Judges include author and columnist Arianna Huffington; MoveOn.org co-founder Joan Blades; NBA player Adonal Foyle; and others Timeline set to accept entries and for public to cast votes; March 1 set as date to announce winner and secret plan to use entry in a creative, provocative campaign Washington – Public Campaign Action Fund proudly announced the first fifteen appointments to a panel of prominent leaders to judge entries to its recently launched on-line contest to name the newest and biggest category of Bush super-mega-fundraisers – those who raise more than $500,000 for the President’s re-election campaign. While still in formation, the panel of expert judges (listed alphabetically) at this time includes:

• Joan Blades, Co-Founder of MoveOn.org;
• Adonal Foyle, professional basketball player for the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, and founder of Democracy Matters;
• Arnold Hiatt, former CEO of Stride Rite Corporation;
• Jim Hightower, author and columnist, and former Texas Agricultural Secretary;
• Craig Holman, Legislative Representative, Public Citizen;
• Arianna Huffington, author, columnist and commentator, and former candidate for Governor of California;
• Michael Kieschnick, President and COO of Working Assets;
• George Lakoff, author of Moral Politics, and professor of linguistics at University of California, Berkeley;
• Matt MacWilliams, political and media strategist, MacWilliams Robinson and Partners;
• William McNary, President of US Action, and Co-Director of Citizen Action of Illinois;
• Ellen Miller, Publisher, TomPaine.com;
• Nick Nyhart, Executive Director, Public Campaign and Public Campaign Action Fund;
• Chellie Pingree, President, Common Cause, and former candidate for U.S. Senate;
• Phil T. Rich (Andrew Boyd), founder of Billionaires for Bush; and
• Katrina vanden Heuvel, Editor, The Nation.

The contest – run at www.pcactionfund.org/contest/ – emerged in late January in response to a Washington Post report that the Bush/Cheney campaign was rumored to be considering a label for a new category of donors who are able to raise it $500,000. The campaign already calls those who collect $100,000 ‘Pioneers’ and those who bring in $200,000 ‘Rangers.’ The Bush/Cheney campaign’s sophisticated tracking system provides each fundraiser a number, and those who send in checks are encouraged by the fundraiser to put this individualized tracking number in the memo line on their checks. “We know that President Bush knows who raises half a million dollars,” said Nick Nyhart, executive director of Public Campaign Action Fund. “We’re going call attention to the brazen pay-to-play politics encouraged and condoned by the Pioneer and Ranger system by naming this next category of super-mega-fundraisers.” Public Campaign Action Fund also announced the timeline and schedule for the contest. After being flooded with early entries, the organization set the following deadlines for entries, voting, and selecting a winner.

• All entries must be submitted by Wednesday, February 11th at 5:00 p.m. EST.
• Judges will select the top five finalists on Monday, February 16th.
• The public will have until Sunday, February 29th at 12:00 midnight EST to cast a vote for their favorite name for the category.
• The winning entry will be announced on March 1st. Public Campaign Action Fund will also unveil a secret plan to do something with the winning entry.

Finalists and those who recruit five new entrants will receive prizes, including a “Fat Cat” t-shirt and a $tate of the Union poster. “We have chosen to reward not just creativity in this contest, but outreach,” continued Nyhart. “We value participation in politics, and we’re encouraging contestants to get others involved. We call it a ‘friend-raiser’ to highlight to the special interest fundraising.” Public Campaign Action Fund is a non-partisan, non-profit organization working to reduce the influence of special interest money in politics and to advance comprehensive campaign finance reform at the federal and state levels.