Top Dem Wants Public Campaign Financing (Sen. Durbin)

[stevedeshazer]

Courtesy of:

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/002312.php

<snip>

On the Senate floor today, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), while speaking about the Dems' ethics package, said that the next logical step is public financing, and that he would be introducing such a bill in a matter of weeks.

</snip>

:woohoo:

[nosmokes]

1. public campaign financing is the *only* way to get the people's voice heard

otherwise corporate coffers will always place their people in the positions of power, and we will never get rid of this corporate oligarchy.

[Wiley50]

2. YES!!! n/t

[undeterred]

3. Amen to that!

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

4. Kick!

Durbin is a HERO for proposing this legislation!

:kick:

[stevebreeze]

5. in my humble opinion this is priority ONE

unless and until we level the playing field between the rich and the rest of us in deciding who should be our representatives we sever ly compromise democracy. How else can you explain the gross differences in the priority of the public, who greatly favor things like universal health care, and the priorities of congress. Does the public support this war? are we still there? WOOO HOOO campaign finance reform!!!

[blm]

6. Great - he should support and resubmit Clean Money, Clean Elections bill

that only 5 senators supported in 1997.

And he should do it in memory of Paul Wellstone who wrote the bill with John Kerry.

I think ALOT of Democrats and some Republicans have already come to realize that McCain-Feingold was NO ANSWER.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d105:s.00918 :

S.918
Title: A bill to reform the financing of Federal Elections.
Sponsor: Sen Kerry, John F. (introduced 6/17/1997) Cosponsors (4)
Latest Major Action: 6/17/1997 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.

COSPONSORS(4), ALPHABETICAL : (Sort: by date)


Sen Biden, Joseph R., Jr. - 6/17/1997
Sen Glenn, John H., Jr. - 6/17/1997
Sen Leahy, Patrick J. - 6/17/1997
Sen Wellstone, Paul D. - 6/17/1997

[porphyrian]

7. Very good. We must stop our government from being bought and sold. - n/t

[Nutmegger]

8. Yes this is excellent.

:kick: and :thumbsup:!

[stevedeshazer]

9. kick

[Wiley50]

10. I Spoke to This In My Protest Thread Today

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x3075491

"Because we do not have publicly financed elections yet
our politicians (except for a very few like Bernie Sanders and Russ Feingold
who do not take corporate money) do not work for us.
They work for the richest and most powerful corporations on the planet,
The Oil and Energy companies and the Defense Contractors.
They have no interest in ending this war. They are making a killing.

This is just a fact of life and we should disillusion ourselves
that it is any other way. Our politicians from Bush on down are puppets.
We may take down some of their puppets but they will just get others.

We must apply our forces toward the puppeteers themselves
if we wish to see any real changes come about."