Representative
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515

RE: Prevent massive corruption--oppose H.R. 1316

Dear Representative ,

I strongly urge you to oppose the "527 Fairness Act," H.R. 1316, which would open the floodgates of big donor money, with the inevitable corruption that follows. The "527 Fairness Act" has absolutely nothing to do with limiting campaign contributions to so-called "527" groups, organizations that financed sleazy attack ads during the last presidential election. Instead, this legislation cynically aims to strip away essential restrictions on "soft money" and large political contributions from wealthy individuals.

The idea that a wealthy individual could contribute up to $3 million to a political party and its candidates during one election cycle -- which would be permitted under H.R. 1316 -- is outrageous. It would make a mockery of our democratic ideals of citizen participation. And allowing unlimited soft money to flow back into the campaign finance system would take us back to where we were in the 1990s, with the flood of unregulated and unaccountable negative advertising that turned many of us off of to politics. Remarkably, this bill would even repeal some regulations enacted in the wake of the Watergate scandal, when the Nixon-Agnew administration was taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in brown paper bags from wealthy contributors.

In addition to raising the per-election individual limit to $3 million, H.R. 1316 would also repeal McCain-Feingold’s ban on business trade associations and labor unions paying for electioneering ads aired immediately before an election with unlimited soft money contributions. And the bill would increase the contribution limits to and from PACs by 50 percent -- and increase those limits every two years for inflation.

Most damaging of all, H.R. 1316 would free federal officeholders to once again solicit big donors to write six- or seven-figure campaign checks -- exactly the type of campaign donations that historically have corrupted politicians and convinced many Americans that our system of government is rigged against their interests by wealthy elites who play by different rules.

We do not need soft money and big donor private contributions further corrupting our electoral system. Please oppose H.R. 1316 and work with your colleagues for true campaign finance reform to limit the influence of special interests.

copy to:
The Honourable Gordon Campbell
Premier of British Columbia
Box 9041
Station PROV GOVT
Victoria, BC
Canada V8W 9E1

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