Friend --

Americans don't agree on everything, but we can all agree on this: Only Americans should be able to influence American elections.

Yet on November 1, the FEC made a startling announcement that flies in the face of that common sense belief. The commission ruled that the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, which prohibits foreign donations to U.S. election campaigns, does not apply to state and local referendums.

It's absurd. There is no good reason why anyone who's not an American citizen should be able to spend money on campaigns here.

That's why I'm co-sponsoring HR 1516, a bill in Congress that would close this loophole. It would prevent foreign influence in our elections -- on every section of the ballot -- and ensure that only American citizens have a voice in American elections. Will you add your name today to support it?

State and local referendums are among our best tools for deciding, together, what we want for our communities.

Consider the elections just a few weeks ago. Minneapolis voters overwhelmingly agreed to maintain their police department by voting "no" on Question 2. Meanwhile, voters in both Minneapolis and St. Paul voted to pass rent control measures to make housing more affordable.

These are the kinds of decisions we should be making together, with our neighbors. Foreign citizens and foreign corporations should never be able to put a thumb on the scale with political donations to referendum campaigns.

Why the FEC doesn't agree, I can't understand. But I'm doing something about it in Congress -- and I need your help right now.

Add your name to my petition today to urge the House to pass HR 1516 as soon as possible, so we can close the FEC's dangerous loophole before the next election!

Thank you,

Dean