Public Citizen | Action Items

Help Clean Up Congress

Put Voters First Scandals. Secrecy. Special interest influence. It’s clear from our current financial crisis that politics is awash in big business and banking money and taxpayers are being drowned by it.

This can change. Our politicians can work for us. Americans want Congress to put voters first, not Wall Street lobbyists, or big campaign donors. To get special interest money out of politics, Congress must pass legislation like the Fair Elections Now Act to establish an opt-in public financing system for congressional races.

Public Citizen is a part of a national coalition of reform groups that is collecting candidate signatures to the Voters First Pledge. These candidates pledge to make elections fair by supporting legislation to create a system of public financing for congressional elections.

364 candidates signed the pledge in 2006, and so far this year, more than 200 members of Congress are pledge-signers. Let’s make sure ALL 2008 congressional candidates make the pledge!

Click here and see if your member of Congress has signed the Voters First Pledge or not. Then take a moment to personalize the subject line and letter below and send the message.

Has your member of Congress signed? Use the form below to thank him or her! You also might find the challenger’s website and urge that candidate to also sign the pledge!

Show your support for good, honest government! Urge your members of Congress to sign the Voters First pledge today!

Please take a moment to personalize the subject line and letter below.

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June 19, 2013

Subject:

I am writing to voice my support for public financing of congressional elections and to urge you to sign the Voters First Pledge. Amid scandals and public outcry over ethics and corruption in 2006, members and supporters from Common Cause, Public Campaign, and Public Citizen collected nearly 400 signatures for the Voters First Pledge in support of lobbying and ethics reform, transparency, and public financing for congressional campaigns. I am pleased that since then you and your colleagues passed two of the three planks of the Voters First Pledge - lobbying and ethics reform and transparency on lobbyists bundling contributions. But more change is still needed. I want to be sure that wealthy special interests do not have undue influence in the U.S. Congress. As campaign costs continue to skyrocket and fundraising becomes ever more important in running for office, comprehensive public financing offers a sensible solution that has been successfully implemented in several states, including Arizona, Connecticut, and Maine. The issue has gained the support of prominent leaders from across the political spectrum. Now, with another election and a chance for a fresh start in Washington, I ask you to improve the way Washington works by changing how we finance our elections. I hope that you will join with other candidates and support public financing of elections by signing the Voters First Pledge available for download at www.VotersFirstPledge.org. Thank you for listening to a concerned constituent. I look forward to your reply and commitment to put Voters First.
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