About Craig Holman

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Time to open the books on the political intelligence industry

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"Craig Holman"We urge Congress to resume the legislative effort to shine a light on the activities of Wall Street consultants and lobbyists who lurk on Capitol Hill seeking valuable information they can use to cash in on the stock market. Today, the Government Accountability Office issued its long-awaited report on how this “political intelligence” industry operates in the shadows for the benefit of itself and its paying clients.

When Congress approved the “Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge” (STOCK) Act last year, making it clear for the first time that the laws against insider trading apply to Congress as well as the public, one key provision was left on the cutting room floor: a requirement that financial operatives and lobbyists who make a business trading on information gleaned from congressional sources disclose their activities and clients to the public.

At the time of the law’s passage, many in Congress seemed unclear about what the political intelligence industry is and how it operates. So Congress replaced the political-intel disclosure provision with a mandate for a congressional study on whether there is a problem.

That mandated study became public today, and it shows that there is indeed a problem. More

Grassroots Democracy Act and congressional camaraderie

Most Americans already see the financing of the 2012 elections as a national disgrace and a scandal in the making. The one saving grace is that scandal begets reform.

It comes in the form of a new bill, the “Grassroots Democracy Act,” introduced by U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.) and dozens of other lawmakers who are co-sponsors in a rare but telling display of congressional camaraderie largely absent from Capitol Hill these days.

The Sarbanes bill would provide an option for candidates to receive public funds that match small donations. In exchange, campaigns would accept some limits to other types of fundraising. This would provide incentive for candidates to rely on voters for support, instead of big corporations and wealthy individuals. In addition, the bill would provide for a refundable tax credit for small contributions and the disclosure of the identities of all bundlers.

Americans are growing increasingly disgusted with all the secret slush funds flowing into our elections and the over-saturation of negative advertising this money buys. More than eight in 10 Americans in a recent poll by The Associated Press and the National Constitution Center support limits on the amount of money given to groups that are trying to influence U.S. elections. Most Americans are also justifiably repelled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, which largely gutted limits on campaign money and opened the floodgates for unlimited and undisclosed corporate spending in our elections.

The time for sweeping reforms will be ripe following the all-time record-breaking spending we will see in the 2012 elections, in which the sources of much of that money will come from secret corporate donors who want something in return.

Reps. John Larson (D-Conn.), David Price (D-N.C.) and other co-sponsors of similar comprehensive reform measures that also would match small donations with public funds have expressed their support of the Sarbanes initiative, and Sarbanes has returned the favor by co-sponsoring their legislation. The members are hoping to meld their campaign finance reform proposals into a single legislative vehicle for a concerted reform drive in the next Congress.

Public Citizen proudly joins in this effort to rein in the abuses of excessive, undisclosed money in politics and heartily endorses the Sarbanes “Grassroots Democracy Act” and the joint legislative campaign reform drive in the next Congress.

Craig Holman, PhD is Public Citizen’s Congress Watch government reform lobbyist

Party conventions and convention parties: Dripping in irony

As the nation witnesses the spectacle we call the party nominating conventions, the ironies are dripping more than the corporately funded ice sculpture bars in Tampa Bay. The most obvious irony, of course, is that more money is being "Craig Holman"spent on the conventions yet fewer people seem to care.

Most of those who are thrilled about the conventions are those who attend them: delegates, lobbyists, corporate executives, budding politicians and lawmakers. The party conventions host huge influence-peddling and fundraising events between those who want something from government and those in government who can affect those interests. Many of the convention-goers are so caught up in the spectacle of the rich and powerful that they simply do not see some of the ironies.

Take Wednesday’s event in which former Gov. Mitt Romney toasted about 50 of his top campaign bundlers in an exclusive dinner aboard a private yacht. These individuals each brought in roughly $1 million to the Romney campaign. Romney is the first major presidential candidate in 12 years not to disclose the true identities of his bundlers, and one of the very few presidential candidates in modern history not to reveal much about his taxes and Cayman-based investments. Apparently, it is best not to draw too much attention to the wealth. Yet, the floating party aboard the “Cracker Bay” yacht adorned with the Cayman Islands flag was just one of a dozen such exclusive Romney events honoring the ultra-rich group’s successes in raising pots of money for the Romney campaign machine.

As one woman who lives on a much smaller boat in the marina said to ABC News: “I think it’s ironic they do this aboard a yacht that doesn’t even pay its taxes.”

Still countless other soirées held in restaurants and nightclubs across Tampa cut right to the core of what is terribly wrong with today’s conventions. The nominating conventions are primarily funded by corporations with business pending before the federal government. Private money flows into the conventions through “host committees” in contract with the national parties that raise and spend as much corporate and special-interest money as they can possibly get their hands on.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

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Sweeping reforms proposed to end the tragic joke that is pay-to-play politics in the District

Craig Holman, PhD, Public Citizen is the foremost expert in the country on pay-to-play legislation.

Today, Washington, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray is proposing a set of campaign finance and ethics reforms specifically targeting pay-to-play corruption, the all-too-common practice of a business entity making campaign contributions to candidates and public officials with the hope of gaining a lucrative government contract. The proposal to prohibit campaign contributions from government contractors is desperately needed in the District, and D.C. City Council  should adopt the ethics reforms as soon as it returns following Labor Day.

Washington, D.C., is embroiled in a series of government contracting scandals that have caused immense harm to the image and credibility of the District government. It is important that District officials make reasonable efforts to assure the public and the business community that campaign contributions are not the gateway to District contracts.

If adopted, the mayor’s pay-to-play reforms would be among the strongest in the nation. Government contractors would be prohibited from making campaign contributions to, or expenditures on behalf of, any District candidate or official who is or could be involved in awarding the contract. Similarly, they cannot give to or spend on behalf of any political committee associated with an individual or nonprofit group controlled by the candidate or official. “Government contractor” is broadly defined to include all senior executives of the company seeking a contract. Even the spouses and dependent children of the executives would be limited to contributions of no more than $300 per election.

By taking the simple step of divorcing campaign contributions from government contracts, this critical pay-to-play reform proposal will help rebuild public confidence in the integrity of the District’s government contracting process. The measures will also provide useful guidance for public officials on how to avoid the political minefield of the appearance of corruption, whether justified or not, that accompanies pay-to-play practices. By breaking the nexus between campaign contributions and government contracts, all can breathe a collective sigh of relief and get back to more important District business.

Craig Holman, PhD is Public Citizen’s Congress Watch government reform lobbyist. Follow him on Twitter @CBHolman

Obama is right to investigate Crossroads GPS

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"Craig Holman"Public Citizen is happy to have the Obama administration join the chorus of voices calling for an investigation of Crossroads Grassroots Political Strategies (GPS). Crossroads GPS is a so-called “social welfare” organization set up by Republican strategists Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie designed to influence federal elections, and Public Citizen believes they are abusing the tax code in order to conceal their donors from the American public – in violation of campaign finance law.

Public Citizen and Protect Our Elections filed a similar complaint against Crossroads GPS in 2010, asserting that there is ample reason to believe that Crossroads GPS, which is registered as a nonprofit 501c(4) organization, is in fact a political committee and should be subject to the restrictions and disclosure rules for political committees.

America is witnessing full-scale evasion of our campaign finance and disclosure laws in the middle of this critical 2012 presidential election. Following the disastrous Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that corporations may spend unlimited corporate money to influence elections, corporate money now is flooding our state, judicial and federal campaigns. And most of this corporate money is secretly flowing into the elections through electioneering nonprofit groups, like Crossroads GPS, which do not have to disclose their donors under the tax code. More

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