Recap of Our Rally on Thursday, May 20th
As a sequel to the recent community forums held in New Braunfels and San Antonio, approximately 30 members of the MoveOn Councils representing Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe and Hayes Counties rallied Thursday outside the San Antonio office of Representative Lamar Smith, urging Smith to “Stand Up For Fair Elections”. The group called for campaign finance reform and transparency in media advertising.
MoveOn.org members across the U.S., comprising more than 5 million volunteers, have concluded that they need to address the disproportionate control that is exercised by corporations over elections and legislation before real progress can be achieved with major policy initiatives.
JC Dufresne, a spokesman for the two councils, said “Elections should be won, not bought. There are two bills in the House of Representatives to address the issue and we are here to promote them.”
The two bills are HR 1826, the Fair Elections Now Act, introduced a year ago, and a new one called the DISCLOSE act. HR 1826, which now has 151 co-sponsors in the House, allows Congressional candidates to declare that they will voluntarily refuse any corporate donations, instead receiving individual donations not to exceed $100 plus federal government funding. The DISCLOSE act specifies that, for media advertising, the sponsoring organization must clearly identify itself within the ad so that viewers will be able to consider the bias behind the message.
Smith has not taken a position on HR 1826 but has recently stated that he is opposed to
the DISCLOSE act. In Smith’s signed letter on the subject, he remarks “I oppose the DISCLOSE act in its current form because it imposes the same type of free speech restrictions the Supreme Court struck down in its Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision. Smith has publicly applauded the Court decision.
Stephen Baird
Council Coordinator
MoveOn Greater San Antonio Area 
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