Washington, D.C.—Wireless companies should charge a low, uniform rate for campaign contributions via text message to encourage small donor participation in our political process, 12 public interest and government reform organizations wrote in a letter to the CEOs of five major wireless companies today.

The heads of AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon all received the letter today, in response to reports that companies could include a fee of 30 to 50 percent for each donation.

“To maximize the impact of these small contributions and the voices of everyday Americans, these highly profitable wireless companies should establish a uniform, low rate for text message donations,” said Aaron Scherb, legislative program manager at Public Campaign. “The recent approval of text message campaign contributions is a big win for small donors and consumers, and exorbitant rates would weaken that victory.”

The letter was signed by representatives from Public Campaign, along with Americans for Campaign Reform, Brennan Center for Justice, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), Common Cause, Democracy 21, Democracy Matters, Demos, Public Citizen, Rootstrikers, United Republic, and US Public Interest Research Group (US PIRG).

From the letter:

Several articles have reported, however, that some wireless companies may seek to charge up to 50 percent in fees for SMS donations. This would be unreasonably high, significantly more than what is charged for charitable contributions, and could discourage both candidates and contributors from participating. To enhance the role of small donors and to ensure that their voices are maximized in the political process, we encourage you to charge uniformly low rates for all text message campaign contributions.

Revenues for wireless companies have been at an all-time high. In 2011, your companies recorded at least $150 billion in combined gross profits. Moreover, your five companies spent more than $40 million collectively on lobbying last year. Further buttressing your profits at the expense of everyday Americans exercising their First Amendment rights seems unnecessary and excessive.

Download the letter (PDF).

While AT&T has filed an advisory opinion request with the Federal Election Commission to be able to charge lower fees for text message campaign contributions, it wants to be allowed to charge rates with no uniform standard, opening the possibility to certain candidates getting favorable treatment. AT&T and other companies should charge the same low rate for all candidates so as not to be able to "play" favorites for certain candidates and so it's clear to donors what percentage of their donations are actually going to a candidate.  

Many of these organizations had previously sent a letter to the Federal Election Commission encouraging the agency to allow campaign donations by text message.

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Public Campaign is a national nonpartisan organization that fights to raise the voices of everyday people in our democracy through changing our campaign finance laws and through holding elected officials accountable. Learn more at www.publicampaign.org.