October 15, 2010

The White House Gets One Right

Flickr/<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/noahwesley/120499365/">noahwesley</a> (<a href="http://www.creativecommons.org">Creative Commons</a>).

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Via Mike Allen’s Playbook, I see that someone in the White House is thinking the right way about the whole Chamber of Commerce/foreign money/corporate campaign donations flap:

PLAYBOOK QUIZ: Why did the White House invest so much capital in the “foreign money” issue? a) stoke the Dem. base; b) make donors think twice before writing a check to a GOP-friendly outside group; c) delegitimize GOP victories; or d) “We actually think there is something wrong with millions of dollars of undisclosed special interest money being funneled through shadowy groups to buy elections. Foreign money is a part of the problem, but it’s only part.” Good job! D is correct!  

This is exactly right. It is wrong for individuals and corporations to anonymously buy elections by funnelling millions of dollars through front groups. But as I’ve said before, if the Democrats really want to take on this issue, they need to go after the domestic corporations and the super-rich individuals who are providing the bulk of the money.

It’s easy to anonymously tell Mike Allen that you think something is bad. The hard part is making the case to the American people. But if President Obama really wanted to launch a serious national conversation about money in politics and political corruption (on both sides of the aisle), I think many Americans would welcome it.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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