Phoenix Coffee Summit Tackles Money in Politics

A diverse group of over 15 Coffee Party members met in Phoenix on Saturday for a Coffee Party summit on corporate personhood & money in politics. A variety of issues were discussed, most notably the current legislative efforts to address the issue. We were also honored with the participation of US Senate candidate Rudy Garcia, whose introduction made it clear that money in politics is a key issue we need to address as a nation. Over the three hour event, some points of consensus were reached, and more importantly, everyone left a little more informed.

After brief introductions, we broke into three groups to get down to business. Groups were shuffled between sessions to leverage the diversity of perspectives and foster a collective intelligence. The first session was used to lay out the questions and describe the problem. In the second session, the groups were given research materials on three separate topics of discussion: The Fair Elections Now Act, DISCLOSE Act, and Shareholder Protection Act. In the third session, after shuffling the groups, these solutions were shared and discussed along with other proposals, building an even richer understanding.

One consensus that emerged was the significance of The Fair Elections Now Act. Though there were differences about the source of funding and mechanisms for providing a forum for politics, there was broad agreement that the current system is tantamount to legalized bribery and that a system of public campaign funding is needed regardless of any other solutions implemented. The most common position that emerged on the DISCLOSE Act found it to be a "band-aid" in response to the Citizens United case, not really reaching the heart of the problem. While it might help, there was more interest in amendments to clearly separate the constitutional protections of natural persons from protections granted to corporations and other collective entities. The Shareholder Protection Act was found to be a useful way to bring more transparency to political spending of large corporations and facilitate socially responsible investing. Though not seen as a high priority when compared to FENA, and not as visible as DISCLOSE, the legislation provides a significant degree of transparency and accountability to corporate political spending in simple and principled way. It was also noted that a substantial piece of the puzzle was missing: lobbying reform. While all citizens have the right to lobby their representatives, most do not have the legal or institutional expertise of a professional lobbyist or the financial resources to hire professional lobbyists -- an imbalance that would not entirely disappear even after leveling the campaign finance playing field.

Over all, the event was a great success. We learned a lot about current legislative efforts to correct the undue influence of money in politics and discussed alternatives. The most important take-away was support for The Fair Elections Now Act, and in a follow up meeting on Tuesday, a smaller group discussed plans for group visits to representatives across the valley to discuss FENA along with other current issues. We are reminded of the importance of civil discourse and civic participation. In order to be more active citizens, we must all make an effort to be informed on the issues and make sure our representatives know where we stand.

View a summary of the agenda and session format

Meeting Notes from 3/31/2010

Meeting Notes from 3/31/2010
Paradise Bakery, 12St & Glendale Ave, 7:00-9:00pm

First there were a few newcomers so we went over all the introductions.

Next we discussed how some members are under the impression that public opinion is that we are a "leftist" or "liberal" group. We talked about how to get more conservatives involved. We wondered if we could change the public opinion, and get people to understand that we mean to be non partisan and inclusive. Several people suggested meeting with the Tea Party. Jason thought we shouldn't try to meet with them soon, but, maybe in a few months.

Then we talked about our issue for the week: lobbying and campaign contributions. Barbara brought a Newsweek article entitled, "Why we need more lobbyists". We were all interested by some of the ideas in the article. Oran typed up his ideas for campaign finance and lobby reform. He also brought some data regarding campaign contributions and the education industry. We tried to make some sense of it, but, weren't sure what it all meant. Cliff brought IRS related materials regarding campaign contributions. He noted that churches can contribute up to a point. There was also some back-and-forth discussion about term limits.

I mentioned a design contest for making government data and processes more accessible and easier to understand for the general public. The link for the contest is here: http://sunlightlabs.com/contests/designforamerica/

Next we discussed various ways to outreach to the public. Both to get more members and also to provide educational materials. We discussed creating a website for the Arizona Coffee Party. Jason purchased a domain. I mentioned that we might want to post meeting notes and other information on a blog.

We decided for next Tuesday's meeting at Paradise Bakery, we would talk about Education (the good, the bad, and any solutions we particularly like). Jason won't be able to attend, so, Oran and I will be hosting it.

We also talked informally about our food system and the recent media relating to food. (Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution tv show, the documentary Food, Inc., etc)