National Civil Rights Leaders Join Congresswoman at  CBC Brain Trust to Discuss How To Change Electoral Process

Media Contact:
Adam Smith, Public Campaign
(202) 293-0222

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Washington, DC—Leading civil rights advocates and lawmakers from across the country are meeting in Washington, D.C, today to discuss ways to dramatically alter how political campaigns are financed and ran in this country. The event is being held as part of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Annual Legislative Conference.


Sponsored by Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), the panel, “Empowering Voters, Supercharging Small Donors,” will discuss how Fair Elections campaign reform would change politics as usual. Fair Elections provides candidates the ability to run competitive campaigns by receiving a public grant once they demonstrate a broad base of community support by collecting a set number of small dollar contributions.


“Good people often choose not to run for office because it’s too expensive,” said Nick Nyhart, president and CEO of Public Campaign. “Fair Elections gives people an option to seek public office whom otherwise would not have the money or insider access to mount a competitive campaign. The lawmakers and leaders on this panel want to open up and change politics by implementing this proven program for Congressional races.”

Speakers include elected officials Congresswoman Donna Edwards (D-Md.), Speaker of the California Assembly Karen Bass (D), and Judge Wanda Bryant of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Other panelists include Dolores Huerta, president of the Dolores Huerta Foundation and co-founder of the United Farm Workers, USAction President William McNary, and Hilary Shelton, the director of the NAACP Washington Bureau. Gary Winfield, a candidate for the Connecticut state legislature will discuss his experience using the state’s public financing system.  Panelists will be available for interviews before and after the event. To learn more, please visit http://www.publicampaign.org/cbc08.

Public Campaign is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to sweeping campaign reform that aims to dramatically reduce the role of big special interest money in American politics. To learn more about our work, visit http://www.publicampaign.org.