200: How to End Legal Bribes Congressional Dish

The currently legal ability of obscenely rich people to bribe lawmakers and law enforcers is the source of many - if not all - of our political problems. In this episode, get an update on the few democracy-enhancing bills that have moved in this Congress and Jen speaks to Sam Fieldman - the National Counsel at Wolf-PAC - who explains how we can constitutionally end the role of money in politics by going around Congress. Joe Briney joins Jen for the thank you's. Executive Producer: Randall Dibble Please Support Congressional Dish – Quick Links to contribute monthly or a lump sum via to support Congressional Dish for each episode via Patreon Send payments to: Send payments to: @Jennifer-Briney Send payments to: $CongressionalDish or Use your bank's online bill pay function to mail contributions to: Please make checks payable to Congressional Dish Thank you for supporting truly independent media! ______________________________________________________ Recommended Congressional Dish Episodes Recommended Reading Article: by John Sarbanes and Brian Frosh, Baltimore Sun, July 3, 2019 Article: by Donald Shaw, ReadSludge.com, June 10, 2019. Article:  by Whitney Webb, MPN News, May 24, 2019. Document:   SSRN, May 21, 2019 Article: by Mark Niese, GovTech, May 2, 2019. Article: by Sean Gallagher, ARS Technica, April 10, 2019. Article: by Greg Bluestein and Mark Niesse, Governing, April 5, 2019.  Article:  by Mark Niesse, Atlanta Journal, January 30, 2019 Article: by Ella Nilsen, Vox, January 04, 2019. Article: , by Thom Hartmann, Salon.com, November 23, 2018. Article:   U.S. News, November 7, 2018. Article:  by Lily Hay Newman, Wired, September 28, 2018. Article:  by Kim Zetter, Vice News, July 17, 2018. Article: , by DD Guttenplan, The Nation, June 27, 2018. Article:   by Greg Gordon, Amy Renee Leiker, Jamie Self and Stanley Dunlap, McClatchy DC Bureau, June 21, 2018. Document:  Secretary of the Senate Office of Public Records, 2018 Data:   OpenSecrets.org, 2018. Article:   by Sam Fieldman, Medium.com, October 12, 2017. Article:   by Pam Fessler, NPR, October 26, 2016. Document:   Redistricting Majority Project, January 4, 2013. Document:   Committee on Ethics, January 4, 2013. Document:   Every CRSRReport.com, June 17, 2011.  _____________________________________________________ Bill Outline : SAFE Act Sponsor: Zoe Lofgren of northern California 74 pages Passed the House on June 27, 2019 Only GOP yes: Newbie Rep. Brian Mast - 38 year old wounded Afghanistan war veteran representing the Palm Beach area Went to the Committee on Rules and Administration in the Senate : Financial Support for Election Infrastructure Subtitle A: Voting System Security Improvement Grants : Paper ballot requirements “The voting system shall require the use of an individual, durable, voter-verified paper ballot of the voters’ vote that shall be marked and made available for inspection and verification by the voter before the voter’s vote is cast and counted, which shall be counted by hand or read by an optical character recognition device or other counting device." “The voting system shall provide the voter with an opportunity to correct any error on the paper ballot…” Recounts: The paper ballot “shall constitute the official ballot and shall be preserved and used as the official ballot for purposes any recount or audit conducted with respect to any election for Federal office in which the voting system is used.” : Durability and readability requirements for ballots Ballots must be on “durable” paper, which means it is capable of withstanding multiple recounts by hand without compromising the fundamental integrity of the ballots” and they must maintain readability for 22 months. : Recycled Paper Ballots must be printed on recycled paper starting on January 1, 2021. : These rules will apply “for any election for Federal office held in 2020 or