RepresentUs, founded in 2012, is a legally “nonpartisan” organization focused on reducing what it claims are the negative effects of campaign funding in American politics.[1] The organization promotes proposed legislation that aims to increase certain campaign donation restrictions, create a $7.5 billion government subsidy program for political campaigns, and regulate the time of day that members of Congress can fundraise, to name a few.[2]
RepresentUs works with several Hollywood celebrities, most notably Jennifer Lawrence, as part of a “creative council” to create promotional material.[3] The organization’s 501(c)(3) fundraising arm, the RepresentUS Education Fund, has received financial contributions from a number of left-leaning organizations such as the Atlantic Foundation, Tides Foundation, and Park Foundation.[4]
Background
RepresentUs was founded by Josh Silver and Josh Graham Lynn in November 2012. By 2013, the group was organizing local chapters. RepresentUs claims 42 chapters in 22 states as of July 2018.[5] The organization’s website claims that corruption in America stems from the fact that the few people who have the ability to contribute large sums of money to politics have more of a say in our government than the average American.[6]
RepresentUs centers its advocacy on proposed legislation titled “The American Anti-Corruption Act.”[7] The proposal includes provisions to generally increase certain campaign donation restrictions, to create a $7.5 billion government subsidy for political campaigns, to prohibit people who are paid to lobby from donating to campaigns, to prevent politicians from raising money during the workday, and to immediately disclose political fundraising and spending online.[8]
The organization declared that Tallahassee, Florida made history in 2014 when it was the first city to approve an Anti-Corruption Act,[9] an initiative that RepresentUs supported.[10] The amendment for the city of Tallahassee included a provision to hire an ethics board, among other things. However, the board was criticized for “ethics problems.”[11] The nominees for the board are approved by the commissioners that it oversees and the board “quietly agreed to hire as their legal counsel the very same law firm that represents the city commission – which the board is supposed to police.”[12]
Political Activism
RepresentUs is active in promoting legislation and ballot initiatives which restrict anonymous speech, restrict public policy activity, and promote liberal-aligned voting procedures.
2016 Ballot Measure Campaigns
In 2016, RepresentUs supported sixteen ballot measures and initiatives in eight states: South Dakota, Washington, Missouri, Maryland, Illinois, California, Oregon, and Rhode Island. Thirteen were passed by voters.[13]
Successful measures included South Dakota Measure 22, which revised campaign finance and lobbying laws and established a publicly funded campaign finance program (which was later repealed by the state legislature after it passed in a narrow vote);[14] San Francisco Proposition T, which prohibited lobbyists from making campaign contributions to elected municipal officials whose agency they are registered to lobby;[15] and Washington Initiative 735, an initiative to the state legislature urging the state congressional delegation to propose an amendment to the U.S. Constitution which would strip citizens assembled in corporate structures of their rights to speak on public issues.[16]
2018 Ballot Measure Campaigns
In 2018, RepresentUs’ South Dakota chapter has supported a ballot measure, Amendment W, in the state in response to the repeal of Measure 22 in 2017 by South Dakota Governor Dennis Daugaard and the state legislature. [17] If passed, the measure purports to “lower campaign contribution limits,” “ban lobbyist gifts to politicians,” and establish a “citizens ethics commission” to replace an existing state agency with “broad power to investigate, adopt rules, issue advisory opinions, and conduct audits” of any “appointed official, judge, or State or local government employee.” [18] [19] According to filings from the Amendment W campaign, financial supporters include RepresentUs and RepresentUs South Dakota ($181,830) and End Citizens United ($33,536). [20] [21]
RepresentUs also supported a successful veto referendum on the June 2018 ballot in Maine. Question 1 repealed parts of a law passed by the state legislature suspending the implementation of a ranked-choice voting system in the state. [22] Financial supporters of the referendum included RepresentUs ($52,256), Action Now Initiative ($188,500), and Level the Playing Field ($213,000).[23]
“America Needs to Vote at Home” Video During COVID-19
A video titled “America Needs to Vote at Home During COVID-19” was published in March 2020 by RepresentUS. The video discusses the Vote by Mail bill in the senate which would allow American citizens to vote from home. [24]
The Vote by Mail legislation would require every state to permit voters to request absentee ballots, to provide early voting practices for voters who seek to cast their ballot in person, and to expand in-state voting procedures for voting during an emergency health crisis situation. This legislation seeks to expand in-state systems to facilitate at-home voting practices during a widespread emergency situation such as the coronavirus pandemic. [25]
The states Oregon, North Dakota, Utah, Colorado, and Arizona have developed a system that has successfully allowed voters to register and vote with absentee ballots. The video encourages every state to build an electoral system that allows people to register and vote from home with absentee ballots. [26]
Celebrity Activism
Several celebrities are involved with Respresent.us and are a part of the organization’s “creative council,” a group designed to create “smart, engaging programs and content that unites conservatives, progressives, and everyone in between to unrig America’s corrupt political system.”[27]
The celebrities involved with the creative council include a slew of actors, musicians, film directors, and film producers such as Jennifer Lawrence, Kerry Washington, Rachel McAdams, Sia, Jack Black, Elizabeth Banks, Misha Collins, J.J. Abrams, and Kate Walsh. [28]
Many of these celebrities have donated large sums of money to Democratic political campaigns. In 2016, Misha Collins donated $2,700 to Hillary Clinton’s campaign and $1,900 to the DNC Services Corp.[29] Elizabeth Banks donated $2,700 to Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2015.[30] In 2012, Jack Black donated $30,800 to the DNC Services Corp.[31]
Since the beginning of 2018, Jennifer Lawrence has been particularly active with RepresentUs. After describing that the result of Donald J. Trump becoming president “will be the end of the world”[32] in 2015, and saying that she felt like her “head exploded” after he was elected in 2016,[33] she recently stated that she is taking a break from acting to “help ‘fix our democracy’” by working with RepresentUs.[34]
Funding
According to the group’s website, however, left-of-center foundations including the Atlantic Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Park Foundation, Tides Foundation, and Bohemian Foundation have each given at least $100,000 to the 501(c)(3) RepresentUS Education Fund.[35]
People
Founders
Josh Graham Lynn is the managing director and co-founder of RepresentUs. His previous work includes branding and marketing at a food marketing company called Pure Branding and a credit union called EverythingCU.[36]
Josh Silver is the director and co-founder of RepresentUs. He was the campaign manager for a controversial, 1998 “Arizona Clean Elections” ballot initiative and was the co-founder and former CEO of Free Press, a left-wing media criticism organization. Silver is a frequent contributor at the left-leaning HuffPost.[37]
The 1998 Clean Elections Ballot Initiative sought to institute a government funding system for state political campaigns by making public funds “available to candidates who agree to participate in a system of campaign spending limits.”[38] However, in 2011 a case against the act was brought to the Supreme Court of the United States, which struck down part of the government-funding program.[39]
Board Members
Kulpreet Rana, an attorney and the former head of intellectual property at Google, is the Chair of the RepresentUs board.[40]
Todd Dipaola, CEO and founder of InMarket, is the Chair of the RepresentUs Education Fund board. Dipaola is also a board member of the University of California Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy.[41]
Other notable board members include:
- Jennifer Lawrence – American actor
- Alan Schwartz – a managing partner at Guggenheim Partners, a financial advisory firm.
- John Johnson – co-founder of Buzzfeed, current chairman and founder of Harmony Labs.[42]
- Jon DeVaan – former vice president of Microsoft Windows development, current “social activist.”[43]
- Matt Cutts – former head of Google’s web spam team.[44]
- Adam McKay – an American screenwriter, director, and comedian. [45]
- Jim Greer – founder and CEO of CounterPAC, an organization pushing for campaign finance reform.[46]
Despite the efforts of RepresentUs to curtail campaign contributions, many of RepresentUs’ board members participate in the same kind of high-dollar political funding that the organization criticizes. John Johnson donated $100,000 to Mayday PAC in 2014,[47] an ironic “super PAC that would spend big money in order to fight super PACs and other groups that spend big money.”[48]
In 2016, Jon DeVaan donated over $12,000 to a variety of Democratic political candidates such as Hillary Clinton, Suzan DelBene, and Patty Murray.[49] In 2014, Matt Cutts donated $50,000 to Every Voice Action,[50] the PAC for a 501(c)(4) organization, Every Voice, which endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016.[51]