Dear John,

From taking on super PACs, challenging foreign corporate money in our elections, fighting corruption in the White House, and launching a new program to secure our elections, Free Speech For People is helping to lead the movement to reclaim our democracy.  But we couldn’t do it without your support. 

On Giving Tuesday, will you help Free Speech For People continue the fight for our democracy?

With your support, we achieved major progress in 2019: 

• Challenging super PACs and foreign corporate money in US elections: We are now advancing model legislation challenging foreign corporate money and super PAC spending in elections in Maryland, Massachusetts, Los Angeles, and Seattle. Seattle’s legislation is scheduled for a vote next month, following Amazon’s $1.5 million effort to influence the recent City Council elections.

• Advancing the case to end super PACs: On November 15, 2019, we filed a petition for rehearing en banc to allow our case Lieu v. FEC to be heard by the full D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. A full panel of this federal appeals court, like the US Supreme Court, has the authority to overturn the SpeechNow ruling, which led to the explosion of super PAC spending in elections.

• Defending state and local campaign finance reform laws: We continue to provide key legal support in the defense of state reform laws. In Seattle, we filed amicus briefs with Demos in May 2018 and March 2019 in defense of a newly enacted public campaign financing program for city elections. In July 2019, the Washington Supreme Court upheld Seattle’s new “Democracy Voucher Program.” And in Massachusetts, we participated in a successful defense of a state law banning corporate contributions to political candidates.
  

• Confronting the corruption of the presidency: In January 2017, we launched a new program to challenge the unprecedented corruption of the White House. The movement we have helped to build has led to the US House of Representatives formally launching an impeachment investigation of the president. We recently partnered with By the People, CREDO Action, Women’s March, and other advocacy organizations to publish “Impeachment For The People,” a comprehensive set of impeachment articles that encompasses the full gravity of the president’s high crimes and urges Congress to expand the scope of the impeachment proceedings.
  

• Protecting election security: We have launched a new project, with the National Election Defense Coalition (NEDC), to challenge the use of unreliable and insecure electronic voting systems in the United States. In June 2019, we filed a lawsuit in Indiana on behalf of NEDC to access election security communications regarding the reliability and security of voting machines. And, in July 2019, we filed a petition with the PA Secretary of State seeking a re-examination of new voting machines with serious election security concerns, purchased by Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania counties.

Our success to date is thanks to supporters and democracy champions like you. Over the past several years, the core principles of our democracy have been tested like never before, but we pledge to rise to the challenge of protecting what we hold dear. Your continued support to Free Speech For People today will allow us to defend our democracy in 2020 and beyond, and ensure that all people have an equal voice and an equal vote.

We can save our democracy. Your gift today – at this critical moment – will help us to make real, lasting change and reclaim our democracy for we, the people.

Thanks for all you do,

John Bonifaz (President, Free Speech For People)