We can't accept that money wins elections.

From: Kirk Bangstad <info@kirkbangstad.com>

Date: Wed, Oct 28, 2015 at 7:50 PM
Subject: We can't accept that money wins elections.
To:

Dear Friend,
In this Wreal World Wednesday video, I was frustrated. I had just gotten back from
Washington D.C. and was told I hadnt raised enough money to prove that I was a
viable candidate against my incumbent opponent.
I sat in my house over the last two days wondering what to do, and then I read an
article in the New York Times that said campaign finance reform was working in places
like New York City and Connecticut. I then spoke to an expert on rural broadband in
Wisconsin who said the reason we dont have it in large swaths of the 7th district is
because our Republican legislature is bought and sold by the lobbyists for Charter,
AT&T, Verizon, etc. who dont want to expand broadband in rural areas because it will
cost those corporations a lot of profit.
I then went on a jog in the rain on the woodsy Raven Trail in my town of Woodruff and
got madand wet. I thought to myself Why is Wisconsin, which has been a bastion of

clean government for the last hundred years, getting thumped relentlessly by corruption
when other cities and states are starting to figure out how to fight back? My answer
was that our state cant just roll over and accept that money wins elections.
I wont accept that as true, because the people of Wisconsin in both parties are smarter
than what money buysa false reality shown through smooth television
advertisementsand they will eventually see the dystopia that has become Wisconsin
over the last six years.
The average citizen has been priced out of running for office, and thats the
number one reason why Washington is so dysfunctional.
Ive been told by many political consultants in Washington D.C. that in order to get our
message out to the voters, wed need to raise $1.5M. Lets put this $1.5M price tag to
run successfully for congress in context. The average per capita income in Marathon
County, the largest county in the district, is $27,000. In our current system, only those
with access to wealth can run a viable campaign for congress.
And my opponent has access to wealthmuch of it belonging to groups who
could care less about the interests of citizens in Northern Wisconsin.
According to Opensecrets.com, nearly half of the approximately $1M that my opponent
Sean Duffy has raised in 2015 has come from special interest political action
committees (PACs). This unsustainable patronage system gives rise to Manchurian
candidates like Duffy who relentlessly tries to defang Elizabeth Warrens Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau at the behest of his banking patrons to the detriment of
senior citizens in this district being preyed upon by shady lenders and bankers, and
Scott Walker, who allowed his out-of-state mining benefactors to write legislation that
weakened environmental protections to clean water.
We need to root out the cancer that is too much money in politics. This cancer
is killing our democracy, and until we cure this disease, were going to have the
tumors of dysfunction and corruption popping up everywhere.
I realize now after seeing the system up close, that in order for us to once again have a
democracy that serves the needs of its citizens, we need to change the system that
gives corporate money so much sway in politics.
Given the complete dysfunction of US congress buttressed by the disastrous Citizens
United decision that opened the floodgates to dark money in elections, I believe the
best way to strengthen democracy is at the grassroots level.
This belief is rooted in history. Robert LaFollette, the great Wisconsin Progressive,
championed the end to corporate campaign contributions at the state level in 1905 at a
time when the nation as a whole was rife with corruption and run at the behest of
Robber Barons. These state laws served as a beacon of light to the rest of the nation to
follow suit with the passing of the Tilman Act, which banned corporate campaign

contributions signed by President Teddy Roosevelt in 1907.

I believe the two best policies to pursue in the shadow of Citizens United are public
funding of elections and the creation of bipartisan commissions to restrict political
gerrymandering.
I will not explain these policies at length, but to learn more about them, please go here
and here.
I will dedicate myself to enacting these laws in Wisconsin and the US going forward,
and I hope many of you will join me in this fight. This great state of ours is in real
trouble, and we need passionate voices to fight the cancer of too much money in
politics that is killing our democracy.
Please forward or repost this letter and video so that others know we are fighting
hard against corruption in the Northwoods of Wisconsin
Thanks,
Kirk

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