John -
CREW has had some big victories in the past few months, and one thing they all have in common is that they have been long and hard fought. For the past two and a half years, we have been filing lawsuits, requesting public records, and calling out corruption as if our democracy depended on it. Because it does. 482 legal actions later, it’s all paying off. But our victories take time, and our work started long before Trump:
March 2012: We first filed an FEC complaint against dark money giant Americans for Job Security, following their unprecedented political spending in 2010. Three CREW lawsuits later, they finally agreed to disclose their donors, the first major dark money donor release since Citizens United.
February 2017: We filed our first ethics complaint against Kellyanne Conway. Then we sent a Hatch Act complaint in October 2018, and another in May 2019. Finally, in June the Office of Special Counsel recommended that she be fired. Her violations showed a total disregard for the simple principle that taxpayer resources must not be used to maintain political power.
April 2018: We requested records from the Department of Veterans Affairs on the influence of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago customers within the VA. Almost a year and a half later, we got 300 pages of records that revealed just how unqualified the “shadow rulers” were—and how much power they were given only because of their relationship to Trump.
It is not easy to go up against big money in politics, industry influence, or government corruption and actually win. But we do. The key to these wins is persistence, and time.
Because these fights take so long, we need supporters who are willing to sustain their commitments to our work through it all. That’s why we are asking you to support CREW as a sustaining member today by making a contribution each month. Each month you make a recurring donation, it has a real impact on our ability to keep up our democracy-defending work.
As a special thank you, I will be doing a briefing call with our sustaining supporters on October 4th. We will discuss what is to come, for CREW and for Congress this session, and you will have the chance to ask me questions. Please consider becoming a sustaining supporter today. We need your support more than ever, because progress in the fight against corruption takes time.
Looking forward to speaking with you.
Thank you,
Noah Bookbinder
Executive Director, CREW
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