March 1, 2003

Finance Reform’s Flame-Out

Reformers hoped that the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law would be the first step in kicking big money out of politics. Instead, big money politics kicked the life out of McCain-Feingold.

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A Fox in the Electoral Henhouse?
By Micah L. Sifry
Apr. 15, 2002
With the appointment of former GOP lawyer Michael Toner to the Federal Election Commission, President Bush did more than simply insult the champions of reform.

Campaign Inflation
By Eric Bates
March 5, 2001
Industry pumped in a record 696 million dollars to elect George W. Bush and a GOP Congress. The Mother Jones 400 reveals the nation’s top contributors — and what they expect in return.

Padlock the Revolving Door!
By Ted Rall
May 19, 2000
Campaign finance reform isn’t nearly enough. To really get the influence of money out of politics, we need to keep ex-politicians out of corporate boardrooms.

No Small Change
By William Saletan
January/February, 1999 Issue
Reformers are overly optimistic about ridding politics of Big Money.

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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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