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
Read MoreIn an exit interview on “Full Measure” with Sharyl Attkisson, broadcast to millions of homes nationwide, U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair, Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) lambasted the fundraising virus that plagues our elected representatives. Chaffetz, who was first elected to the House in 2008 and has served as chair of the Oversight Committee since 2015, announced he
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It’s time to reset our congressional fundraising counter! In July 2016, we launched a counter presenting a rough running estimate of how much time members of Congress collectively spent raising money for their campaigns since the start of the 114th Congress. Based on the advice given to members by the Democratic and Republican national party committees, and statements by the
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Rep. Joe Schwarz, a former Congressman from Michigan, recently gave an interview for Stateside on Michigan Radio. As a member of Issue One’s ReFormers Caucus, a bipartisan coalition of former congressmen, governors, cabinet secretaries and ambassadors who are concerned about money in politics, Rep. Schwarz succinctly described the fundraising addiction that afflicts our Congress, which he experienced first-hand in the
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Congratulations! You’ve just been elected to Congress! If you want to serve on a good committee, never mind your credentials or your expertise. You better start fundraising. Speaking with the Cincinnati Enquirer, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has come out swinging with a one-two punch against party fundraising schemes that attempt to price committee seats by requiring large amounts of fundraising
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While the 2016 presidential election has breached the $1 billion spending mark, less has been made of another, more damaging, part of our out-of-control campaign finance system: congressional “hard money” fundraising. The excerpt below, from the recently released book Nation On The Take, takes a deep dive on “dialing for dollars”—the activity that turns Members of Congress into glorified telemarketers
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