July, 23 2015, 02:00pm EDT
Government Reform Organizations Unveil Democracy Agenda for Next President
WASHINGTON
U.S. PIRG joined 11 other leading government reform organizations today to release a comprehensive policy agenda to curb the impact of big money and amplify the voices of everyday Americans in our democracy. Under the reform agenda, the Citizens United decision would be overturned, more candidates could rely on small donors instead of Super PACs and mega-donors to fund their campaigns, political donations and spending would become more transparent, and candidates would no longer be able to skirt contribution limits through coordination with outside groups.
The document calls for the next President of the United States to commit to making this reform agenda a national priority from Day One in office.
"With the 2016 money primary in full swing as candidates from both parties court the donors with the deepest pockets, Americans of all political stripes are ready for reform - now more than ever," said Dan Smith, U.S. PIRG's Democracy Campaign Director and a contributor to the policy agenda. "The next President of the United States needs to make these reforms a centerpiece of their agenda from Day One."
The "Fighting Big Money, Empowering People" Agenda is based on five core principles of democracy:
- Everyone participates
- Everyone's voice is heard
- Everyone knows who is trying to influence our views and our representatives
- Everyone plays by fair, commonsense rules
- Everyone is held accountable, with enforceable penalties to deter bad behavior
Key policies of the agenda include:
- Encouraging and amplifying the voices of everyday Americans through legislation to match small contributions with public funds for candidates who turn down big money, and tax credits for small contributions to encourage more Americans to participate.
- Robust, real-time disclosure of political contributions and expenditures through legislation and executive action, including an executive order requiring federal contractors to disclose political spending, should President Obama fail to act.
- Overturning Citizens United and related cases through the Democracy for All constitutional amendment.
- Ending the mockery of existing campaign finance rules through legislation preventing coordination between candidates and outside groups that can receive unlimited contributions from big donors, and robust enforcement of current laws.
Recent public opinion polls showing that an overwhelming majority of Americans feel that their voices are being drowned out by big donors, and that our system is in need of sweeping reform. A New York Times/CBS poll found that 85 percent of Americans think the system for funding campaigns needs "fundamental changes" or that "we need to totally rebuild it." A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC survey found that the political influence of corporations and the wealthy is a top concern for voters in the 2016 election.
The release of this agenda also comes on the heels of efforts to enact similar reforms by states and localities across the country:
- Last fall, the County Council in Montgomery County, Maryland enacted a program to amplify the voices of small donors and enable candidates to rely on everyday citizens to fund their campaigns instead of big donors.
- In February, nearly 80 percent of Chicago voters approved an advisory ballot measure calling on the city council to create a small donor empowerment program.
- In Seattle, 32,000 residents signed a petition to qualify the Honest Elections Seattle initiative for the ballot in 2015.
- More than 85,000 Mainers signed a petition to qualify a ballot measure for 2015 to restore the state's clean elections law and shine a light on dark money.
- In Montana, Democratic Governor Steve Bullock signed into law a dark money disclosure bill passed by a Republican-controlled legislature
In addition to U.S. PIRG, the groups signed onto the agenda include: Brennan Center for Justice, Common Cause, Democracy 21, Democracy Matters, Demos, Every Voice, Issue One, Mayday, People for the American Way, Public Citizen, and Represent.Us.
"For the next President, words won't be enough to rise to the occasion. Strong action is required to ensure that every American, regardless of how deep their pockets are, has an equal voice in our elections," said Smith.
Click here for a copy of "Fighting Big Money, Empowering People: A 21st Century Democracy Agenda."
U.S. PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), stands up to powerful special interests on behalf of the American public, working to win concrete results for our health and our well-being. With a strong network of researchers, advocates, organizers and students in state capitols across the country, we take on the special interests on issues, such as product safety,political corruption, prescription drugs and voting rights,where these interests stand in the way of reform and progress.
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Immigration agents are using facial recognition software as "definitive" evidence to determine immigration status and is collecting data from US citizens without their consent. In some cases, agents may detain US citizens, including ones who can provide their birth certificates, if the app says they are in the country illegally.
These are a few of the findings from a series of articles published this past week by 404 Media, which has obtained documents and video evidence showing that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents are using a smartphone app in the field during immigration stops, scanning the faces of people on the street to verify their citizenship.
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On Wednesday, ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), told 404 that ICE agents will even trust the app's results over a person's government documents.
“ICE officials have told us that an apparent biometric match by Mobile Fortify is a ‘definitive’ determination of a person’s status and that an ICE officer may ignore evidence of American citizenship—including a birth certificate—if the app says the person is an alien,” he said.
This is despite the fact that, as Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project, told 404, “face recognition technology is notoriously unreliable, frequently generating false matches and resulting in a number of known wrongful arrests across the country."
Thompson said: "ICE using a mobile biometrics app in ways its developers at CBP never intended or tested is a frightening, repugnant, and unconstitutional attack on Americans’ rights and freedoms.”
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During a press conference this week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem denied this reality, stating that "no American citizens have been arrested or detained" as part of Trump's "mass deportation" crusade.
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But as DHS's internal document explains, facial recognition software is necessary in the first place because "ICE agents do not know an individual's citizenship at the time of the initial encounter."
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