Campaigns for People was an advocacy organization in Texas that operated during the 2000s. It advocated restrictions on individual state-level political contributions, out-of-state contributions to candidates from political action committees (PACs) that receive money from businesses, and issue advertisements and supported a tax on lobbyists to publicly fund campaigns. ¹

Background

Campaigns for People was an advocacy organization that campaigned for restrictions on campaign finance speech in Texas during the 2000s. It created the Clean Up Texas Politics Coalition to make specific policy demands related to campaign finance speech restrictions and election law and named its website after the coalition. ^{2 3}

Clean Up Texas Politics Coalition

Clean Up Texas Politics Coalition was created by Campaigns for People, which also advertised the coalition’s website and indicated that the two were the same organization. It had five specific policy demands it focused its advocacy on. ^{4 5}

Clean Up Texas Politics Coalition’s demands included ending issue ads and business-funded election mailers, banning ads that are broadcast within 60 days of an election and refer to a candidate, prohibiting campaign contributions from out-of-state political action committees (PACs) that receive donations from businesses, establishing limits on how much and individual or PAC can contribute to a candidate, and instituting a sales tax on lobbyists to publicly fund donor matching for small-donor contributions. It also campaigned in support of independent redistricting commissions. ⁶

Activities

In December 2004, Campaigns for People’s executive director Fred Lewis announced a “four-point plan” for its 2005 campaigns. The plan included advocating for restrictions on campaign contributions from businesses and unions, increased regulations for the Texas Ethics Commission, limits on campaign finance speech, and requesting state legislators to record all non-ceremonial legislative votes. ⁷

In April 2004, Campaigns for People released a study on campaign contributions from school districts to state legislators, finding that wealthier districts contribute at higher rates. It advocated limits on campaign contributions to prevent wealthier districts from contributing at higher rates. The study claims that school districts are funded through “redistributing” wealth using the taxes of wealthier areas to poorer school districts and that a lack of contribution limits allow wealthier taxpayers to prevent higher rates of redistribution. ⁸

In January 2005, Campaigns for People executive director Fred Lewis was questioned in an article about the influence of campaign contributions, and he advocated for limiting individuals to $25,000 total worth of campaign contributions at the state level in an election year. ⁹

Leadership

Fred Lewis is a lawyer, lobbyist, and left-of-center activist ^{10 11} and the former executive director of Campaigns for People. ¹² In June 2010, it was announced Lewis was creating a voter registration drive named Houston Votes, which sought to increase voter registration by ethnic minorities in “traditionally Democratic segments of the populace.” ¹³

1. “Campaign Reform, on the Air.” austinchronicle.com. Accessed July 31, 2023. https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2004-10-01/231391/print/.
2. “Campaign Reform, on the Air.” austinchronicle.com. Accessed July 31, 2023. https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2004-10-01/231391/print/.
3. Lewis, Fred. “Open Forum.” The Texas Observer, April 18, 2019. https://www.texasobserver.org/1601-open-forum-taking-back-the-owners-box/.
4. ^[1] Lewis, Fred. “Open Forum.” The Texas Observer, April 18, 2019. https://www.texasobserver.org/1601-open-forum-taking-back-the-owners-box/.
5. “Campaign Reform, on the Air.” austinchronicle.com. Accessed July 31, 2023. https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2004-10-01/231391/print/.
6. Lewis, Fred. “Open Forum.” The Texas Observer, April 18, 2019. https://www.texasobserver.org/1601-open-forum-taking-back-the-owners-box/.
7. “Lewis Says Campaign Finance Change Likely This Year.” Austin Monitor, December 15, 2004. https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2004/12/lewis-says-campaign-finance-change-likely-this-year/.
8. Staff Report. “Study: Rich School Districts Gain through Campaign Money.” New Haven Register, April 14, 2004. https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/Study-Rich-school-districts-gain-through-7776629.php.
9. Elliott, Janet. “Groups Deplore Builders’ Influence at the Capitol.” Chron, January 5, 2005. https://www.chron.com/news/article/groups-deplore-builders-influence-at-the-capitol-1552224.php.
10. Lewis, Fred. “The next 60: The Progressive Moment Is Now.” The Texas Observer, April 20, 2019. https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-progressives-moment-now/.
11. Smith, Morgan. “Fred Lewis: The TT Interview.” The Texas Tribune, June 25, 2010. https://www.texastribune.org/2010/06/25/an-interview-with-fred-lewis/.
12. Smith, Amy. “Riding the Late-Money Campaign Train.” Last-minute campaign contributions come under fire – News – The Austin Chronicle, December 10, 2004. https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2004-12-10/241519/.
13. Smith, Morgan. “Fred Lewis: The TT Interview.” The Texas Tribune, June 25, 2010. https://www.texastribune.org/2010/06/25/an-interview-with-fred-lewis/.