Your one-stop destination for political reform, government ethics and accountability news and updates from a nonpartisan perspective.
Today marks the start of the third month since the Federal Election Commission (FEC) lost its ability to do its job due to the resignation of one commissioner. Three seats on the six-member FEC are now vacant, leaving the agency that oversees all federal campaign finance issues one person short of a quorum. Without a quorum, the FEC cannot resolve
Read MoreToday, Republican and Democratic former Defense Secretaries Chuck Hagel and Leon Panetta, former Acting Homeland Security Secretary Admiral James Loy, and 90 other former members of Congress, governors, and Cabinet secretaries from both parties, called on the U.S. Senate to support a suite of bipartisan bills that would defend America’s elections against foreign interference. They are members of Issue One’s
Read MoreMore than half of all freshman House members have formed leadership PACs — political committees that are frequently criticized as slush funds — according to an Issue One review of federal campaign finance filings. “It takes shockingly little time for politicians to adopt the ways of Washington,” said Issue One CEO Nick Penniman. “Leadership PACs are little-known outside the Beltway,
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Congressional and presidential candidates filed their latest campaign finance reports on Tuesday, detailing their fundraising and expenditures between July 1 and September 30. Here are some key numbers to know, based on an Issue One review of these new filings. $234 million President Donald Trump and the Democratic and Republican candidates vying to replace him combined to raise about $234
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This week’s bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report on Russian foreign interference in the 2016 election is the latest and most definitive case for new legislation that would help improve transparency for online political ads as a way to bolster election security. “The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 requires political advertisements on television, radio, and satellite to disclose the sponsor
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Many presidential candidates are relying on networks of wealthy, well-connected donors to help them raise large sums of campaign cash. Will any of these White House hopefuls publicly disclose the names of these elite fundraisers? They should, according to a new letter sent today by Issue One and 15 other organizations from across the ideological spectrum to all Republican and
Read MoreThis op-ed originally appeared in The Fulcrum. I started Issue One five years ago to recruit more voices from inside and outside Washington into the movement fixing our ailing democracy. Since then, I’ve addressed large crowds; sat with members of Congress from both parties; moderated sessions with billionaires; debated professors; convened lawyers, think tanks and advocacy groups; advised political candidates
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Today marks the start of the second month since the Federal Election Commission (FEC) lost its ability to do its job due to the resignation of one commissioner. Three seats on the six-member FEC are now vacant, leaving the agency that oversees all federal campaign finance issues one person short of a quorum. Without a quorum, the FEC cannot resolve
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Election security experts were optimistic of Capitol Hill’s efforts to prevent foreign interference and harden U.S. election infrastructure ahead of November 2020 but called for more action at a staff briefing today. The panel was hosted and moderated by Issue One CEO Nick Penniman as part of our “Don’t Mess With US” project. “Election security is the greatest crisis facing our
Read MoreToday, Issue One launched FEC M.I.A. to hold the president and Senate accountable for allowing the nation’s election watchdog to effectively shutter, and call on all six seats on the FEC to be filled by new commissioners. “The Federal Election Commission was already broken, but now it is in shambles and can’t even perform the most basic law-enforcement functions as
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