“You might ask, ‘How much does the voice of a former politician matter?’ Well, one politician, maybe not a lot. 10? You might be getting somewhere. 100? That’s pretty hard to ignore. But 200 former members of Congress all working together to clean up Washington is historic. It has not happened before.” Across the country, people are disillusioned with politics
Read More“So the question for Republicans is whether we’re ready to take on political reform and look at these issues through the principled lens of conservatism instead of a partisan, political one… Because fixing our broken political system is the smart thing to do — and it’s the right thing to do.” The issue of fixing our political system isn’t a
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Swamp Stories is excited to introduce a new periodic series of episodes where host Weston Wamp has longform conversations with leaders in the political reform movement. For the first episode of this “Conversations” series, Weston is joined by Issue One’s Founder and CEO Nick Penniman to discuss how he became involved in the political reform space, the current moment that
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With Election Day roughly 15 weeks away, money continues to pour into the 2020 presidential race, despite the coronavirus pandemic, according to new campaign finance reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on Monday. Here are some of the key numbers to know from an Issue One analysis of these filings, which detail the money presidential candidates raised and spent
Read More“So if a normal year of government spending justifies a multi-billion dollar lobbying industry, you can just imagine what happened when the CARES Act came into focus. It was a lobbyist’s dream buffet.” In March, lawmakers passed the CARES Act to assist with the crippling effects of COVID-19 on America’s economy. While this massive government stimulus package was an important
Read More“Let me give it to you straight: Over the last decade it has become commonplace in Washington for people who lobby the government to avoid registering as lobbyists, thus preventing the public from knowing who is paying them and for what purposes.” The influence industry looms large in policymaking in Washington, DC, and the big players are lobbyists. Because of
Read MoreWASHINGTON (May 27, 2020) – The Fulcrum, a nonprofit news platform covering the democracy reform movement, announces today the addition of a new financial supporter, Craig Newmark Philanthropies. The Fulcrum, which launched in June 2019, is staffed by award-winning journalists who report on the efforts to make our democratic republic less tribal, our elections more competitive, our politicians less beholden
Read MoreIssue One is pleased to announce that attorney Linda Willard and business executive Peter Staple have joined its board of directors. “Linda Willard and Peter Staple are passionate about political reform and will bring new experiences and ideas to our board of directors as we seek to unite Democrats, Republicans, and independents to fix our broken political system at this
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Issue One Executive Director Meredith McGehee issued the following statement in the wake of the Senate’s confirmation of Texas attorney Trey Trainor to serve on the Federal Election Commission, which ends the longest period in the agency’s history without the quorum necessary for it to do its job — nearly nine months. “We hope that Trey Trainor will faithfully uphold
Read MoreToday, the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation launched the Brewer Fellowship to Unite America — a new program to support leaders in the democracy reform space — in partnership with Cultivate the Karass and supported by the Unite America Fund. Issue One is proud to announce that our Founder and CEO Nick Penniman, as well as Nilmini Rubin, Managing Director and
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