The Independent View: The American Anti-Corruption Act

The Citizen United v FEC decision created many different attempts to reverse it. Here is another attempt that will start to work its way to congress.

The American Anti-Corruption Act was crafted by former Federal Election Commission chairman Trevor Potter in consultation with strategists, democracy reform leaders, and constitutional attorneys from across the political spectrum.

The Act could transform how elections are financed, how lobbyists influence politics, and how political money is disclosed. It’s a proposal that would reshape the rules of American politics, and hopefully restore ordinary Americans as the most important stakeholders instead of major donors. The Act enjoys support from progressives and conservatives alike.

The Act would:

1. Stop politicians from taking bribes
Prohibit members of Congress from soliciting and receiving contributions from any industry or entity they regulate, including those industries’ lobbyists. Prohibit all fundraising during Congressional working hours. Members of Congress who sit on powerful committees get extraordinary amounts of money from special interests regulated by those committees. Politicians routinely host fundraisers, and invite lobbyists to contribute to their campaigns. The result is a Congress made up of politicians dependent on those special interests to raise the money necessary to win reelection. Politicians are forced to create laws that are favorable to those interests, often at the expense of the public interest.

2. Limit super PAC contributions and “coordination”
Require superPACs to abide by the same contribution limits as other political committees. Toughen rules regarding superPACs’ and other groups’ coordination with political campaigns and political parties. The Supreme Court's Citizens United and subsequent court cases ruled that superPACs have the right to raise and spend unlimited money influencing elections, so long as the superPACs do not coordinate with the candidate campaigns. Since Citizens United, we've seen tremendous coordination between campaigns and their superPACs, making a mockery of the "independence" that the courts thought would exist. superPACs have become extensions of the campaigns, and allow mega-donors to exert undue influence on election outcomes.

3. Prevent job offers as bribes
Close the “revolving door” where elected representatives and their staff sell their legislative power in exchange for high-paying jobs when they leave office. Create a “cooling off” period on private employment that will last 5 years for all Congress members and all senior staff (currently 2 years in the Senate, 1 year in the House, and 1 year for senior staff.) Today, politicians routinely move straight from Congress to lucrative lobbying jobs on K Street, in order to influence their former colleagues and friends. Senior staffers who work for congressmen do the same thing. This corrupts policymaking in two ways: members and their staff anticipate high-paying jobs with lobbying firms, and routinely do favors to their future employers while still in Congress; and once out of congress they enjoy undue access and influence to members of Congress. The biggest spenders hire these influencers, and win policy as a result.

4. Call all people who lobby, lobbyists
Significantly expand the definition of and register all lobbyists to prevent influencers from skirting the rules. Today, the definition of who is a lobbyist, and who is not, is weak. The result: members of congress and their staff end up working as “historical advisors” (for all intents and purposes as lobbyists) to skirt the law while receiving big money to influence policy. Lawmakers are not subject to accountability since the public does not know all the people they meet with who try to sway them on policy decisions.

5. Limit lobbyist donations
Limit the amount that lobbyists and their clients can contribute to federal candidates, political parties, and political committees to $500 per year and limit lobbyist fundraising for political campaigns. Federal contractors are already banned from contributing to campaigns: extend that ban to lobbyists, high-level executives, government relations employees, and PACs of federal government contractors. Lobbyists currently must abide by the same contribution limits to electoral campaigns as everyone else: $2500 per election. Lobbyists "bundle" these $2500 contributions with other lobbyists, and individuals working for special interests that seek to influence politicians. This adds up to serious money and political favors in return.

6. End secret money
Mandate full transparency of all political money. Require any organization that spends $10,000 or more on advertisements to elect or defeat federal candidates to file a disclosure report online with the Federal Election Commission within 24 hours. List each of the donors who gave $10,000 or more to the organization to run such ads. This includes all PACs, 501c nonprofits, or other groups that engage in electioneering. Elections are being flooded with secret money funneled through "501c" organizations that are not required to disclose the names of donors. 501c's either spend money directly to influence elections, or make unlimited contributions to superPACs. This allows secret political donors to flood elections with money and, thus, influence outcomes.

7. Empower all voters with a tax rebate
Build up the influence of voters by creating a biennial $100 Tax Rebate that they can use to make qualified contributions to federal candidates, political parties, and political committees. Flooding elections with small-donor contributions will offset the huge spenders. Candidates and political groups will only be eligible for these funds if they agree to a set of contribution limits: they will only accept money from small donors (giving $500 or less a year). Nearly $6 billion was spent on the 2012 elections, and the vast majority came from big special interest donors. In 2008, less than 0.1 percent of Americans contributed $2,300 or more. Politicians are dependent on this tiny percentage of the population. To change this, we need to dramatically increase the number of small donors to politics, so that politicians become dependent on everyday Americans and not moneyed interests. That's how we get politicians who actually fight for the general public.

8. Disclose “bundling”
Require federal candidates to disclose the names of individuals who “bundle” contributions for the member of Congress or candidate, regardless of whether such individuals are registered lobbyists.

9. Enforce the rules
Strengthen the Federal Election Commission’s independence and strengthen the House and Senate ethics enforcement processes. Provide federal prosecutors the additional tools necessary to combat corruption, and prohibit lobbyists who fail to properly register and disclose their activities from engaging in federal lobbying activities for a period of two years. Federal agencies routinely fail to enforce the anti-corruption rules that already exist because their leadership is appointed by those they are supposed to regulate. The result is an elections system where even lax rules can be skirted or broken with impunity.

The Anti-Corruption Act goal is to sever the tie between politicians and special interest lobbyists, without requiring an amendment to the U.S. constitution. It has been crafted toward avoiding provisions that could be overturned by the current Supreme Court.

While the Act does not eliminate superPAC’s, it does curtail their power while protecting free speech rights. It prevents them from coordinating with candidates; it limits contributions to superPACs that do not act truly independent of campaigns, and it limits the ability of secret “501c” nonprofits to funnel money to superPACs.

Represent.Us is the new campaign from United Republic to support the American Anti-Corruption Act. Represent.Us says “We are not just building a movement in support of the Act. We’re going to use our collective power to stand against those who stand for corruption. If it becomes law, the Act will completely reshape American politics and policy-making and give people a voice.”

The Represent.Us timeline:

Late 2013: Introduce the Anti-Corruption Act to Congress and ask every member to co-sponsor it.

Early 2014: Unseat members of Congress who refuse to co-sponsor the Anti-Corruption Act.

Beyond: Throughout history, campaigns that come from the people have been the only way to create real change. When the people lead, the leaders will follow.

CLICK HERE to get more information about Represent.Us. There you will find their five step plan to get this act to congress.