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Campaign Finance
Campaign Finance
The First Amendment guarantees every American the right to participate fully in the political process.
The dependence of political candidates on wealthy special interests is a serious flaw in our political system, and makes elected officials responsive to their large donors rather than to the public. The tremendous power of special interest money in politics often drowns out the voice of everyday Americans, threatens our First Amendment freedoms, and erodes the foundations of our entire democracy. To restore fairness to our political system, CLC advocates for passing and enforcing strong campaign finance reforms that help guarantee a democracy responsive to the people.
These reform solutions include placing reasonable limits on funding of campaigns, complete transparency of campaign spending and public financing of elections. CLC helps enact such policies at the state, local and federal levels, and works to ensure that the Federal Election Commission enforces current campaign finance laws. CLC also defends laws that promote the First Amendment’s guarantee that every American has the ability to participate in the democratic process.
Campaign Finance Cases and Actions
Congress should pass and President Biden should sign into law the Freedom to Vote Act. This sweeping, transformative bill would make the promise of democracy more real for us all by increasing Americans’ access to the freedom to vote, curbing gerrymandering and improving the functionality of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and transparency in political campaign spending.
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CLC sued the FEC for failing to enforce federal transparency laws, enabling Big Tent Project, an entity funded by secret money, to avoid reporting its contributions, expenditures and debts. The FEC has failed to protect the public’s right to know who is seeking to influence elections.
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CLC joined Common Cause Rhode Island and the League of Women Voters of Rhode Island in filing an amicus brief in federal appellate court to support Rhode Island’s defense of its transparency law for groups that spend significant amounts of money to influence state elections.
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Every eligible citizen should have a voice in our democracy, not just the wealthy few.
CLC Provides Guidance at the State and Local Level
CLC works on the ground in cities and states fighting for a better democracy. We serve as an expert resource to citizen organizations working to improve democracy in their own neighborhoods. CLC provides model legislation, model ballot initiatives and specific expert guidance to help ensure that local reform measures are effective and will stand up in the courts.
CLC Poll Finds Voters Want Campaign Finance Laws Enforced
CLC commissioned two bipartisan polls of that confirm voters are deeply concerned about “corruption in the political system” and want the FEC to take a more active role in enforcing campaign finance laws.
CLC Watchdogs Calls Out Finance Violations
In July 2018, CLC uncovered how the Soviet-born associates of Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani laundered six-figure contributions to President Trump’s super PAC through a shell corporation. Our campaign finance complaint resulted in the October 2019 arrest of the two suspects.
Speak to one of CLC's legal experts