IT CAN COST MILLIONS TO RUN FOR CONGRESS. WHERE DOES IT COME FROM? WHAT DOES IT BUY?
Amazingly savvy elementary school students share some very straightforward opinions on real politics.
Northern Light School Oakland, CA
Childpeace Montessori School Portland, OR
Neil Cummings Middle School Corte Madera, CA
Marin Primary School Larkspur, CA
Bill Bradley (D) – American hall of fame former basketball player who also served as a U.S. Senator from New Jersey from 1978-1997.
Mike Capuano (D) – U.S. Representative for Massachusetts’s 8th congressional district, serving since 1999.
Mike Conaway (R) – Current U.S. Representative for 11th congressional district of Texas, serving since 2005. Also serves on the House Committee on Agriculture.
Mario Cuomo (D) – Served as the 52nd Governor of the state of New York from 1983 to 1994.
Dick Durbin (D) – Current senior U.S. Senator from Illinois and Democratic Party Whip. Serving as a Member of Congress since 1982.
Donna Edwards (D) – Current U.S. Representative from Maryland’s 4th district, serving since 2008.
Walter Jones (R) – Current U.S. Representative for North Carolina’s 3rd congressional district, serving since 1995.
Dan Maffei (D) – Former U.S. Democratic Representative for New York’s 25th district.
Eric Massa (D) – Former U.S. Representative from New York’s 29th Congressional District, serving from January 2009 until his resignation in March 2010.
Collin Peterson – Current U.S. Representative for Minnesota’s 7th district, serving since 1991. He is also Chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture.
Chellie Pingree – Current U.S. Representative for Maine’s 1st District, serving since 2009. She also served as Senate Majority Leader in the Maine Senate from 1996-2000.
Al Simpson (R) – A former U.S. Senator and Republican Party Whip from Wyoming who served from 1979 to 1996. He is currently co-chair of President Barack Obama’s National Commission on
Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.
Don Young – Current U.S. Representative from Alaska serving since 1973. Also serves on the House Natural Resources Committee.
Marty Russo – Senior Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer with Cassidy & Associates, a Washington DC lobbying firm whose clients include coal-fired electric utilities. He also served as U.S. Representative from Illinois from 1975 to 1993.
Scott Segal – A practicing attorney and lobbyist with Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, a Washington DC lobbying
firm whose clients include petroleum refiners and coal-fired electric utilities.
Charles Stenholm – U.S. Representative for Texas from 1979-2005 and was Ranking Member of the House Committee on Agriculture. He is currently a lobbyist with Olsson Frank Weeda, a Washington firm specializing in food, drug, and agriculture interests.
Jay Vroom – President and CEO of CropLife America, a Washington DC lobbying firm representing the “crop protection” industry that includes pesticide manufacturers.
Ford West – President of the Fertilizer Institute, a Washington DC-based lobbying organization that advocates for the chemical fertilizer industry.
Ed Ablesar (D) – A member of the Arizona House of Representatives serving District 17, elected as a candidate running on public funding provided by the state’s pioneering Clean Elections system.
Rich Crandall (R) – A member of the Arizona House of Representatives serving District 19, first elected as a candidate running on public funding provided by the state’s optional Clean Elections system.
Meg Burton-Cahill (D) – A member of the Arizona State Senate serving District 17, elected as a candidate running on public funding provided by the state’s optional Clean Elections system.
Steve May (R) – Former member of the Arizona House of Representatives and Chairman of the Arizona House Ways and Means Committee, elected as a privately-funded candidate.
Leah Landrum Taylor (D) – A member of the Arizona Senate serving District 16, elected as a candidate running on public funding provided by the state’s optional Clean Elections system.
Kristin Sinema (D) – A member of the Arizona House of Representatives serving District 15, first elected as a candidate running on public funding provided by the state’s optional Clean Elections system.
Jackie Thrasher (D) – Former member of the Arizona House of Representatives serving District 10, elected as a candidate running on public funding provided by the state’s optional Clean Elections system.
Doug Quelland (R) – Former member of the Arizona House of Representatives serving District 10, elected as a privately-funded candidate. Served 2003-2006 and from 2009 until 2010.
Ryan Alexander – President of Taxpayers for Common Sense, a non-partisan budget watchdog serving as an independent voice for American taxpayers.
Ben Barr – Senior Fellow at the Goldwater Institute and counsel for the Washington DC-based Center for Competitive Politics, a libertarian public interest law firm and advocacy organization that “litigates to secure economic liberty, school choice, private property rights, freedom of speech and other vital individual liberties . . .”
Bob Edgar (D) – Served as a U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania from 1975-1987. He is now president of Common Cause, a nonpartisan government watchdog organization.
Ken Cook – President of the Environmental Working Group, a Washington DC-based organization that advocates for health-protective and subsidy-shifting policies.
David Donnelly - National Campaign Director for Public Campaign, a non-partisan organization that advocates for campaign reform to reduce the role of special interest money in American politics.
Will Durst – Stand-up comedian, columnist, and nationally-known commentator on U.S. politics, also a five -time Emmy nominee and recipient of 7 consecutive nominations for the American Comedy
Awards Stand Up of the Year.
Thom Hartmann – Nationally-syndicated radio talk show host and author of books including The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight; Screwed: The Undeclared War Against The Middle Class and What Would Jefferson Do?
Tim Keller – Executive Director of the Arizona Chapter of the Institute for Justice, a libertarian public interest law firm and advocacy organization that “litigates to secure economic liberty, school choice, private property rights, freedom of speech and other vital individual liberties . . .”
Steve Kretzman – Founder and Executive Director of Oil Change International, a Washington DC-based organization dedicated to identifying, overcoming, and dismantling the barriers to clean energy.
Sheila Krumholtz – Executive Director of the Center for Responsive Politics, an independent, non-partisan, non-profit research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy.
Lawrence Lessig – Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Founder of Fix Congress First, a nonpartisan advocacy organization whose sole purpose is to protect the independence of Congress by fighting the influence of money in politics.
Nick Nyhart – President and CEO of Public Campaign, a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to campaign reform that aims to dramatically reduce the role of big special interest money in American politics.
Sean Parnell – President of Center for Competitive Politics, an organization dedicated to “protecting First Amendment political rights by educating the public and government leaders on the dangers of so-called campaign finance reform.”
John Rauh – Founder and Chairman of Americans for Campaign Reform, a non-partisan, grassroots organization of citizens whose purpose is to help enact public funding for all federal elections — for the House, the Senate and the Presidency.
Dan Weeks – Former President of Americans for Campaign Reform, a non-partisan, a grassroots organization of citizens whose purpose is to help enact public funding for all federal elections — for the House, the Senate and the Presidency.
Frank Ackerman – A senior economist and director of the Climate Economics Group at the Stockholm Enviroment Institute US Center, an independent research affiliate of Tufts University.
Kathleen Delate – Associate Professor and Organic Specialist in the Departments of Agronomy and Horticulture at Iowa State University.
Paul Higgins – Senior Fellow and Associate Director of the American Meteorological Society’s Policy Program.
Todd Lang – Executive Director of Arizona’s Citizens Clean Elections Commission, an agency that administers the state’s Citizens Clean Elections Act.
Jennifer Sass – senior scientist in the Natural Resource Defense Council’s health and environment program, working on scientific issues relevant to federal chemical regulations.
Steve Schneider – At his untimely death in 2010 was Professor of Environmental Biology and Global Change at Stanford University, served as consultant to Federal Agencies and the White House, and served on the international panel that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Paul Buxman – Farmer in California’s Central Valley raising fruit tree crops without the use of dangerous pesticides.
LaVon Griffeon – Farmer and environmentalist growing corn, soybeans and organic poultry on her family’s century old farm in Ankeny, Iowa.
Jim Kalbach – Farmer outside of Dexter, Iowa growing corn and soybeans on his fourth-generation family farm.
Barbara Kalbach – Current Board President of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (ICCI), an organization advocating for local control of communities and sustainable family farms. She also
farms with her husband Jim.
Gary Larson – Farmer in Exira, Iowa growing corn and soybeans and member of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (ICCI), an organization advocating for local control of communities and
sustainable family farms.
Judith Redmond – Organic Farmer in Northern California’s Capay Valley growing 250 acres of fruits and vegetables. She also serves as a board member of Community Alliance with Family Farmers and participates in a Community-Supported Agriculture group (CSA) with over 650 members.
Dan Rosman – Organic farmer outside of Harlan, Iowa growing diversified crops including corn, soybeans and livestock on his family’s fourth-generation 600-acre farm.
Don Furman – Senior Vice President of External Affairs for Iberdrola Renewables in Portland, Oregon. Iberdola is the second-largest wind operator in the U.S. with more than 3,800 MW in operation.
Gary Hirshberg – President and CEO of Stonyfield Farm, an organic yogurt producer that helps support hundreds of family farms and keep over 130,000 agricultural acres free of toxic pesticides and other chemicals commonly used on nonorganic farms.
Robin Eckstein – Served in U.S. Army’s 123rd Main Support Battalion of the First Armored Division in Iraq and is among a group of veterans touring with Operation Free, a coalition of veterans and national security organizations that recognize climate change as a major threat and support bold action.
Matt Victoriano – Served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a scout sniper team leader with two tours of duty in Iraq and is among a group of veterans touring with Operation Free, a coalition of veterans and national security organizations that recognize climate change as a major threat and support bold action.
Daniel Wynters – Served in the U.S. Navy Construction Battalion as a vehicle commander in Iraq and is among a group of veterans touring with Operation Free, a coalition of veterans and national
security organizations that recognize climate change as a major threat and support bold action.
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