Clips Round-up for 10/4/10

Submitted by Monica Rober on Mon, 10/04/2010 - 13:16

Fair Elections/Campaign Finance Elections for sale This letter from NC Voters for Clean Elections board chair Beth Messersmith says we need Fair Elections so special interests don’t dominate our elections My pro-government “pledge to America” What about a pro-government pledge to America? Jim Lardner, who is a fellow at Demos, says in the first point in his pledge: pass the Fair Elections Now Act. What if we had fair elections? Renee Loth has this column in The Boston Globe talking about Fair Elections, and urging Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) to cosponsor and talking about our new polling and why conservatives should support it New coalition wants companies to pledge not to use corporate dollars on political campaigns The “Coalition for Accountability in Political Spending” will launch today aimed at pressuring major companies to “foreswear using corporate money on political campaigns.” Led by NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, other members include Ill. Gov. Pat Quinn and Los Angeles Controller Wendy Greuel. Hidden money still a problem The Courant takes on secret money and concludes, “The only effective alternative to the influence of special-interest money is public financing of elections.” Congress Third-party group takes aim at Lungren in new TV ad The Sacramento Bee covers Campaign Money Watch’s ad about Dan Lungren K Street readies care packages for campaigns Now that Congress is out, lobbyists are “war-gaming new committee lineups, bailing out faltering campaigns with last-minute checks.” There’s so much fundraising, and while Congress may be gone, that doesn’t mean lobbyists phones are going quiet. The Secret Sponsors MIke McIntire tried to find out who the “Coalition to Protect Seniors” was as a way to highlight all the undisclosed spending this election cycle. Why is the consulting firm working in an insurance office in Florida?