Friends of democracy ~ A couple of announcements related to fair elections. 1. Prop.15 kicks off it's campaign this Sunday at 1pm in San Francisco. Prop. 15 will be on this June's ballot and would create a pilot program of full public financing for Secretary of State races in California. This is an important step towards getting public financing for all California races. See details below. 2. MoveOn is protesting the Democratic leadership's weak response to the Citizen's United ruling. Instead of pushing for full public financing of campaigns the Democratic leadership has put some token reforms on the table. In order to get the attention of congress MoveOn is asking activists to drop off bags of potatoes at Pelosi's office, to signify that the Democratic leadership's response is "small potatoes" and that we need something truly effective. See details below. ----------------------------------------------------------- 1. Proposition 15 Campaign Kickoff! Come to the local campaign kickoff for Prop 15, which will be on this June's ballot and would create a pilot program of full public financing for Secretary of State races in California. Join Senators Loni Hancock and Mark Leno, and Assemblymember Tom Ammiano, San Francisco Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, California Nurses Association Co-President Deborah Burger, campaign chair Trent Lange, and others so you can help pass Fair Elections that money can't buy. WHEN: Sunday, February 21 from 1pm-3pm WHERE: San Francisco Main Library 100 Larkin Street at Grove San Francisco, CA 94102 Proposition 15, the California Fair Elections Act (CFEA) represents fundamental election reform that will allow candidates and elected officials to get out of the money game and get back to solving California’s problems. 2. MoveOn Action for Fair Elections in SF Last week, Democratic leaders announced their plan to stop the flood of corporate money into politics. Unfortunately, the Democrats' plan is small potatoes—especially compared to the threat posed by the Supreme Court decision allowing unlimited corporate spending on political campaigns. The good news is that the bill's authors say they will strengthen it if they hear from enough people, so we can definitely still have an impact. Can you drop by Rep. Nancy Pelosi's office tomorrow or Thursday and deliver a bag of small potatoes to let her know that this proposal isn't enough? All you need to do is grab your potatoes (really, any size potatoes will do) and print a flyer to bring with you. We'll provide a flyer you can bring with you. Click here if you can do it: http://pol.moveon.org/smallpotatoes/index.html? location_id=15&pri=1&id=18956-5256944-r_sLX7x&t=3 The Democratic plan, proposed by Representative Chris Van Hollen and Senator Chuck Schumer, currently includes these main provisions: • Public disclosure: The proposal includes a number of provisions intended to make sure the public knows which corporations are funding the ads we see on TV during the election. • Foreign corporations: The plan would bar most political spending by foreign-owned corporations. • Government contractors: The proposal would stop government contractors from spending on political campaigns. This just doesn't cut it—not after the Supreme Court put our democracy up for sale to the highest bidder. This is a plan that basically says it's OK for most corporations to buy elections, as long as they tell us they're doing it. Under the bipartisan Fair Elections Now Act, a fund would be created from a small fee on big government contractors and media corporations. Then, candidates who only take contributions below $100 will get those small donations matched four times over from the Fair Elections fund. The Fair Elections Now Act is modeled on successful citizen-funded elections in states like Maine and Connecticut, and a new poll shows it's a winner with voters across the political spectrum. To save our democracy, we need citizen-funded elections, not small potatoes like the Van Hollen-Schumer plan. You can help by delivering a bag of small potatoes to Rep. Pelosi's office tomorrow or Thursday with a flyer urging Congress to pass the Fair Elections Now Act? It's urgent, so it needs to happen right away. Click here if you can do it: http://pol.moveon.org/smallpotatoes/index.html? location_id=15&pri=1&id=18956-5256944-r_sLX7x&t=4