Excerpts from: http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-harvard-professor-super-pac-big-money-politics-20140523-story.html
Harvard professor’s ‘super PAC’ aims
to end power of ‘super PACs’
By: Maeve Reston
May 25, 2014
“Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig is leading a
crusade to … to create a “super PAC” that would end the power of
super PACs by drawing enough Americans into the system to limit the influence
of big money in politics…”
“ …. the
current political system is “legally corrupt”–with members of Congress spending
much of their time dialing for dollars, as outside groups flood each election
cycle with hundreds of millions of dollars through super PACs and other
devices, with little disclosure of their donors.”
The result, Lessig said, has been “a government
that is not responsive to what the average American cares about, but is
incredibly responsive to the people who are in that funding class.”
“The conventional wisdom is that the public doesn’t
like the system, but the public is not going to do anything about it,” Lessig
said in an interview in Santa Monica on Thursday during a West Coast swing that
included stops to build support for the effort. “But the public is not doing
anything about it because they don’t think there’s anything we can do
about it.”’
“The goal of the Mayday PAC is to get enough
Americans involved to dilute the dominance of big money. Small donations from
average citizens in each phase will be matched by larger contributions
raised by Lessig from high-dollar and even billionaire donors, whom he declined
to name. In the first 13 days of the effort—which was announced simply, with a
blog post, a Twitter message and a Web page—the group raised more than $1.1
million, with an average contribution of $75. Lessig is now raising funds to
match that first million, while launching the second phase to raise $5 million
in June (which he again hopes to match with bigger donations).”’
“If the group succeeds in raising its goal of $12
million by the end of June, it intends to use the 2014 campaign cycle as a
testing ground – targeting five House races to demonstrate whether it can
propel candidates who are committed to a system in which small donors have
a much greater influence. (The group will announce its targets later
this summer.)”
“If the
Mayday PAC is able to take out five members of Congress this cycle “who are on
the wrong side of this issue,” Lessig said, “then when 2016 comes around,
magically a whole bunch of members of Congress would be on the right side of
this issue, and we would have a narrower range of people that we would have to
be going after, and we would have very good data from how much it would cost.”’
“Before
launching the super PAC this year, Lessig began a companion effort called the “New Hampshire Rebellion .” Lessig
and about 200 other people walked nearly the length of New Hampshire, from
Dixville Notch to Nashua. They stopped at coffee shops and small events along
the way to get people talking about the influence of money in politics.”’
“ When asked if anyone has told him that his idea
is ludicrous and unlikely to work, he answers with a smile: “Yeah, like
everybody.”’
“But they were the same people who said you
couldn’t possibly raise $1 million in 30 days,” he adds. “They
were wrong about that too.”’
Read the article: http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-harvard-professor-super-pac-big-money-politics-20140523-story.html
Post navigation
We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both. Louis Brandeis