to presidential candidates, and the integrity of our campaign financing system depends upon smaller donors continuing to play an important role in the political process. Edwards' campaign is built upon the support of small donors, in fact, 93 percent of the campaign's donations come from donors contributing less than $100. As president, Edwards will create a new Grassroots Presidential Financing System to match small donations under $100 by eight to one, making two $100 donations as valuable to a campaign as a single $1,000 donation. He will also reduce the maximum contribution from $2,300 to $1,000 per person, to better reflect the incomes of most Americans. Edwards will create a system of full public financing for Congressional candidates and require corporations to disclose their political activity and spending.

It is great to see Edwards putting forth specifics on how he would change the game in Washington. Ending the power of big money in Washington and stopping the influence of lobbyists sounds good, but Edwards is showing exactly how he will accomplish this.

Edwards will be campaigning in 17 counties in Iowa next week. If you attend any events, make sure to ask him about campaign finance reform.

Biden and Edwards Stand Out at AARP Debate in Davenport

Tonight's AARP debate in Davenport just ended and it turned out to be a great event. To start with there were only 5 candidates there (Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Edwards, and Richardson) and that allowed a lot of back and forth and more in depth discussions. Dennis Kucinich and Mike Gravel weren't invited to the event because they are not campaigning in Iowa and Barack Obama declined the invitation because he thinks there are too many debates scheduled.

The candidates played it safe until Joe Biden took off the gloves and told Bill Richardson that being a Governor of small state and saying you can do the same things as president is like saying you can play in the NFL because you played running in high school. Biden also questioned Hillary Clinton's and John Edwards's ability to bring people together to get health care legislation passed. Biden was able to make these comments without seeming like he was attacking the others. Biden kept in line with his reputation of telling like it is when he brought up campaign finance reform as the best way to limit the influence of special interests.

John Edwards was very well received, gaining applause after many of his lines. I think he made a strong contrast between him and Hillary Clinton. However, there were a couple times I thought he could have been stronger though. When talking about lobbyists and health care, Edwards could have mentioned Clinton's fundraiser she held this week that auctioned off access to special interests and he did not. On one question, Edwards started the line about trying to compromise with the insurance and drug companies, but didn't say the line about them eating all the food. Overall, I think Edwards fared very well in this event.

Biden and Edwards were the big winners of the event. The other candidate all had their good moments (Dodd on the Subprime mortgage issue, Richardson on global warming, Clinton on the solvency of Medicare and Social Security), but were not as consistent and well received as Biden and Edwards were.

The biggest loser of the night was Barack Obama, who blew off the event because events like these are "too time consuming." Obama could lose support from likely Iowa caucus goers by skipping the AARP debate in Iowa.

And as it happens, people over 50 — AARP’s membership — made up more than half of the voters in 2004 in the Iowa caucuses.