Friend,

A recent trip to my home state of Minnesota reminded me why I joined American Promise to fight for the 28th Amendment. While visiting the Twin Cities area to launch four new American Promise Associations—an exciting growth spurt!—I learned how big money had become a factor in a rural county election. 

Last year two incumbent members of the Wright County Commission were up for re-election. But within the county is a landfill owned by an out-of-state company looking to expand its operations there. The landfill company supported two candidates running against the incumbents, spending a total of $45,000 on these two campaigns—far above the norm of around $2,000 per campaign and yet another example of an influx of corporate cash being spent to eclipse citizen voices. 

But big money didn’t prevail this time—the local incumbents won, providing another example to all of us citizen leaders that fighting big money is hard work, but We the People still control the vote. 

As we bring citizen leaders together for American Promise Association activities, at our National Citizen Leadership Conference and other events across the country, We the People can come together to use our democratic power and win the 28th Amendment.

From the Center for Responsive Politics: Several bills introduced in Congress aim to crack down on laundered cash and political “dark money” flowing into the U.S. from foreign-influenced shell companies. The proposed bills would require disclosure of companies’ beneficial owners — those who enjoy the benefits of ownership and control the company — to federal investigators. Lawmakers are mostly attempting to snuff out money laundering and the financing of other illegal activities. But the proposed legislation also could affect foreign interference in U.S. politics. Read more.

From the Fulcrum: While political dialog may appear more divisive than ever, writer Michael Golden says most Americans agree that our political system needs repair. “The fact is that more and more of us these days are talking, writing and working on the defective state of our political system and the ways in which we must take action to correct it, a critical subject,” says Golden, who with others recently launched the Fulcrum as “the only news organization focused exclusively on efforts to reverse the dysfunctions plaguing American governance.” Read more.

From Colorado Public Radio: A new law in Colorado, the Clean Campaign Act of 2019, is designed to reveal donors who use nonprofits or other groups to pump millions of untraceable dollars into state-level Super PACs. It also bans campaign contributions from any foreign country, individual or corporation and requires more “paid for by” disclosures on election messages. Some question whether the law will work, or whether donors can easily evade the spotlight. Read more. 

From the Casper (WY) Star-Tribune: In a letter to the editor, Mel Logan of Wyoming Promise encourages the state’s congressional delegation to take action on campaign finance reform. “We want you to champion this cause; sponsor and fight for a bill that calls for a constitutional amendment to say that corporations are not persons and money is not speech,” Logan says. “We want you to represent we the people of America, not special interests or nefarious donors from wherever in the world.” Read more.

June 30, Peterborough, NH: American Promise President Jeff Clements will be the first in a series of weekly speakers in the Monadnock Summer Lyceum at Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church. His presentation, “Equal Citizens or Oligarchy: New Hampshire and the Cross-partisan Movement for the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution” runs from 11 a.m. to noon and will be rebroadcast at 11 a.m. on WSMN 1590 AM on the following Sunday, and on WUML 91.5 FM the following Wednesday. Learn more.