WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Mayday PAC (MAYDAY.US) thanked Representatives Karen Bass and Seth Moulton for signing onto H.R. 20, Rep. John Sarbanes’ Government by the People Act.
“We have identified five proposals that would fundamentally change how campaigns are funded,” MAYDAY co-founder Lawrence Lessig said. “These include two Republican proposals, two Democratic proposals, and one that was crafted with advice from both sides. We are grateful that both Rep. Bass and Rep. Moulton answered the call for leadership from their constituents by signing onto the Government by the People Act.”
H.R. 20 would create a system in which public matching of small-dollar donations can offset the negative influence of corporate money in our elections. The bill fits squarely within the Supreme Court’s recent rulings and would allow congressional candidates to voluntarily power their campaigns on small-dollar donations of $150 or less – and have those donations matched 6 to 1 and even as much as 9 to 1. With this plan, a high school teacher who donates $150 would have more voice than a lobbyist who contributes $1,000.
As part of its 2015 campaign to advance fundamental reform, MAYDAY has been organizing citizens to persuade members of Congress to commit to fundamental reform and has launched an online platform to support that citizen engagement. The ultimate goal of these activities is to elect and re-elect Members of Congress who take leadership in advancing campaign finance reform.
In March, MAYDAY launched a crowd-sourced project to identify potential leaders in Congress to join the fight for fundamental reform. MAYDAY solicited input from its army of supporters to help identify Members who are most likely to support reform and offer explanations for why. In May, MAYDAY announced a list of 47 Members who it believes could be the key to unlocking a majority. Representatives Bass and Moulton were on this list.
All five reform proposals are described at repswith.us. In addition, a list of the 47 Members of Congress MAYDAY identified as the key to unlocking a majority is available here.
About Mayday PAC
Mayday PAC is a crowd-funded, independent political action committee (“super PAC”) committed to fundamentally changing the way that elections are funded. It was co-founded by Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig and Republican strategist Mark McKinnon, a former advisor to President George W. Bush. Mayday PAC is supportive of proposals that achieve some version of publicly-funded elections and favors systems of small dollar public funding – or citizen-funded elections. In 2014, it piloted the idea of a super PAC pressing for fundamental reform by running independent campaigns in several Congressional districts across the country. In 2015, Mayday PAC is working to persuade Members of Congress to support fundamental reform. For more information visit www.mayday.us.