Dear Friends:

       The Supreme Court's misguided Citizen's United decision gave corporations the First Amendment right to anonymously unleash unlimited amounts of money in our elections.  Emboldened by this devastating blow to our electoral system’s integrity, opponents of campaign-finance reform are undermining the remaining campaign-finance protections by finding new ways to infuse even more money into politics.

       Among the Republican House Majority’s first actions was to pass a bill eviscerating the presidential public-financing system that was created in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal.  Opponents of reform are also looking for creative ways to funnel money to like-minded outside partisan groups.

        A disturbing example can be found in Arizona.  The Governor just signed into law legislation to create a Tea Party license plate.  Unlike Tea Party plates in other states, where the additional fee for the vanity plate goes to the State Treasury, in Arizona the state simply would funnel $17 of the $25 annual fee directly to only Tea Party groups.  What an abuse of government resources!

        In response, I introduced legislation yesterday that would withhold 15 percent of a state’s federal highway funding unless its governor certifies that the state is not transferring license plate money to preferred political organizations.  Whether at the state or federal level, elected officials should strive to reduce the pervasive influence of money in our political process rather than using government as a tool to enrich a favored political group or advocacy organization, on the right, on the left or anywhere in between.

        Please know that I will continue to support robust campaign-finance reform to restore integrity to the electoral process because elections should be about ideas, not money.      

Sincerely,

Gary L. Ackerman