Today, the Campaign Legal Center released the following statement about President-elect Donald Trump's decision to nominate Jeff Sessions for Attorney General:

“Jeff Sessions has not demonstrated a commitment to fairness and equality under the law, a commitment that should be a minimum qualification for the position of Attorney General” said Gerry Hebert, director of voting rights and redistricting at the Campaign Legal Center.

“To the contrary, he has repeatedly demonstrated racial insensitivity to black citizens of Alabama and this country through both his words and actions. He has never apologized for his racially charged comments during his last tenure at the Department of Justice. I believe that Sessions represents a threat to voting rights for all minorities. It is frightening to think that Sessions will run the U.S. Department of Justice and have the opportunity to roll back voting rights through voter suppression in communities that have long struggled for equality.

As Attorney General of Alabama, Sessions prosecuted black citizens on phony charges of 'voter fraud.' Sessions has also supported discriminatory voter ID laws based on the myth of widespread voter fraud, denied a continuing history of discrimination against minority voters in the South, and celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder, a decision that gutted the landmark Voting Rights Act, a law he will now be sworn to protect and enforce.”

CLC, Coalition of Groups, Urge President-Elect Trump to Reconsider Current Plan

WASHINGTON – The Campaign Legal Center, along with other watchdog groups and individuals, sent a letter calling on President-elect Donald Trump to alter his plan to have his children handle the Trump Organization business assets while he is president.

The letter encourages the president-elect to either place all business assets and investments into a genuine blind trust or the equivalent, or convert the Trump Organization businesses to cash and buy treasury bills and widely diversified mutual funds. “The failure to follow this course of action will create conflicts of interest of unprecedented magnitude,” the letter asserts.

The below statement can be attributed to Trevor Potter, president of the Campaign Legal Center:

"The potential for conflicts of interest in this administration are unprecedented.  For the last 40 years, every President has taken appropriate steps to address potential conflicts of interest arising from their financial portfolio, usually through divestment or the establishment of blind trusts.

The Trump Organization is a multi-billion dollar company with business interests around the world.  Setting up a proper blind trust is a critical requirement to avoid conflicts of interest. Having Trump’s children run his business – while serving on his transition team - would not be meet this requirement.

Should President-elect Trump turn over the management of his business interests to his three adult children while retaining ownership, those conflicts will not go away. In fact, such an arrangement could endanger the President-elect. As owner of the business, he would remain legally liable for any violations of the law by his businesses.

Assets he has with foreign entities raise their own special set of questions and might be better handled with divestment. The best option for the President-elect is to enter into a genuine blind trust with control of the company in the hands of an independent Trustee with whom he and his family have had no business dealings. Failing that, he should sell his business to his children and establish a firewall regarding discussions of those interests during his Presidency."

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The following groups and individuals signed onto the letter:

• Gary D. Bass
• Campaign for Accountability
• Campaign Legal Center
• Center for American Progress
• Center for Media and Democracy
• Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)
• Common Cause
• Democracy 21
• Ambassador (ret.) Norm Eisen, chief White House ethics lawyer, 2009-2011
• Essential Information
• Issue One
• Thomas E. Mann
• OpentheGovernment.Org
• Norman Ornstein
• Richard Painter, chief White House ethics lawyer, 2005-2007
• People for the American Way
• Project on Government Oversight
• Public Citizen
• Sunlight Foundation

HOUSTON – After six years of litigation, the pervasive and egregious corruption within the Houston Independent School District has been dealt a serious blow by a jury of Houston citizens. Today, the Campaign Legal Center, alongside Lawyers at Brazil & Dunn and The Greenwood Prather Law Firm, secured a multi-million dollar jury verdict against a former school board trustee and others for a widespread pay-to-play scheme.

CLC was part of a legal team representing a Houston construction contractor, Gil Ramirez, who was locked out of the school district’s construction contracts after refusing to participate in the scheme in which the school board president, Larry Marshall, was accepting bribes in cash and campaign contributions in exchange for ensuring that certain construction contractors would receive lucrative public contracts.

“School officials have the duty to ensure tax dollars, bond money and federal funds benefit the students and employees of the school district, not their own pockets,” said Gerry Hebert, director of voting rights and redistricting for the Campaign Legal Center. “This verdict sends a loud and clear message that corruption schemes will not be tolerated and that Larry Marshall will not get away with abusing his position by placing his own interests above those of the students and employees of the school district.”

Hebert, along with CLC Deputy Director of Voting Rights Danielle Lang, litigated the case before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Attorneys from the law firms Brazil and Dunn, and the Greenwood Prather Law Firm also represented plaintiff Ramirez. 

 “Six years ago I was asked to pay a bribe, or to make the right choice. I declined," said plaintiff Gil Ramirez. “After six years, that decision was finally vindicated and justice was rendered.”

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Read the court decision

Today, it’s important to remember that elections come and go, but CLC’s mission remains constant: We will continue to fight to improve our democracy and for the fundamental right of all Americans to participate in the political process. We will continue to vigorously work for changes in money in politics practices, to defend voting rights and push to end the excessive partisan gerrymandering that undermines our democracy.

On Tuesday night, it was made clear that Americans support fundamental change in Washington, specifically focusing on issues of corruption and special interest power.

Donald Trump ran a campaign tapping into the deep-rooted sentiment of Americans who are unhappy with the status quo. Among his frequent targets were our broken political and campaign finance system. He spoke of "draining the Washington swamp" and proposed specific revolving door, ethics and lobbying reforms. He attacked super PACs and the power of secret money.

We know that 80 percent of voters of both parties believe that the federal government is out of touch with average citizens. This is the direct result of current money in politics practices. We saw this resonate loud and clear not only with the election of Washington-outsider Trump, but also through the passage of many strong pro-democracy measures on state and local ballots nationwide.

Tuesday’s results are proof that Americans have a hunger to fix our broken campaign finance system. As we to look toward the new administration, the Campaign Legal Center will hold President-elect Trump accountable to his campaign’s promise for democracy reform. And we will continue to work hard at the state and local level to pass more reforms that renew and expand our democracy.

Our work is needed now more than ever. 

State and Local Wins for Democracy in the 2016 Election 
 

-A matching funds public financing program in Berkeley, California

-A lobbyist gift ban and contribution restriction in San Francisco

-A direction to County Council to establish a matching funds program in Howard County, Maryland

-A reinstatement of contribution limits in Missouri

-An overhaul of South Dakota’s campaign finance laws including a voucher system, increased disclosure, lobbying restrictions and the creation of a campaign finance enforcement agency in South Dakota

-A resolution to overturn Citizens United in Washington State and California.

-New limits on contributions to candidates and on independent expenditures in Multnomah County, Oregon, a state that doesn’t currently have candidate limits

FEC Must Investigate Illegal Bonuses Tied to Campaign Donations

WASHINGTON – The Campaign Legal Center today asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate Boston-based Thornton Law Firm for reimbursing partners almost exact amounts for their political campaign contributions. This scheme allowed Thornton to funnel money to campaigns and party committees well above the legal contribution limits.

“The FEC must investigate this scheme,” said Brendan Fischer, associate counsel of the Campaign Legal Center. “Thornton employees made contributions to these campaign and were promptly reimbursed by the firm, allowing the firm to collectively give far more to individual candidates in a single year than the firm could have donated directly under federal law. This appears to be a clear violation of the law and the FEC should take this seriously.”

Lawyers at the firm have given $1.5 million to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and $333,000 to the Democratic National Committee between 2007 and 2016, as well as contributing significant sums to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Sen. Harry Reid, President Barack Obama and Presidential Nominee Hillary Clinton. There is no evidence the recipient candidates knew about Thornton’s scheme and many candidates have returned the contributions.

Based on reports from the Boston Globe and Center for Responsive Politics, the complaint also asks the FEC to investigate Thornton Law Firm partners Michael Thornton, Garrett Bradley and David Strouss for knowingly permitting their names to be used for the straw donor contributions. Between 2010 and 2014 the three partners (and Thornton’s wife) gave $1.6 million to candidates and party committees and were reimbursed $1.4 million in “bonuses” by Thornton Law Firm.