Washington, D.C.—Public Campaign applauded Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) decision to give up fundraising while he sits on the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, or “supercommittee.” Sen. Kerry told the Boston Globe, “I will not fund-raise; I will raise no money” until November 23 when the committee concludes its work.

Sen. Kerry continued, “Because I don’t want people to think that I’m being leveraged by contributions. I just don’t want the appearance of money being associated with anything I do on this.”

“We applaud Sen. Kerry’s decision to give up fundraising while serving on the supercommittee and we urge others to do the same,” said David Donnelly, national campaigns director for Public Campaign. “Sen. Kerry knows that this committee’s work is too important and too serious to be influenced by wealthy campaign contributors.”

Along with Sen. Kerry’s announcement, Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Max Baucus (D-Mont.) have recently said that they would begin canceling fundraising events.

Supercommittee members are scheduled to attend at least nine fundraisers this week, according to the Sunlight Foundation’s PoliticalPartyTime.org.

“Everyday Americans won’t support the supercommittee’s work unless it’s insulated from the influence of special interest cash,” continued Donnelly. “We hope the other members will follow Sen. Kerry’s lead and put this important job ahead of campaign fundraising.”

Sen. Kerry has been a long-time supporter of legislation to reduce the influence of special interest money in our political process, including as a co-sponsor of the Fair Elections Now Act.

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