Sing-a-long. New web ad "lobbyists, lobbyists" goes after McCain

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Thursday May 22, 2008 · 7:06 AM PDT

2008/05/22 · 07:06

Lobbyist Charlie Black, McCain's senior advisor, says Americans don't care about special interests, big money in politics, and lobbyists making calls from the Straight Talk Express. Campaign Money Watch produced this web ad to help educate voters about who exactly has McCain's ear. Watch after the jump.

ddonnelly

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Wednesday April 02, 2008 · 12:21 PM PDT

2008/04/02 · 12:21

On April 2, 1987, Sen. John McCain and four other US Senators met with federal regulators and tried to strong arm them on behalf of a contributor, Charles Keating Jr., who running an Arizona real estate business and the Lincoln Savings and Loan. The senators, soon to become disgracefully known as the Keating Five, were all investigated by the Senate Ethics Committee. McCain was close to Keating, and Keating and his associates donated $112,000 to McCain's campaign.

So as McCain embarks on his Bio Tour, why isn't Room 328 of the Hart Senate Office Building -- where the meeting took place -- on his list of places to visit? And given that the Keating Five scandal was what McCain attributes for his shift on campaign finance reform, why has McCain distanced himself from the two major pieces of legislation to overhaul federal election laws on this campaign?

ddonnelly

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Thursday September 27, 2007 · 9:02 AM PDT

2007/09/27 · 09:02

What's more important to Senator Mitch McConnell -- health insurance for 157,996 of Kentucky's children or big money donors from Big Tobacco, HMOs, and other health interests?

You can guess the answer by the mere fact that I even have to ask the question.

With an imminent Senate vote on S-CHIP, the children's health insurance program, we at Public Campaign Action Fund made a poignant, hard-hitting web ad that raises this question for Sen. McConnell. The ad is embedded below...

ddonnelly

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Friday September 07, 2007 · 9:40 AM PDT

2007/09/07 · 09:40

UPDATE: We won. After hours of pressure and calls from reporters, cable giant Insight Communications agreed to air the television ad.

Cable giant Insight Communications refused to air our hard-hitting, Daily Kos-featured new ad on Mitch McConnell last night, pulling it from their rotation without so much as courtesy notification. Insight’s executives have donated $17,000 to McConnell. Now they are helping him even more by engaging in political censorship to keep this ad, which criticizes McConnell for his special interest politics, off the air.

Help Public Campaign Action Fund take the first step in building pressure by signing this petition and telling Insight Communications that you won’t stand for political censorship.

All the other broadcast networks, including NBC, ABC, and CBS and another cable system are running the ad after reviewing its content for accuracy. Why won’t Insight air it?

ddonnelly

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Wednesday January 17, 2007 · 11:32 AM PST

2007/01/17 · 11:32

Cross-posted at MyDD.com

Matt Stoller at MyDD.com (here and here) and Kos have written posts recently about the ethics and lobbying reforms in Congress, and the need to reassess the whole regulatory scheme of campaign reform. They’ve been joined by lots of other commentary, like former Secretary of Labor Bob Reich on Marketplace this morning and David Sirota (here and just about everywhere), arguing that Congress has left the major part of the money in politics problem untouched – the private financing of public elections.

Matt’s argument, in a nutshell is this: process reforms that rely on regulation and policing bad behavior always fail to live up to their billing, and what we need to do instead is shift the paradigm to public financing:

ddonnelly

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Friday November 03, 2006 · 12:08 PM PST

2006/11/03 · 12:08

The midterm elections will cost $2.6 billion dollars -- the most expensive in history. Candidates in competitive seats have to spend between $1 and $2 million to win. Many will spend much much more.

It's out of control, but there are working models of Clean Elections-style public financing of elections in states across the country (and on the ballot in California) to look to.

Yesterday I wrote about how these laws work. Today I'm sharing which candidates are willing to support them and put voters first, ahead of lobbyists, big donors, and powerful interests. Read More

Candidates hate it. Voters, too. So why can't we fix it? (Part 1)

ddonnelly

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Thursday November 02, 2006 · 10:39 AM PST

2006/11/02 · 10:39

I'm talking about the special interest money-drenched campaign finance system, which seems to act like a corruption-magnet, while shutting people and good candidates out.

Today's Washington Post story points out that this election is characterized by an unusually large number of races with corruption or personal scandals - perhaps as many as 15 races, according to the story. Fifteen is the Democrats magic number. If you're a Republican, I guess you could say that at least the corruption story has been localized. Isn't that what Tom Reynolds - who running in one of those 15 races impacted by scandal - wanted? Races to be determined not by the news of a corrupt Washington, but 435 individualized elections?

For more than a year, Democrats have tried to gain political advantage from what they called "a culture of corruption" in Republican-controlled Washington. Republican campaign officials insist the theme has not caught on with the public, but even they concede that many individual races have been hit hard.

ddonnelly

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Sunday October 29, 2006 · 11:02 AM PST

2006/10/29 · 11:02

Last week, Rep. Barbara Cubin (R-WY) got into hot water for threatening to slap her Libertarian opponent across the face after he called her on taking donations from Tom DeLay's PAC and Jack Abramoff. The Libertarian, Thomas Rankin, is in a wheelchair and suffers from M.S.

Rep. Cubin also said she didn't think there was a problem with lobbyist donations and influence in Washington, D.C., saying that "lobbyists aren't boogiemen" -- of course, that's easy for her to say. She's accepted $55,959 in campaign donations from lobbyists.

My organization, Campaign Money Watch just launched a hard-hitting TV in Casper and Cheyenne media markets to take Cubin to task. Watch it and read more about the ad here
Read More

Operation Declare Independence -- 15 seconds of patriotic action

ddonnelly

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Friday June 30, 2006 · 7:42 AM PDT

2006/06/30 · 07:42

Everyone loves a parade. That's especially true of politicians. Candidates for Congress will attend Fourth of July parades - and other Independence Day events - in cities and towns all over the country in the next few days.

Public Campaign Action Fund announced Operation Declare Independence yesterday -- a simple, easy way to begin to put Congress on notice that Americans want to declare independence from big money and lobbyists controlling Washington.

As candidates glad-hand down the parade route, we're asking people to yell out this question:

Have you signed the Voters First Pledge?

ddonnelly

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Wednesday June 07, 2006 · 11:06 AM PDT

2006/06/07 · 11:06

This is a bittersweet moment for us at Public Campaign Action Fund. Tom DeLay is resigning from Congress. Having run a two year effort to educate voters in his backyard, fight the DeLay Rule, launch a national drive to oust him, connect his corruption to other members of Congress, and in general bird-dog his every move and chronicle his every word through our Daily DeLay blog, DeLay's retirement on Friday raised a very serious question for us as an organization, and we'd like your help in figuring out what to do:

Just what do you get for the politician who sold everything on the occasion of his retirement?

We decided to let by-gone be by-gones, and set up a retirement gift registry. There you can choose among the ten things we're sure he needs, or offer your own.

Ad targets Ralph Reed's hypocrisy on eve of Giuliani $$ event

ddonnelly

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Wednesday May 17, 2006 · 11:18 AM PDT

2006/05/17 · 11:18

Ralph Reed once called gambling a "cancer" that "is stealing food from the mouths of children." Then Ralph Reed needed to "hump in corporate accounts" according to emails between him and disgraced, convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Abramoff, as is widely known, lined up $4 million in casino money for Reed's consulting business.

Now Reed is running for lieutenant governor in Georgia.

On the eve of a fundraising event featuring Rudy Giuliani in Atlanta, Campaign Money Watch is launching a radio ad on several stations to tell this $4 million story.

Reed shouldn't get a free ride to stand next to the so-called "America's Mayor" without voters knowing that his record is one of hypocrisy, scandal, and greed. The ad script is below... Read More

Expose Ralph Reed's Hypocrisy?

ddonnelly

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Wednesday April 19, 2006 · 7:52 AM PDT

2006/04/19 · 07:52

Ralph Reed is running for Lieutenant Governor in Georgia, and his campaign has been hurt by revelations that he is neck-deep in the Abramoff scandals. Reed took in more than $4 million in gambling money despite calling gambling a great evil.

Even more scary: Reed has been said to view the Lieutenant Governor's race as a stepping stone to the U.S. Senate or White House.

That's why we at Public Campaign Action Fund are assessing whether to take him on in Georgia by educating voters about his hypocrisy.

Help us decide. Read More

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Cable giant and McConnell donors censor political ad [ACT, ADVISE]

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Building congressional support for Clean Elections (Part 2)

Candidates hate it. Voters, too. So why can't we fix it? (Part 1)

WY-AL: "Slap" ad takes on Cubin

Operation Declare Independence -- 15 seconds of patriotic action

For the politician who sold everything

Ad targets Ralph Reed's hypocrisy on eve of Giuliani $$ event

Expose Ralph Reed's Hypocrisy?