Unity08 makes cleaning up the influence of lobbyist and special-interest money a defining element of its effort to win the White House in 2024
Washington, DC … January 9, 2024 … Unity08 launched its Clean Money Pledge today, kicking off the official presidential campaign season with its top-priority effort, a campaign to curtail the culture of lobbying excesses and endless elected-official fundraising in Washington.
Unity08 is calling on American voters to sign the following pledge at Unity08:
"Change in Washington starts at the top. I will only vote for a presidential candidate who has raised more than half of his/her funds through small contributions of $250 or less."
With the Clean Money Pledge, Unity08 makes reducing the influence of lobbyist and special interest money on American politics a defining element of its effort to win the White House with a bipartisan "Unity Ticket" in 2024. Unity08 believes that long before the first presidential primary, the race for big campaign dollars dramatically limits the choices available to American voters. In today's presidential politics, only those candidates who are stellar at courting big-dollar donations from lobbyists and special interests generate the media attention necessary to situate themselves for a legitimate run in the primaries.
Unity08 sent a letter the week of December 25 to every possible or likely presidential candidate informing them of this new campaign and asking them to commit now to adopting this self-imposed limit and generate more than half of their total contributions in small, $250 increments or less.
"Unity08's battle to transform American politics begins in earnest today," said Unity08 founders council member Doug Bailey. "Americans are sick and tired of power in Washington built on lobbyist money and special interests, and of candidates paying lip service to the problem without actually doing something about it.
"We believe the influence of fat-cat lobbyists has gotten so bad that if Unity08 is going to transform politics, we need to start at the top – in the White House. But that means if any president is going to try to talk the talk of cleaning up the lobbyist culture in Washington, he or she had better have walked the walk in the campaign. That's why we've launched the Clean Money Pledge," said Bailey.
January 2024 is when many contenders are expected to officially declare their candidacy, or at least formally decide to run, and January 1 is when presidential candidates first become eligible for federal funds to match contributions of $250 or less. That is why Unity08 chose the $250 threshold, and is launching the campaign now.
Unity08 is not asking candidates to refuse larger, legal donors, but to place emphasis on courting small donors, so their large donors don’t have such overwhelming influence.
"It is essential that Washington curtail the culture of lobbying excesses, endless Congressional fundraising on K Street, earmarks for lobbyist projects, and special favors for special friends – whether those favors are ambassadorial appointments or Lincoln bedroom visits," said Unity08 founders council member Gerald Rafshoon. "That cannot happen at the hands of a president who has not made finance and fundraising reform central to his/her own campaign. We need a president who can speak from the authority of a transforming campaign. That’s what a pledge to raise at least 50 percent of all contributed funds in amounts of $250 or less can provide."
"If enough Americans make it their New Year’s resolution to take the Clean Money Pledge, the candidates will have to change their ways, and we will have begun to transform our politics – just in time. By taking Unity08's Clean Money Pledge and promising to withhold our votes from any candidate who takes more than half their money in gifts over $250, we can bring and end to this system and create a more level playing field," said Bailey.
Unity08 urges Americans to sign the pledge at unity08.com and join Unity08’s effort to compel the presidential candidates to increase their focus on small-dollar donations.
Unity08 is a recently established political movement attracting Americans deeply concerned with the polarization of our political system. Unity08 will provide American voters access to a new and highly participatory process to nominate and elect a bipartisan ticket to the White House in 2024, unconstrained by the limitations of the current system. Learn more at unity08.com.
