Inside the Fight for Fair Elections: Campaign Finance with Fred Wertheimer

In this episode of the Illinois Policy Unpacked podcast, we meet Fred Wertheimer, the "dean of campaign finance reform," in Washington DC to discuss ongoing challenges in American political finance. Wertheimer has spent more than four decades working on democracy and governance issues, and is the Founder and President of Democracy 21, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to strengthen U.S. democracy and promotes government integrity, accountability and transparency measures to accomplish its goals. 

Campaign finance reform remains a critical issue right now, as excessive and unregulated political spending erodes public trust and compromises the integrity of democratic elections. Join us at IGPA as we explore the historical context of U.S. campaign finance, why IGPA selected Wertheimer as this year's recipient of the Paul H. Douglas Award for Ethics in Government, and strategies for young Americans to pursue a more equal union.

Transcript

 Kristen Chandler 

Hello everyone, and welcome to the IGPA podcast, where we inform the policy conversation in Illinois and beyond. Today, we're honored to have Fred Wertheimer, a leading voice in democracy and governance reform as Founder and President of Democracy 21. He has spent decades advocating for campaign finance reform, government transparency and fair elections. His expertise has earned him recognition as the “dean of campaign finance reformers” by the New York Times and a top strategist on ethics law by NPR.  

Mr. Wertheimer has led successful campaigns for major legislative reforms shaping the fight against money in politics. With over 50 years of experience, he remains a key advocate for protecting democracy. Most notably, Fred is IGPA’s recent Paul H. Douglas awardee, a designation given to individuals by the University of Illinois system with a background of distinguished public service and nonpartisan advocacy. 

Today, he'll share insights on the challenges facing our political system in the path forward. We're thrilled to have him. Let's dive in. So, Fred, you were president of common cause, a watchdog group based in Washington, DC from 1981 to 1995. What were the most pressing issues you addressed?  

Fred Wertheimer 

Well, we in 1981, the government changed. Ronald Reagan was elected; the Republicans took over the Senate. So, our challenge on campaign finance was much different than it had been in the 70s. We worked hard on campaign finance from 1987 to 1994. We had it on the floor of the House and Senate almost every year. 

By then, the Democrats had control of the House and the Senate, and they were the major supporters. Although these bills were always bipartisan, we had bipartisan leaders and bipartisan support for the legislation. But we came very close in 1994 in passing comprehensive campaign finance legislation. We had passed bills in the House and the Senate in 1993. One would have thought that the Democrats who controlled both houses would have been able to come up with a combined bill, but the House Democrats blocked the legislation, and we didn't get there.  

Now we also worked on other issues during this time. We worked on stopping the MX missile from being a first strike weapon. We worked with conservatives and Democrats, and worked with against liberals and Democrats and in the House who had opposed the bill. We worked with conservative Democrats led by Sam Nunn in the Senate, our opponents in the house were liberal Democrats led by 

Les Aspen, and we won. We were able to limit and stop the MX missile from being a first strike weapon. 

We worked on tax reform, the 1986 tax reform effort led by Senator Bradley. So, we kept busy. We had various issues to work on, but it was much harder in this period to work on government integrity issues than it has been in the 70s after the Watergate scandals.  

Kristen Chandler 

Absolutely. Thank you so much for sharing that important background and campaign finance reform. Having been described the “dean of campaign finance reformers,” what do you consider your most significant achievement in this area? 

Fred Wertheimer 

Well, it was the post-Watergate reform bill that established presidential public financing. You cannot solve the problems that are caused by big money in politics without some form of public funding. The presidential system was established in 1974. 

It worked extremely well. It worked for six presidential elections. Almost every Democratic and 

Republican presidential candidate used the system, and Ronald Reagan used it three times. And in 1984, his reelection, he didn't have a number, he didn't have a single fundraiser. Look at where we are now. I mean, candidates spend most of their time raising money. So presidential public financing and contribution limits were the biggest success. We came close in 1974 to enacting congressional public financing. We came close in 1994. We almost had a version of it in 2022, but the fight goes on. John Gardner, the founder of common cause and a mentor of mine, always used to tell us that reform is not for the short winded. He never did tell me, however, that it would be 54 years and counting for me in the reform battle. But the truth is, these are long haul fights. They're critical, and they're central to power in America, so they must be fought.  

Kristen Chandler 

Thank you for that. You mentioned that the fight continues on. What challenges in campaign finance reform persist today? 

Fred Wertheimer 

Well, the Supreme Court has eviscerated the system. We probably have the most corrupt campaign finance system in the history of the country. Unlimited money. Secret money. We moved to the campaign finance system built by the Citizens United decision, a later decision called the McCutcheon decision, which knocked out the aggregate limit on the total amount a candidate could give to candidates and political parties and political committees. Now to understand the significance of that declaring that unconstitutional, almost all of the money that Elon Musk gave in in 2024 to support President Trump, and he gave $250 million, almost all of that money would have been prohibited but for the Supreme Court decision. 

So, the challenge is, what do we do to overcome a really corrupt system? We must have a system of public financing, so candidates are not trapped by this big money system and have an alternative way to finance their system. We have to overcome all of this secret money sloshing around Washington. It's very dangerous, absolutely.  

Kristen Chandler 

Thank you for highlighting the danger of money that is untracked in campaign finance. You touched on this a little bit, but reflecting on Citizens United ruling, which you have critiqued, how do you assess its long-term effects on the US electoral process?  

Fred Wertheimer 

Well, its short term and long-term effects are to ruin the political system. There is so much money sloshing around Washington, and it buys influence. It has empowered multi-billionaires and multimillionaires to play a predominant role in our elections and in the aftermath of legislation that comes with the elections. It's incredibly destructive. And until we get different decisions, and hopefully we will, in future, years or decades, we must have a different way for candidates to run for office that requires small contributions and multiple matching funds. Match those contributions at six to one or seven to one and give candidates a way of not being dependent and obligated on influence money, which dominates our system today. 

It's a very dangerous political system we have created, we, being the Supreme Court, has created, and we've got to overcome it absolutely.  

Kristen Chandler 

I think we saw an alternative with Bernie Sanders, where he in, I think in 2016, he was very successful in raising, you know, those smaller level contributions. And I think that was heartened by a lot of people. 

Fred Wertheimer 

Yeah, that was very good and, but you need a whole system for this. You need it for the House and the Senate. There are 470 races a year, every election year for House and Senate. You need it for the presidency. The system is like we've never seen before, except in the gilded ages of the 1870s and 1880s. In those years, a senator was not named by known by his name, a senator was known as the senator of Exxon, Senator of Standard Oil, Senator of US Steel. They were owned and operated.  

Kristen Chandler 

Interesting. And we don't have those brands now, even though they may still apply, which is really interesting. What motivated you to establish Democracy 21 in 1997, and how has its mission evolved over the years?  

Fred Wertheimer 

Well, it was time for a change. Time for the organization to change in its leadership. Time for me to take a new path, although it was similar to the old path, John Gardner, the founder of Common Cause, wrote a fabulous little pamphlet called Self Renewal, and he argued that organizations had to renew and individuals had to renew. Although when I called him to tell him I was going to be leaving. He said, Well, you can renew within the Common Cause. But he was right. I loved being president of Common Cause, which I was for 14 years. I was there for 24 years, but when I was president, I had to do a lot of other things beside work on issues and work and lobby the hill and draft legislation. 

Presidents of universities know how much time they have to spend raising money. I didn't have to spend time that way, but I had a lot of other responsibilities, and I wanted to get back to working full time on the mission that Common Cause had. I created for Cemocracy 21 and we did the same issues, We worked on the same areas, but it was a small organization, small staff, and I could spend all my time working on campaign finance and voting rights and other democracy reforms. So that's why I left.  

Kristen Chandler 

Great. Thank you for explaining your reasoning to establish Democracy 21. Given your efforts in promoting government integrity, integrity and transparency, what recent developments give you hope and where do you see the need for immediate reform?  

Fred Wertheimer 

Well, what gives me hope was in despite the fact that we've lost the ability to get bipartisan support and bipartisan leaders, and that's not because the issues have changed. That's because the elected officials have changed. You know, you can get bipartisan leadership and support at the state and local level, but in Washington, you can't get it right now. So what gave me hope was we almost passed sweeping democracy reform in 2022. We passed the legislation in the House, and it dealt with voting rights, it dealt with campaign finance, it dealt with enforcement, it dealt with ethics. We came within two votes of passing it in the Senate, and if we had passed it there, it would have been signed into law. So we came very close, despite the strong breakdown in partisanship, in bipartisanship, at the national level. And that gives me hope that we will get there eventually. 

Now, what immediately has to be done? We've got to fix the campaign finance system. That's the most immediate need, because we have the most corrupt campaign finance system, probably in history, it's doing enormous damage to the interests of the American people. The American people recognize that polls show that they want this system created. That's the most important thing we need to do. We need to restore a sense that you can't capitalize on your government positions for personal wealth. That's a very big problem these days, both at the presidential level and in Congress, 

Kristen Chandler 

Absolutely. Thank you for sharing that. So Fred, next, we are going to be joined by our three Charles P. Wolff interns at the Institute of Government and Public Affairs, who have prepared some thoughtful questions for you in relation to modern campaign finance reform. Let's welcome Lindsay, Aparna and Cecilia! 

Aparna Ramakrishnan  

Hi. My name is Aparna Ramakrishnan, and I'm an undergrad junior at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and I'm studying public policy and integrated health studies. So nice to meet you and thank you so much for being here today. So my question for you is around Gen Z and how we value collaboration. And right now, a lot of young people are incredibly frustrated by the deep partisan divides in politics today. So given your experience, specifically in nonpartisan advocacy, what strategies do you think young leaders can use foster bipartisan solutions, especially when it comes to protecting democracy and ensuring fair elections?  

Fred Wertheimer 

Well, interestingly enough, there is wide support for democracy reforms among the public. If you look at polling, Democrats, Republicans and independents, overwhelmingly support it. So, what has to be done? We need citizen action. We need citizen protests. We need to hold candidates and office holders accountable. And what people can do is work organize work with organized groups. There are a number of groups around get involved and press our elected officials to deal with these problems. 

The citizens have to be heard, particularly these days. I mean, it's a frozen partisanship in Washington right now that's not the same around the country, and they have to be pressed and pressed hard to deal with these problems now. One of the things people have to realize is this takes time. It takes commitment, and you can't get discouraged. You have to think in long terms, and you work at it as long as you can. And then, if you need to move on, you move on, and others replace you. But you cannot go into this for a quick fix. We don't get quick fixes here.  

Cecilia Espinosa 

Hi Fred. My name is Cecilia Espinosa, and I'm a senior studying at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign. I'm studying political science, communication and Spanish. So, it's very nice to meet you and hear your insights today. With President Trump now directing the Justice Department to investigate ActBlue, which is widely seen as the financial backbone of Democratic campaigns, many critics argue that this marks a dangerous politicization of campaign finance enforcement from your perspective. How does this move fit into the broader history of attempts to weaponize campaign finance laws, and what precedent does it set for the independence of political fundraising infrastructure going forward? 

Fred Wertheimer 

Well, ActBlue, first of all is a vehicle for candidates and groups to raise small contributions. They've been very successful to the point where and they raise money for Dems. Democrats and progressive groups to the point where Republicans have also created their own form of ActBlue. Now, when President Trump directs the Justice Department to investigate act blue and doesn't say a word about the Republican counterpart, we know that this is pure politics, and it's designed to damage the Democratic candidates who are running. It's highly improper. It's a misuse of government power, and it will be challenged. I'm sure it will be challenged, but we're running into this problem with voting also. We have bills that are being passed in red states and that the Republicans passed in the House that really are designed to make it much more difficult for Democratic candidates to win elections. They are aimed at Democratic voters and aimed at making it much harder for Democratic voters to vote. 

Lindsay Semmelman 

Hi Fred. My name is Lindsay Semmelman. I am a recent December 2024 graduate of the University of Illinois. I got my bachelor's degree in political science and communications. So, thank you again for taking the time to meet with us today. My question is, trust in institutions from Congress to the Supreme Court is declining. What can be done to rebuild public confidence in democratic institutions and ensure they remain accountable to the people?  

Fred Wertheimer 

Well, that's a very hard one. This problem has been going on for decades. The Watergate scandals, the Vietnam War, the polarization in Congress, the attacks on government as a way of winning elections, they've all contributed to this, and we need to overcome it. And it will take time, lots of time, but what people can do is really press their politicians. Their elected officials demand that they deal with problems rather than attack everything we need to hold our elected officials accountable in a very strong, tough way. Now that's not easy. It takes organized efforts, but they have to be convinced to deal with the problems that exist. If we deal with the problems that exist if people feel they're getting benefits from the government, rather than hearing daily attacks on the government like we're hearing now, we can slowly but effectively overcome the lack of trust. Lack of trust in government hurts our country, and it hurts the interests the American people. It doesn't do them any good. 

Kristen Chandler 

Thank you for joining us for this enlightening conversation with Fred Wertheimer. His decades of experience and unwavering dedication to campaign finance reform and government accountability serve as a powerful reminder of the work still needed to protect democracy. We hope his insights sparked reflection and inspiration, especially for the next generation of change makers. Stay tuned for more conversations that inform the policy conversation in Illinois and beyond. Until next time, thanks for listening.