To: Interested Organizations From: Stephanie Mueller, Keri Fulton, Laura Brandon and Xakota Espinosa, BerlinRosen Re: Money in Politics Messaging Date: September 8, 2015

Following the release of Hillary Clinton’s plan to reduce the influence of money in politics, we wanted to share talking points and Q&A on her proposal and how to use it to put pressure on all candidates to address the growing influence of money in our elections and government. These can be helpful for any leaders or spokespeople at your organization who will be doing interviews on this issue or where it might come up. We have also included tested messaging on how to connect your issue to the growing concern surrounding the influence of money in politics. Please consider using these suggested talking points in your commentary and statements calling for reform on this issue, which you can fill in with your organization’s topline messaging: Clinton Announcement Messaging:

Hillary Clinton has offered a solid set of proposals that recognize the critical importance of amplifying the voices of everyday Americans in our political system.

o With its focus on empowering small donors, this plan will help create government of, by, and

for the people, not just the wealthy funders of campaigns.

This policy will resonate with everyday Americans. Americans from all walks of life deeply believe that big money gets in the way of progress in Washington and they want to see candidates propose bold solutions.

o Poll after poll shows that a broad, bipartisan majority of the American people is disgusted by

our broken campaign finance system. o By offering solutions, and not just criticism, Clinton will be able to move voters past cynicism

that nothing can be done.

It’s important for Clinton to campaign on this platform and make it a central part of the campaign going forward.

o On the campaign trail, in interviews, and during the debates, it’s important for Clinton to

speak forcefully in support of this platform to rally people behind it. A piece of paper isn’t enough.

Clinton Announcement Q&A: What would the plan actually do? Simply, the plan would give regular people a bigger voice in politics, reduce the influence of large donors, and provide much-needed transparency for political spending. Specifically, she’s proposing:

a comprehensive plan of small-donor public financing for congressional and presidential races,

a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and other court decisions,

the appointment of pro-reform justices to the Supreme Court, and

a number of disclosure and transparency measures to shine a light on secret money, including an executive order to require government contractors to disclosure political spending.

Isn’t she a hypocrite for calling for overturning Citizens United when she’s currently benefitting from the decision? Candidates have two options: They can speak out forcibly about why they think the system is broken and what needs to be done to place Americans in the driver’s seat for campaigns, or they can remain silent. We must size up candidates on the basis of what they will do to reform the system. Did Larry Lessig’s decision to announce his presidential bid force Clinton’s hand on this? Like other Democrats in the race, Hillary Clinton has been a long-time supporter of addressing our broken campaign finance system, including cosponsoring a bill when she was in the Senate by John Kerry and Paul Wellstone to create a small-donor public financing system for Congressional elections. How does this compare to what Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley have been saying? Isn’t she sort of late? All three agree that we need public financing of elections and to overturn Citizens United, though this release by Clinton, who is seen as the front-runner, is certainly an important development. But this is just talk right? President Obama said the same stuff but did nothing. 2016 isn’t 2008. The American people are angrier than ever at a political system driven by billionaires and big donors. They want politicians who will take action to reduce barriers so that everyone’s voice can be heard. Today’s plan is a step in that direction. Now Clinton should campaign on it and tell voters how she’ll implement it if elected. The Price We All Pay: When our representatives become dependent on funding from big-moneyed interests—who employ thousands of lobbyists and spend millions of dollars to protect their own agendas—it leaves them unable to solve the problems of the American people. If we don’t do something to fix the systemic corruption ravaging our democracy, progress will continue to be blocked on critical issues of all kinds.

There’s a personal price to pay for the money flowing through Washington.

o When [moneyed interest] is able to use their power to influence officials and further their

own interests to support [insert harmful policy here]

o Regular Americans pay the price with [negative personal consequence related to your issue]

Do you care about the quality of our environment? Providing access to affordable reproductive health

care? Passing gun-control restrictions?

o If we want to see the problems we care about solved, we have to get the money out of the

way; until then, the powerful and the special interests will work for their own good at the

expense of the common good.

o Examples:

Pro-life groups spent $3.3 million last cycle, but GOP candidates think $500k is too

much to spend on women’s health.

The NRA spent $32 million in the 2014 elections. That spending is paying off as GOP

candidates continue to decry any and all gun-control restrictions.

The Influence of Money in politics: There is a price that we all pay when big moneyed interests use thousands of lobbyists and spend millions of dollars to preserve the status quo and protect their own interests at the expense of public interests. If we don’t do something to stop the flow of money influencing the policies of our country, we will all pay the price.

The corrosive influence of money in politics touches every issue Americans care about and that come

before this congress.

[Insert your organization’s messaging here].

Government of, by, and for the people truly puts people first, not special interests. Whether we’re Republicans, Democrats, Independents or other, we’re Americans first, and we share a commitment to government that represents us all.