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granny d
Elizabeth Warren Vows Campaign Built on 'Ideas and Principles - Not Money and Access'
"Granny D is in one of my all-time favorite political activists," says Massachussetts senator and presidential candidate. "We are going to build a primary campaign based on ideas and principles – not money and access."
Feb 24, 2019
Announcing her campaign will shun the tradition of "fancy receptions," endless phone calls, and "big money fundraisers" with deep-pocketed donors "who can write big checks," Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday--inspired by the courageous activism of Doris "Granny D" Haddock, who in her late eighties walked thousands of miles against the corrupting influence of big money in politics--told supporters that she will walk a path focused on small donors as she pursues the 2020 Democratic nomination for president.
"For every time you see a presidential candidate talking with voters at a town hall, rally, or local diner, those same candidates are spending three or four or five times as long with wealthy donors--on the phone, or in conference rooms at hedge fund offices, or at fancy receptions and intimate dinners--all behind closed doors," Warren wrote in an email to supporters early on Monday. "When I thank the people giving to my campaign, it will not be based on the size of their donation."
According to CNN:
Warren's announcement Monday is an implicit challenge to--and perhaps even criticism of--some of her competitors in the Democratic field who have courted big-dollar donors and bundlers.
The Warren campaign has not held a single fundraiser since New Year's Eve when Warren launched her presidential exploratory committee, Warren aides confirmed to CNN.
The time that Warren and her staff can save by skipping glitzy fundraisers and call times with deep-pocketed donors, they say, is time they are devoting to more organizing events, town halls, and calls to grassroots supporters and small-dollar donors. In just under two months, Warren has traveled to Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada, California, Georgia and Puerto Rico, and has clocked in more than 20 campaign events.
Warren has already disavowed accepting any PAC money and donations from federal lobbyists and has pressured others Democratic candidates to do the same.
On Sunday, Warren teased her announcement before entering a local residence in Laconia, New Hampshire, where the spirited campaign finance reform activist, Granny D, was born.
"At the age of 88, one of my favorite activists named Granny D walked 10 miles a day for 14 months across the United States. Why? Because she was fighting for campaign finance reform," Warren declares in the video. "I agree with Granny D - we need to get big money out of politics." Watch:
"Not only will I not accept money from PACs or federal lobbyists, but I'm going further than that," said Warren.
"We want to build a campaign built on ideas and on principles in rooms like the kind I'm about to walk into," she added, "full of volunteers and neighbors and enthusiastic Democrats who want to dream big and fight hard."
Granny D, who died in 2010 at the age of 100, spent the last decades of her life committed to fighting big money in politics and demanding meaningful campaign finance reform. As The Nation's John Nichols wrote following her death:
Former President Jimmy Carter hailed Granny D. as "a true patriot" and declared that "our nation has been blessed by her remarkable life."
Haddock's walk made her a national celebrity, who was hailed by presidents and senators. Yet, she did not rest on the laurels. Rather, Granny D. ramped up her activism, spending her 90s as one of the most outspoken critics of the war in Iraq and a passionate advocate for holding former President Bush and former Vice President Cheney to account for the lies that spawned the invasion and occupation.
Granny D. even ran for the U.S. Senate, earning the Democratic nomination as an anti-war challenger to U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, R-New Hampshire.
Don't mourn her for too long, Nichols said after her death. Like Joe Hill, he said, Haddock would only want people to do one thing: Organize.
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'Our Congress:' Protesters Say Democracy Is Awakening
On an April Sunday, more than 200 organizations united in Washington to fight for voting rights and campaign finance reform.
Apr 18, 2016
Chanting "Our Capitol!" and "Our Congress!" in a colorful parade that stretched from the top of Capitol Hill to its base, an unusual mix of demonstrators on Sunday managed to turn the too often esoteric issues of campaign finance and election law into matters worthy of genuine passion.
On the penultimate day of a week of activity designed to focus attention on the erosion of political fundraising regulations and voting rights laws, about 1,500 gathered to give voice to views that, according to most polls, vast majorities of Americans support.
While that crowd may not have been anywhere near record-breaking on a national Capital Mall that has seen Million Men marches and two Obama inaugurals, it was enough to buoy the spirits of those who for decades have waged a lonely battle to reform the nation's political system.
Back in 2000, when 90-year-old Doris Haddock, better known as "Granny D" for her coast-to-coast march for campaign finance reform, was arrested at the Capitol, only a few dozen joined her, recalled Nick Nyhart, head of Every Voice Center. Already, nearly 1,000 demonstrators have been arrested this week for voting rights and campaign finance reform. "This is an order of magnitude bigger than anything I've seen in many years," said Nyhart.
On Monday, demonstrators plan to continue to engage in civil disobedience outside the Capitol while others go inside to lobby members of Congress.
"I would be proud to have every one of you sitting in the cell next to me," Chris Shelton, president of the Communications Workers of America, declared. "I beseech you to show up tomorrow and get arrested." Shelton, who said 200 of his union members plan to risk arrest, vowed it will send a message to lawmakers that it's time to "get off your ass and change what you're doing."
The Monday activities will mark the last formal day of protests by Democracy Spring and Democracy Awakening, two efforts that have brought thousands of people to Washington to press for passage of four bills focusing on campaign finance reform and voting rights, and for the US Senate to take up President Barack Obama's nominee for the Supreme Court, Merrick Garland. The legislation would:
- Repeal the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United that opened the door to unlimited corporate campaign giving;
- Establish a public financing mechanism for congressional races designed to encourage small donors;
- Repeal the Supreme Court decision rolling back voting rights protections;
- Make it easier to register to vote and cast a ballot.
More than 200 organizations are supporting Democracy Awakening and while most backers of the movement are on the progressive side of the spectrum, Democracy Spring was joined by some conservatives on its march from Philadelphia to Washington.
More impressive than the numbers, organizers of the protest said, was its diversity. The crowd, which enjoyed picnic-perfect weather by the side of the Capitol Reflecting Pool, heard from speakers representing government watchdog groups, environmental organizations, the gay rights movement and civil rights veterans. One of the latter, William Barber, a founder of North Carolina's "Moral Mondays" movement, said it will take a "fusion" of progressive white, Latinos and blacks to push back efforts by conservatives to "lock up the South for another generation."
"This is a racial and class warfare on our democracy," Barber proclaimed. "Wake up America! It's our time! This is our Selma!"
Members of the audience reflected the range of interests that are now being brought to focus on what Rob Weissman of Public Citizen described as a "rigged political system."
"The key issue is this money thing," retired Philadelphia architect Bob Pistelli said when asked why he was marching. "It's something that's causing things to slow down and stop" in the political system, added Pistelli, who said he's looking for a way to give politicians a forum other than 30-second political commercials. He said such ads have just given rise to a culture of deception: "You can sell anything if you put enough money behind it and repeat it enough times."
For Nisha Witt, an engineer running a solar technology business in Norfolk, Virginia, it was the power of big energy companies that stirred her anger and brought her to the march. "We've got corporate money persuading the people we put into office that fossil fuels is the way to go," said Witt, a Sierra Club member. "I was definitely excited to come. It gets people to wake up."
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On 5th Anniversary of Citizens United, Groups Nationwide Decry Corporate Influence in Politics
'The Supreme Court, in its Citizens United decision, opened the floodgates, and our democracy is drowning,' says activist
Jan 21, 2015
On the fifth anniversary of the Supreme Court's Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, which unleashed a scourge of dark money and unlimited corporate spending in U.S. elections, a coalition of reform-minded organizations gathered on Wednesday to promote several key pieces of legislation aimed at countering the influence of big money in politics.
In Washington, D.C., 15 members of Congress joined a diverse set of democracy groups to reintroduce measures including:
- The Democracy for All Amendment, which provides Congress and the states with the authority to determine reasonable regulations on campaign financing and distinguish between natural persons and other artificial entities under campaign finance laws;
- The DISCLOSE Act, which establishes a system of disclosure of campaign spending and the sources of those funds;
- The Sunlight for Unaccountable Nonprofits Act, which makes public the donors who give more than $5,000 to tax-exempt groups that engage in election activities;
- Various proposals geared toward empowering small donors and increasing political participation by matching public funds for small dollar contributions, such as the Government by the People Act, Empowering Citizens Act, and Fair Elections Now Act.
The growing support for such reform measures is reflected in a recently released 'Unity Statement of Principles' (pdf) signed by 130 organizations and endorsing policies that are "already working in many parts of the country to ensure a democracy where everyone participates and everyone's voice is heard; where everyone knows who is buying influence in our elections and government; and where politicians play by common sense rules and are held accountable with enforceable penalties to deter bad behavior."
Meanwhile, a 5th Anniversary rally and forum were planned to take place outside the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the biggest spender in the 2014 congressional elections among outside groups that do not disclose their contributors. Convened by a laundry list of progressive groups including 350.org, Jobs With Justice, and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, the forum featured U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), Jobs With Justice executive director Sarita Gupta, and Public Citizen president Robert Weissman, speaking on how the problem of big money-fueled elections impact people's daily lives.
Elsewhere, more than 60 events--film screenings, rallies, and protests--would take place around the country.
In Wisconsin, where 54 communities representing more than 2.4 million people have called for a 'We the People' amendment that would clarify for the Supreme Court and all Americans that money is not speech, and therefore, campaign spending can be regulated, the organization Money Out, Voters In (MOVI) held a morning press conference to mark the anniversary.
At the event, Wisconsin State Assemblywoman Lisa Subeck introduced a bill to create an advisory referendum on the November 2016 ballot asking whether Wisconsin's congressional delegation should support, and the Wisconsin Legislature should ratify, an amendment to the U.S. Constitution stating that:
1. Only human beings--not corporations, unions, nonprofit organizations, or similar associations--are endowed with constitutional rights; and
2. Money is not speech, and therefore limiting political contributions and spending is not equivalent to restricting political speech.
"The Supreme Court, in its Citizens United decision, opened the floodgates, and our democracy is drowning," said Matt Rothschild, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. "Here in Wisconsin, we've seen the consequences, as the Koch brothers, and Gogebic Taconite, and the school privatizers are throwing their weight around as never before."
Similarly, in New York, hundreds of activists planned to gather in the state capitol to urge the New York Legislature to make New York the 17th state to call for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. New York came close last year with a majority of the Assembly and 28 state senators signing a letter to Congress calling for an amendment; so far, 20 local municipalities, representing nearly 10 million people, have voiced their support for an amendment, including New York City, Albany, and Buffalo.
In New Hampshire, a statehouse rally will be followed by the 'Granny D Gala,' named for late Doris Haddock, who walked over 3,200 miles across the continental United States to advocate for campaign finance reform in 1999 and 2000. The gala will feature activist Lawrence Lessig as keynote speaker.
Last week, a set of eight reports were released simultaneously, showing that Citizens United "opened the floodgates to big money influence in our democracy, giving special interests and the wealthy more control over our government and economy than they've enjoyed since the Gilded Age of the late 19th century," as Common Cause phrased it.
Follow the anniversary actions on Twitter:
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