Transcripts For CSPAN2 10th Anniversary Of Citizens United V. FEC Case 20240713

Ladies and gentlemen, were going to sit down and get started. The mayor will be here. Shes tied up right now the shoe will be here in just a minute, or maybe just ten or 15 minutes but she will be here. Our friends at cspan, are we ready . Dont want to heres the mayor. I said she is going to be tied up for just a minute. She was tied up for just a second. Madame mayor, thank you so much. Good to see you. Why dont you have [inaudible] she is our point person on Citizens United, and i represented the highest bill for very long period of time, all my period time in the congress of the United States, and hyattsville is a happening place. Hyattsville is, i like to say, is the georgetown of Prince Georges County. Its got all sorts of very diverse, very excited, very interesting things happening here, and mayor hollingsworth of course as a part of that happening. So madam mayor, where very glad to be in your city. We are happy to have you here, for a very important conversation. We appreciate your engagement on, i know i appreciate your engagement on this issue and the no citizens in the city of hyattsville definitely have high interest in this as well. Good. We are about to celebrate or to lament depending upon your perspective, the tenth anniversary of the Supreme Court case that was called Citizens United. It was a Supreme Court case that had a profound effect on the financing of campaigns, and the exploding use of dark money. One of the things my mother used to tell me all the time was considered the source. I was talking to people and she would say, you heard me say this at her press conference last week, consider the source. Whos talking to you . You know, what is the background . What is their intent . What is their interest . Because you really want to know that, any of us who to talk to people and you say whats their angle . Why are they saying this . Because it makes a difference. And it certainly in a democracy makes a difference that people know whos talking to them, why they are talking to them, why their position is as it is, and then judge whether or not they believe the position is correct or credible or something of which the to take action. We and the congress of the United States have been working when we took over the leadershi leadership, the democrats took over the leadership on a piece of legislation to try to restore the peoples right and ability to know whos talking to them. And also to make sure that special interest money does not outweigh the peoples money, the peoples action, the peoples boat, so that democracy works for the people and not for the special interests. And thats what this discussion is about as we recognize this tenth anniversary of this case that has had such a profound effect and in our view a negative effect on our politics. Im glad to be joined, thank you, madam mayor, for welcoming us here. Glad to be joined by my colleagues in congress, con John Sarbanes. John sarbanes is the principal come he with the organizer, and author of much but organizer of others because not only do we deal with Campaign Financing reform, we dealt with Voting Rights and the ability of people to be encouraged and facilitated not impeded in the right to vote. And giving as well with redistricting. All three of those issues we think need to be dealt with in the last when we dealt with the course with ethics, ethics of officeholders and of Public Servants so that they would ethically and honestly carry out the duties of their office. Now before i recognize congressman sarbanes why do we go around the room and each of you introduce yourselves to the audience and to those watching on tv. Good afternoon. Im kim coble and its executive director for the Maryland League of conservation voters. Good afternoon. My name is willing to represent maryland state conference naacp. Im Tiffany Muller and im the president of end Citizens United. On emily scarf and director of the American Public Interest Research group. Good afternoon on malcolm and a represent the naacp first Vice President of Calvert County branch. I name is bob ross, president of Prince Georges County naacp. Good afternoon, i represent Charles County as president of naacp. We are very pleased of a broad representation of people from my district but im also very pleased to have somebody from another district, the third Congressional District of our state, john senator daines who is a member of the Energy Commerce committee, one of the committees with the broadest jurisdiction in the congress of United States but also one of our most influential and consistent and powerful leaders on behalf of government reform, honesty in government, inclusion of people having the right to vote protected and reforming our Campaign Finance system. Congressman, thank you for being with us and a eulogy of. Thanks very much, congressman hoyer, thank you for your leadership in our caucus, in the house and for the nation. I think congressman hoyer approaches this issue from the standpoint as somebody who cares deeply about the institution of the United States congress. Ive seen you translate that conviction many, many times, editing to approach this in the same way that if we are truly want to be the peoples house and represent the people honestly and forthrightly, that we need to get these a special interests and big money out of the way because they are disrupting and corrupting the relationship that ought to exist between the people and the peoples representatives. So i thank you for your Leadership Today and over so many years, thanks for welcoming me to your district. Mad a, thank you for having this here as well. And to those around the table madam mayor those who understand importance of fighting back against bigmoney special interests, thank you for joining us for this conversation. Its hard to believe its been ten years since the Citizens United case. Those of us who cherish our democracy kind of feel it as a decision that came down yesterday because moments after it was delivered, and i think it was a broad recognition of how damaging it would be to our democracy. I remember in the state of union speech, president obama predicting what would happen as a result of this case. And all of that has come true, and more. One of the startling statistics you will hear it again i think tiffany will allude to this, but in the 20 years before the Citizens United case, the amount of outside spending those come into our politics was about 750 million over that whole time. And 80 of that was disclosed. Since the Citizens United case in the last ten years that number is or . 4 billion. Only 50 of it is disclose, so thats 2. 2 billion coming into billion dollars come into our politics from undisclosed sources. And its left i think him its largely explains why the public feels so disconnected from their politics and washington, and their own sense of ownership of the democracy, is even the money was having an influence before Citizens United for sure, with that decision came a kind of arrogance on the part of special interests, this i did that your checkbook is large enough, you can call the shots here and the swagger that you starting to see in the way to special interests operate i think was deeply offensive to Everyday Americans out there. And led to this frustration of citizens which we see, and is so corrosive toward democracy. People dont believe in the democracy, then elements that are more insidious can flood, come into the political town square and try to grab the power and the discussion here and we have seen that. So its really important that we fight back. We had the opportunity last year with the for the people act, h. R. One, which in many respects is the most transformative anticorruption and clean elections act that weve passed in the last 50 years. It covers a lot of territory in terms of restoring the voice of Everyday Americans, including demanding more accountability on where this money comes from, Disclosure Requirements so we know where the super pacs are getting their money and these other organizations that operate in the shadows. So if we could get h. R. One past, we could solve a lot of that frustration. It would bolster the authority of the federal election commission, so in the home stretch of any Campaign Cycle like we are about to enter into, not too long from now, they could be a cop on the beat and make sure that people that are not playing fair using their money to end run our democracy would be caught in the act and it would be penalties and consequences for that. And finally, it creates some real empowerment opportunities for Everyday Americans. It sets up a small donor matching system that can kind of democratize the way the funding of campaigns happen in america. And in that way allow Everyday Americans to step up, push back, and compete with the bigmoney crowd. And we did something very elegant in terms of paying for that, which is we said were going to pay for that system of matching small donations by putting a surcharge on corporate lawbreakers. So its not taxpayer money. If a corporation settles with the government and enters into settlement, we will take a little piece of that and thats going to support this fund that can match small donations and give how to Everyday Americans. And in that way we can say to the people that have been breaking our democracy for the last ten years, or more, youre going to help to fix it, the democracy and lift up the voices of Everyday Americans. So i really appreciate the focus on this at a critical moment, this ten Year Anniversary where we, as congressman hoyer said, lament the Citizens United case. But then talk positively and confidently about ways we can push back. Those fighting for our environment certainly understand why this is important because the influence of big money gets in the way of so many different, important substantive agendas like protecting the chesapeake bay, fighting Climate Change, and so we are going to hear that from lcv. Weve got folks who work very closely in Public Interest in green and understand how the voices of Everyday Americans are being pushed to the margins of their democracy. And im very glad to have the members of the naacp and various leadership positions joining us today for a couple of reasons. One is the naacp nationally has been huge but on h. R. One. Really one of the premier partners they came together and help us get this over the finish line in the house in march of last year, and continues to work as part of a broad coalition. Thats going to help us deliver on it again and hopefully ultimately get it passed in the congress and onto the desk of a president that will be willing to sign it. The reason that participation is so important is theres a lot of studies that show that the money, no surprise, the big money that flows into our politics right now, its not coming from communities of color. Its not coming from people who are carrying the burden of participation in our democracy in a significant way. Its coming from folks that already have a lot of power and a lot of influence. And theres also studies that show that if youve got the money, youve got the influence, and thats how the agenda gets set. So if were going to make progress on issues that matter to all americans, and push forward empowerment opportunities in all of the legislative endeavors we undertaken with got to solve this problem of money and politics. We got to break that dependence on bigmoney and special interest thats what h. R. One is designed to do. Also we bring attention to on this ten Year Anniversary. So again, thank you. And you say consider the source, is what you always told. Thats exactly what were trying to do at disclosure, allow people to consider the source. Because if you dont know where the money is coming from, you just know its in the millions and billions of dollars, its very demoralizing to the average person out there. So thank you for letting me join your. Thank you very much for your observations and thank you very much for the extraordinary work youve done not only enter on state with our own constituencies here in maryland, but congressman sarbanes has traveled throughout the country, and as a result of his proselytizing on behalf of of this legislation, when we brought it to a vote in the house of representatives, we have a very broad based 234 democratic members of the congress of the United States, some from trump districts, some from very liberal districts, so from eastwest and northsouth, 100 every democrat every democrat voted for this legislation. There was not a single democrat who did not vote for this because although they differ in terms of some other perspectives on issues, what you do not differ on is making sure that the American Public is being represented, not others because of big, dark money that flows into the system. Number one. Number two, included in this, one of our senators Chris Van Hollen has been a great leader over a period of time since the Citizens United case was passed of saying that full disclosure of contributions was necessary. So that no matter what Citizens United, which we probably would have to change by constitution, amendment, unfortunately, or have the Supreme Court changed its view, but we can require every contribution to a Political Campaign to be disclosed so that whether or not we can affect the amount of money, we can affect the fact that the public does so they can consider the source. So those two things i think are important, that we passes unanimously and that the United States senate has refused to bring it up. Notwithstanding and im going to recognize Tiffany Muller who heads up the organization that is been really focus on this, im sure she would give us some statistics, the overwhelming majority of americans support this legislation and notwithstanding that, it has not come to the floor of the city as so many, 275 plus bills have been passed to the house of representatives over the last year and at by a person fashion by 400 400 plus bills the pas5 i person have not been brought up on the floor of the senate for consideration by the senate. So tiffany, why did you give us an overview of what you have done, what you are doing and what you see as our next steps. Was thank you so much, leader hoyer. Its a real honor to be with you here today, and your work on this issue has been, its been fantastic to partner with you. One of the things leader hoyer didnt talk about it was actually we joined forces last year when he laid out a government reform speech, and in that speech in september before the election you laid out why this issue, h. R. One, needed to be the very first thing that a new house took on. And that really propelled h. R. One into those leadership conversations, so thank you so much for your leadership. Thank you. Congressman sarbanes, there is no greater champion on these issues than congressman sarbanes in the caucus, in the congress, and in my humble opinion, in the country, and it is always such an honor to partner with you on all of these things. And its such a pleasure to be with all of you today, so thank you. Tiffany muller, president of in the Citizens United not to be confused with Citizens United. Our name is her mission. We want to end citizen genetic want to overturn Citizens United. I like what a big challenges in life and so why not go for the biggest and the boldest . And we were formed in response to the truly awful Supreme Court decision. So were coming up on the ten Year Anniversary of Citizens United. Also coming up on the fiveYear Anniversary of the end Citizens United. So we are foreign fighters go there were grassroots powered. We have 4 million members across the country, and folks chip in five dollars, 10, 15, whatever they can to try to make sure that we have the resources needed to support great champions like the folks who are sitting up here with, and have the resources needed to make sure that we can push an agenda that will actually start to undo the damage caused by the Citizens United ruling. So i actually get the fun if i have a nice little deck and a promise i will not be going about it but we get to go through a couple of highlights, which is great. So first, who we are. We are end Citizens United action fund. Wherefore million members across the country and were trying to undo the damage caused by Citizens United. So a little bit of background. Citizens united versus the sec was a Supreme Court decision that was decided on january 21, 2010 tips for next tuesday the tenth anniversary, and what a lot of people forget is an actual overturned 100 years of precedent in this country the said corporations were not allowed to play in our political systems. There were not allowed to contribute in our election, which had been in place since 1907 tillman act. So it overturned 100 years of precedent. And a combined two really terrible i terrible i just isnt money equals speech and corporations are people, and it basically said that the were no limits on who or what about the money could be put into our election system. And it is led to what weve seen, this influx of unlimited and undisclosed money pouring into our system. Its not like the system was perfect before Citizens United. It was pretty broken before hand, so it took a bad system and it made it a lot worse. As you heard congressman sarbanes say, and this graph your shows you, there was about 750 million of outside spending in the 20 years prior to Citizens United. You can see the little blind lie where the Citizens United decision happened, and now we have seen 4. 5 billion of outside spending in the last ten years. We went from 750 million over a 20 year period to 4. 5 billion in ten years. The cycle alone in 2020 we are expected see over 2 billion in our election system. Theres no way for Everyday Americans who can maybe give five dollars or ten dollars or you know what, who just believe the voice should count in our democracy, to be able to compete against that amount of money. Before Citizens United we have about 80 of the the money was fully disclosed. We actually knew where the majority of it was coming from, and one of the night he thinks that the Supreme Court said was, well, congress can just pass a law to make sure that all money spent in our elections is fully disclosed and transparent, because sunshine is the best disinfectant. I think as leader hoyer and congressman sarbanes would tell you, that didnt work out so well for us, did it . Since 2010 theres been efforts to get full disclosure and transparency past. It actually passed the house in 2010 2010 only to be held up in the senate, and what weve seen time after time is senator mcconnell and the republicans in the senate continuously block all efforts to see where this money is coming from. So now were actually can i interrupt you just one second . Because theres a certain irony, when mccainfeingold which was a reform bill considered in the senate, both mr. Delay, tom delay, and mr. Mccain said you dont need limits, which mccain was talking about. What you need is disclosure. Their proposition was in opposition to setting limits was no come all you needed was disclosure. So it is very ironic now that a disclosure bill, of which senator van hollen was one of the chief opponents and included here, if not embraced by the republicans and, therefore, in contradiction to the rationale for opposing campaign limits. And senator mcconnell himself used to argue for, you dont need limits, you just a disclosure. Now he argues that would harass his donors. I dont know about you all but i dont feel very sorry for them. What we see now is that 53 of outside spending has little or no disclosure. Because whats happening is that they are being funneled them one organization to another. So you have a super pac called americans love puppies who gets money from an Organization Called puppies were ever, and you have no idea where that money actually comes from. That was not a real example. Im happy to give real examples. That one was not one of them. Heres what we have seen. We seen the rise of mega donors in a way we just never seen in our system before. So it took only 11 people to hit 1 billion to super pacs. 11 people have given 25 of all money that have gone to super pacs. Crazy. 11 people should not hold that much power in our system. And what has this done to the public . They understand whats going on in their system, right . Like they understand we cant get gun background checks passed because of the power of the nra and gun manufacturers. They understand the Climate Change, i promised to use the staff early, prior to the Citizens United there were 14 instances of Senate Republicans joining with the democrats to come together and find solutions to the Climate Change since Citizens United there have been zero. Part of that is that the oil and gas, ten of the 17 highest Campaign Contributions come from the oil and gas energy sector. Oil and gas have 1400 lobbyists on capitol hill every single day of the give over 300 billion every single election cycle. People are scared. And what its done to the public is this, made it more cynical. They even less faith and trust that the government is working for them and that their voice matters. When you ask them was causing the dysfunction in washington, as you can see on this one, 96 of people say money in politics. And then the number two, wealthy political donors. So basically money and money. And they are really mad about it. When i go around the country and talk to voters, they are like and, im working harder and harder and things are getting harder and harder and im being further and further left behind, but the system, they dont think the system is broken because, lets be honest, its not broken for everyone. Its working quite fine for those 11 mega donors who can give a billion dollars to super pacs. It is broken for Everyday Americans, right . And thats how, with a view. They feel like its working for insiders with money or for big special interests and not for them. So lets see, what else do we want to make sure we hit . But there is hope. That was a lot of not a lot of helpful stuff and it does get me fired up, so thanks for listening to the passion they are. But we do have though. What we saw in 2018 was we saw this group of reformers across the country running on this issue, leaning into this issue, meeting voters whether at on this issue and winning on this issue. And then what we saw was the house caucus be responded to that and make h. R. One the very first priority. Compare that to h. R. One from a session before, from the congress before. Republicans h. R. One in 2017, do you guys member what it was . It was the tax bill that gave 1. 7 trillion to the 1 1 and to the corporations. Compared to the data which congress are we in . The 116th congress with House Democrats had no, h. R. One will be about giving people their power back. You know, it combines making sure that everyone has got the right and protects the expansion to voting and make sure that voters are picking their representatives instead of the other way around. Make sure Public Officials are actually working for the public and not just fine lining their own pocket and starts to get the money out of politics. These things are all decide to go together because people are breaking our system are not just breaking it in one way. The say people putting in my are also trying to suppress people from voting. The same people are trying to gerrymander districts of people cant give equal representation. So h. R. One, for the people act as leader hoyer said, i wanted every single democrat vote for every single democratic member in both the house and the senate cosponsored it. Stepped up and said im going to lead on this. We got it to the house. The said it needs to step up and do their job but senator mcconnell wont even allow for to come up for debate because he understands that the public is with us, that even 78 of republicans want to overturn Citizens United, and that we are going to work hard to continue to create the pressure needed to either act on it now or to change the makeup of the senate so they will act on it in the next congress. So thank you. Thank you very much, tiffany and thank you for the work that you and Citizens United and the thousands of small contributions that been made to Citizens United to try to make sure this issue is put in front of the American People. Again, we urge senator mcconnell to put this on the floor, let people vote on it. Thats democracy. What senator mcconnell is doing is preventing democracy from acting in the United States senate. And that is not good for our democracy, not good for the American People and certainly not good for the integrity of our elections. I was patty be the spot of vocal help america vote act in 2002 resulting from the 2000 election debacle we had in terms of the use of Voting Machines that did not give us a clear result and didnt assures that everybodys vote counted. So this is a continuation of my involvement and i want you to know that as majority leader i have asked that we separate out the four component of h. R. One and present each individually to the senate as well so that we would like them to pass the whole bill, but redistricting reform is a very, very critical area. And in my view we need redistricting reform throughout the United States, threat the United States every state is held to the same standard in terms of having their redistricting, not by the politicians but by the people. As iowa, arizona, california at a number of other states have these kinds of commissions. Thats one thing that representative lofgren has introduced as a separate bill so that congressman sarbanes and i and Speaker Pelosi and other leadership working very hard to get to this end some way, to confront the United States senate with responsible for putting on the floor and letting the people know where they stand on these issues. Stop hiding. So why dont we start with you and hear your thoughts. We will go around the table. Well, on behalf of the naacp and grassroots people everywher everywhere, as everyone knows here we have been here before. In the 50s and 60s it was the White Citizens Council and not Citizens United and the White Citizens Council as everybody knew, used the rooster as their symbol to remind constituents who could not read you can go out and vote for these people because where the White Citizens Council, thats the klan and anybody else who spews hate and contempt towards black folks trying to book. Like votes and Grassroots Community is starting winning elections and history is a that showcases that didnt work, but because of the many moves to win ballots and elections, particularly leading up to the 1990 census when the number of black represented as were increased across the country, they had changed the rules and that came from very hardworking people like reverend jackson and others who made a point of saying when we do small things can we make small steps that can win big elections. We got bill clinton in the democratic legacy 1992 election, so that to change the rules begin. So we move up as you mentioned earlier, 2000 and the 2000 Election Year just a little bit and we would be talk about this right now. So the fact is every time we went elections, they change the game. As h. R. One showcases, that when we take those rippling pieces away from it, we can win elections again. I think that its very important that we work harder at the grassroots level, strengthen grassroots people to know about the basic h. R. One, but also understand the power of corporate money. I think this bill does it. I do think that the more that we work, the more we continued to choke the chicken of the day, that we can win elections again and at the right people so i certainly acknowledge the work done by speaker hoyer and representative sarbanes to get us here. As you know, the naacp is on board with this effort. Because Voter Suppression is a real. Voter intimidation at every box is real. Weve seen in the more recent elections, elections in georgia, florida, and anywhere else when it seems that if their star candidates who represent everything bad about Voter Suppression, when they begin to win, the money starts coming in. So Citizens United holds that. Were in favor of taking it down. As you know, the commitment of the naacp is here and we will be here every step of the way. Thank you very much. That was willie flowers, resident of the naacp maryland conference. Let me call attention, although it is not within h. R. One which deals with Voting Rights and making it easier to vote, making sure that we have the days before the election that people can, to the ballot box, they can register on the day of the election. We also passed a major bill also one of our first bills called h. R. 4 which deals with another Supreme Court case, shelby v. Holder. That case set aside the requirement for a preclearance of actions that would be taken by places that would undermine the ability of people to register and vote. We passed that bill as well overwhelmingly, and so we are trying to make sure that from Campaign Finance standpoint, from a Voting Rights standpoint, and from a preclearance standpoint the Voting Rights act passed as a result of bloody sunday essentially in august 1965, is still viable. And, frankly, the Supreme Court decision undermined the ability its very nice to see after the fact of the election on record, people were all reelected and it a lot of money. What you need as a Justice Department that by the wave represents American People not the president that makes it a little as to whether or not the actions propose a jurisdiction that has historically discriminated, what have those changes precleared to ensure that they dont undermine peoples rights to vote. Okay. We will finish on this site of the table and then well go to the other side of the table. And we have kim was with the Maryland League of conservation voters. Thanks for being with us. Is a pleasure to be here. Thank thank you, mayor, for hoss and congressman sarbanes its another. Our Partner Organization National League of conservation voters firmly believes that every american deserves an equal voice in our elections, that protecting our democracy is inextricably linked to protecting our environment. The stakes for both have never been higher. Today we face a Climate Crisis of Epic Proportions that is already having devastating consequences, including flooding, intensive hurricanes, that the wildfires and droughts. And in communes across the country and a little the right to breathe clean air, drink clean water, enjoy a public lands in the chesapeake, and to live in a safe and Healthy Community are being threatened by big corporate polluters and the politicians who choose profits over people. Next week marks the ten Year Anniversary of the Supreme Courts misguided decision in Citizens United versus the fec which helped open the flood of big money into our elections. Its no coincidence that ten years ago is also the last time major climate legislation passed either branch of the legislature. We are also suffering the consequences of the courts decision in shelby county, as you said, congressman from which undermined undermine the landmark Voting Rights act of 1965 and has made it easier for states and jurisdictions across the country to suppress the vote, particularly in communities of color. Facing these threats in our democracy and climate, we see hope in the old actions being taken by this congress, and especially our leaders for the maryland delegation who have long fought to protect marylands apartment. Majority leader hoyer, has worked to make democracy reform a centerpiece of 116th congress and is also been a leader for the 700,000 members next door in washington, d. C. Who lacked voting representation in either the house or the senate. Congressman sarbanes leadership on the for the people act led to passage in the house of the boldest democracy reform in half a century. We are deeply grateful to both of you. Its also important today that we recognize the important legacy of congressman elisha comics or use his authority on the Oversight Committee to root out Voter Suppression across the nation and was a passionate advocate for those whose voices are silenced. He left large shoes to fill and we must all do our part to continue his efforts to fight for Voting Rights and equality. Thats why maryland lcv in partnership with the national lcv is proud to support the bold efforts by the house to prioritize democracy reform, and thereby prioritizing Environment Protection through for the people act h. R. One, the Voting Rights advancement act, h. R. 4, the washington, d. C. Admissions act, h. R. 51, and the democray for all, h. J. Res two to overturn Citizens United. And the reforms we seek to our democracy will not just to protect our environment. It also address the same barriers our partners are fighting so we can achieve healthcare reform, gun safety, criminal justice, lgbtq equality, and so much more. The fourth people act seeks to address issues at the core of a well functioning nation for the people act that every eligible voter can participate akeley entered marks of the peoples voice rather than outsize corporate influence guides our elected officials. Now more than ever the public recognizes the urgency of addressing Climate Change at the threat posed by a failure to act. We are dedicated to taking real action across the nation and specifically in maryland to address Climate Change, air and water pollution, protect the chesapeake and make sure public lands are available to all. And as i said earlier, protecting our democracy is linked in protecting our private which is why we thank you for your leadership and strong support h. R. One, the for the people act. Thank thank you very much. Why dont we go to this side . Introduce yourselves. Thank you cards and for putting this event together and for your leadership on this issue. I think its really helped elevate the issue of democracy at the national level. Thank you, mayor for hosting us and congressman sarbanes, we can work on this issue for quite a few years. I was formally a constituent of elijah cummings, so thank you for bringing up his name with all the work he had done to protect voting access the particular i became a constituent of yours, congressman, so watch out. My dad took all your office if i have any issues. Again [inaudible] again, my name is emily and of the direct of maryland which is a small donor funded group with thousands of members across the state and a student but it comes to direct a chapter of the average of Maryland College park. We have a 40 year track record of working our democracy issues, most recently working specific and voting access, working to ensure that student of turning out to vote and money in politics issues. Congressman, sounds like a mother is a wise woman. My grandfather used to say with the best government money can buy. She is not necessary to run prevision of money in politics isnt necessarily the money to its the source of the money. Its the size of the contributions been made to influence our elections and where theyre coming from. Large campaign Campaign Contributions from corporations or individuals play far too much of a role in who they want to run for office can what he should make it on the agenda and ultimately the Public Policies that our elected officials discuss and work on. Ten years ago with Citizens United and sent hundreds escalates across the country have come together to call for an amendment and it will take a constitutional amendment to get us back on the right track. Theres no doubt that our government and our democracy is in a fragile state. Im glad groups like end Citizens United or 100 always focus always focus on the constitutional amendment but im an eternal optimist. I think the Silver Lining the last ten years is out of marcus has gotten so bad in some ways that with opportunities to move the ball forward at the local and state level. Thats what you want to bring to the table today to talk about some of the work weve done in maryland, to take some of the elements of hiv1 and government them locally. Its going to take people working to take power over the democracy and the cities, counties and states to build the public support and political power to pass h. R. One at the national level. As weve heard from university of maryland, the vast majority of americans across all political spectrum agree money in politics is the problem so that for me is great. That means we can win if we do our job right. So in maryland primarily worked to setup the small donor Public Financing systems which the congressman has included in the for the people act at the local of the wii that Howard County, Prince Georges County we are now today and Baltimore City all past new small donor Public Financing systems. What these systems do is it allows candidates to run for Office Without taking any large or corporate donors or any donations from pacs, only accepting donations from individuals. And a size most can afford to make. The limit has been read 150. In exchange they are given limited matching funds so they can still remain competitive with the traditionally funded candidate Montgomery County just ran the first election using the system and lots of candidates for county executive, county counsel opt into the program and it was a tremendous success. Candidates who qualify for the program received on average twice as many contributions as those who didnt use the program. And theyre able to run successful races for office. County executive rant against bigmoney candidates and one. And candidates across the board were able to do so as well. We will see if more county start using the program hopefully that will be successful there also and weve seen this is popular amongst the public. In both Baltimore City and Howard County the voters went to the ballot to say yes, we want this for our government. We want a new way to find campaigns. So im very optimistic about what that says to the nation about how we can really put voters back in charge of our democracy. We are hopeful that at the state level maryland would become a leader and pass the small donor Public Financing for state offices and we do can have a program for our governors races but its outdated sewer working with legislators to fix that come to be more in line with the Small Donor Program that congressman sarbanes has proposed nationally and that our communities have passed in maryland. In addition, maryland has done a lot to make sure every eligible voter is able to participate in our election. Both young people and old, i care about the young person issue that we find that the youth if the registry vote turnout is about the same level as their older peers. Its a Voter Registration gap that is keeping them away from voting. They have dramatically lowered for pretentious patient writ because of you on the one hand, we work hard every year to make sure every student is registered and turns out to vote but we also need to make sure the Voter Registration system is as accessible as it can be. In the last couple of years maryland is passed and is in the many automatic Voter Registration and also bills in the next election the first we have sameday Voter Registration during early voting and on election day which we hope one occasion for students and all marylanders want to vote to exercise that right. In addition we are working with the state legislature to pass the student voter a private act which is work at the university, giving universities tools to do more to really increase participation on their campuses. Also have a more high voter turnout i think will help pass these other ethics and government reforms we need. Im excited to work to government these laws, show their success in maryland so maryland can be a National Leader and help drive the National Conversation so ultimately can overcome Citizens United federally and pass all these important reform measures that hiv1 is taking on. Rate, thank you very much. Great, thank you very much. Good afternoon. Leader hoyer, thank inviting me. Mayor, congressman sarbanes, i started to call you syndicate because i remember your father. And tiffany, thank you for your work. I would like to echo everything thats already been said. I represent the Calvert County branch of the naacp look at things taking place at the state level with talk of a Voter Registration. Thats great, we have to register people to vote but its more important to get the out to vote. Talked about the empowerment of voters, sameday registration. Looking at regulations to make sure that people when they come to vote, they can register the same day if theyre not registered to vote and if this can be a model for the nation it would be great. We look at the states that whenever we as a disenfranchised people over the year, come in power by voting they change the laws on us. They try and purge the rolls or try and make create the situations that you cant use post office boxes, you have to have a physical address. Whenever you take one step forward, they try to use some method to take a step back. This is the same thing. I applaud you for doing this. The for eliminating this citizen unite because that credited a boondoggle for big business and money people and individual voters dont have a cinderellas, and i applaud all of you for the work youre doing and whatever we can do on the local level, we will do that, and as emily indicated, we want to make sure that maryland can be a mod model for the other states. Thank you for this opportunity. I might say that maryland has in fact been in many ways a model. Way ahead of other states. In terms of lengthy preelection opportunity to vote so people can use different days that are more convenient for them and make sure they cant in registration, trying make registration easy. Going to make this sameday registration, as emily talked about. I might add that im on the state board of elections and we were at a meeting yesterday, looking at the regs layingses and the rules to make this a very smooth operation, and everything that we can do and looking at the security of the elects. This is another thing. Were finding out that different jurisdictions are trike to not necessarily hack in but trying to make encurses into our photoing incursions into our Voting System and maryland is on top of the game. A huge issue in the last president ial election with the russian interference. Bob . As i look at this, the effect of Citizens United has been the attitude of elect officials. They become more arrogant and emboldened by having this unlimited resource of money, and they do things that are very offensive and we dont have a say because we cannot financially compete with them. And that is worrisome because it changes attitudes of the public as we can be successful. So we have to look at how do we change the attitude and one is to work with the bill that youre talking about, hr1, hr4, and really get more people involved at the community level. Theres a lack of engagement. We as an ores must do a better job in doing that and we as an Organization Must more at this point, collaborate closer than what we have in order to reach our end goals. You talk but environment. Thats a real big issue within naacp with Jackie Patterson or director of the ecj. Transportation is another big one. But we keep getting elected people that dont feel our interests, and that is i listen to somebody remarks of elected officials, and just brush you off. We cant have a congress or house that brushes the ordinary citizen off, and i believe that personally the citizen united else the calls of that. You feel you can raise people with money. The average person on the bottom just cant compete. So on that, whatever we can do to move this forward, lets go. A very good point. Congressman sarbanes speaks to that all the time in terms of the attitude of citizen is and their discouragement, and this poll that tiffany revved to shows that as well. They field theyre being overwhelmed the voice is being marginalized well, well end with you. The best for last. And then congressman sarbanes. Good afternoon and i thank you very much for the invitation from congressman hoyer and pan panelists. Like the breakdown of the steps redistricting and reform and ethic reform because as a local president , it allows me to be able to speak, break the bill down. When we talk politics to the average individual, they basically say, this is over my head, i dont have any control, i dont have any say, and when you can speak to something that really tugs at their heart, then you get their attention and then you are able to now allow them to feel like they are part of the solution. And so as the naacp, that is our responsibility, is to go to the communities and share what the interests are and what we can do to change it, and so what the breakdown, it allows us to do that. So, we will follow the guidance of our state president and the state president follows the guidance of our national president. Its great to bring news the room so that we can now go back into our communities and speak to our partners and collaborators within our community to say, this is why this is important. That we do not have a system that works like this. So, its great to be here and im definitely going to make copies and make sure we share this. Thank you for being here and thank you for saying that and thanks for the work you do locally. In final analysis the local work is critically important, talking to people oneonone and, let we now yield to the mayor who is at the i think mayors have the toughest jobs in america in politics. The buck stops on their desk. Thats for sure. Mayoral, thank you for being here. I didnt come prepared to say anything but braced of the conversation i neil compelled tonight. Want to highlight the importance of municipal residents and local leader at the city level in this type of work, often times, especially in municipalities or areas that are nonpartisan or run nonpartisan elects you feel a little disconnect between the major legislation that might be put forth by a particular party or a particular leader, and for us in the city of hyattsville, we stand at the forefront of lot of this issues work wi a lou 16yearolds to vote in local elects, path another that was to encourage a culture of participation in local government and in voting. We also recently passed legislation that modified our own Campaign Finance laws that restricts contributions from corporations in local elections, and this last election that we had was actually our first where we did the sameday Voter Registration and election on the same day. Its possible at the local level. Those are things we do that encourage those that momentum that is necessary in order to pass and push legislation like hr1 across the finish line. And to stand in support of those leading at the federal level. I also want to say what this resolution what this bill does is reminds us that democracy is not just an action; that it isla is a value and the absence of everyone being able to participate in democracy in a meaningful way, feeling like your voice is heard, means youre able to influence the conversation, especially definitely giving deference to miss cobo that the issues of our time are issues of our values. Were talking about conservation, environmental stewardship, Climate Change, preserving and sustainability of our earth, our planet, and also issues of Economic Justice or injustice as it is right now. Criminal justice reform. Those are things that in order to have the conversation, we have to have people who are at the table who understand the voices that are talking to them. And so this bill definitely is a step in the right direction and allows us to get to that point. I want to say that our hope is all hope is not lost but at the local level there are many of white house follow the same types 60 values, who are willing to put forward legislation at the local level to help build the ground level support needed to give you the energy youve need to continue moving forward. Thank you, madam mayor. One of the geniuses of our system is that we have so many places in which we can test actual practice, and the museum level is so great because you really get right down to the citizen and the citizen can be in the room and talking but the policies and carry them out. So, im a i grew up in district heights, maryland, not to far from here, little town of 10,000 people. I love being in that humanity because you municipality because you get a skins of collective action. A skins of collective action. Let me turn to John Sarbanes who has been the leader in the congress of the United States and nationally on this issue, particularly with respect to Citizens United and Campaign Finance reform and debting dark money out of politics and getting citizen money into politics and also a leader in reform generally where you talk about Voting Rights, redistricting, eliminating criminality and having ethical go. John sarbanes is one of the leading proponents of behalf of citizens in the congress of the United States. Job . Thank you, lead are hoyer, and let me just say to the mayor if thats the kind of statement you make when youre not prepared to say anything issue would love to say what you would say when you are prepared. That was very powerful testimonial to a couple of things. One, the power of the citizenry at all levels. But also, frankly, to what has been happening across the country at the state and love level, which has been an inspiration at the state and local level which is an inspiration for hr1. This was based on translating what we were hearing from citizens across the country, and much of that was taking the form of these local initiatives that you just revved to, and the fact those steps have been taken here reflects how carefully the leadership is listening to Everyday Americans. In fact i think tiffany would tell you that 50 of americans, more than 50 of americans live in a jurisdiction that has passed a resolution condemning the Citizens United case, which is really amazing when you think but it. Hr1 was a response to put it in its simplest terms to the cries we heard from people across the country. The first was, let me get to the ballot box without having to run an obstacle course. Thats pretty simpleful just make so it we can register and vote in america. Without that being a heavy burden. And theres many provisions of hr1 that are designed to make it possible for people to get up in the morning and have confidence they can cast their vote and it will be counted. The second thing we heard from people is when you go to washington or wherever laws are made, as our representatives, behave yourself. Just play by the rules, be ethical, be accountable, and theres a lot of provisitations in hr1 designed to do that. The their is, please, when you are a representative, dont get tangled 0 in me money. Remember who sent you there and dont start working for the powerful special interests who can throw that money around. When you think but it, the right to vote and the right to have your vote mean something are two sides of the same coin. You may be able to cast your vote in americans but if the person you elected highsjacked on the way to washington by special s and, therapy not that followthrough in terms of at the peoples will being translated. We have protect the right to vote and also the right to have it mean something when people show up as the representatives of the public in washington. Thats all were trying to do with hr1. Let me close with this. We have a very diverse caucus, as congressman hoyer said. The new class, the freshman class, showed up in washington in january of 2019 and said we made a promise that if we were elected and if we helped get the gavel back for the democratic party, the first thing we would do is put this kind of reform on the floor and pass it. Now, it takes leadership that and listen carefully to translate that imperative in a powerful way, and were blessed that we have leaders like steny hoyer, in the United States congress, who remember why the people sent us there, who cherish the institution and are ready to receive that mandate and translate it in the early days. Certainly Speaker Pelosi did that, and leader hoyer did that and other members of our leadership team. It would not have been hr1 and would not have been passed within the first 100 days had the leadership of our caucus not stepped up and said, we hear you, were going to make this a priority, were going to deliver for the American People, and we did that in the first 100 days, which gives some hope, i think, to people out the who have been so drown trodden by the citizen united case if want to salute you, congressman, for your efforts on behalf of our democracy and on behalf of the institution of the United States congress. Congressman sarbanes, again, you have been our leader, and our inspiration, and our work horse in terms of communicating around the country. Its great that support in a democracy so that every democrat heard what the people were said and vote that way and sent that bill along if want to thank all of you. Not only for being here today. I certainly thank for you that. And thank you for what you do every day. Touching people at the local level and giving them a sense that we hear them. We need to see one another. We need to appreciate one another. We need to make sure that a nation that focuses on the individual, its what we said, everybody. What this anniversary as we look at what happened in Citizens United, we need to repeal citizen is united so that citizens will not be shut out. We need a citizen is inclusion. They talk but Citizens United. Nobody out there knows who funned Citizens United,ll bet. Nobody. Sound. Citizen is united. People for a better america. People for a better neighborhood. People for the puppies as you pointed out. All sound very in, but we need to know. We need to know who they are. Who is talking to us. Who is trying to influence us. Who is trying to make are the russian trying to influence . Its illegal for. The to contribute so what do they do . They try to give us information that we didnt know writ was where it was from. So this is a critical issue for our country and our democracy, i thank you for all working towards making the democracy better for all, for the people. Thank you very much. [inaudible conversations] conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] and we will continue our live coverage here on cspan2 in washington, dc. A discussion doubt u. S. National security with the vice chair of the joint chiefs of staff underway. Youre watching live coverage on cspan2. All of their economic power can be brought to bear for military use at the same time. And so when that happens, you end up with this competition going on. So this is not an overnight thing. When i look at what john