Commissioner Ellen Weintraub of the U.S. Federal Election Commission Urges New York State Legislature To Support The Democracy Preservation Act. Posted on June 2, 2021 Challenging Foreign Influence FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub sent a letter to members of the New York State Legislature, urging them to support the Democracy Preservation Act and protect New York’s state and local elections from foreign influence. “Elections at all levels in the United States have been under sustained direct attack from our foreign adversaries,” Commissioner Weintraub writes.Read More
New Free Speech For People Video Explains How Foreign-Influenced Corporations Interfere in U.S. Elections. Posted on June 1, 2021 Challenging Foreign Influence Checkout our latest video explaining how to stop multinational corporations such as Uber and Amazon from spending millions of dollars trying to influence U.S. elections. We The People are fighting back. As the video explains: Seventy-three percent of Americans, including majorities of both Democrats and Republicans, support limiting political spending by companies with any foreignRead More
Free Speech For People Welcomes Kristin Barrali as Director of Advancement Posted on June 1, 2021 FSFP Updates Free Speech For People is thrilled to announce that Kristin Barrali has joined our team in the new role of Director of Advancement. Ms. Barrali brings over 20 years of nonprofit fundraising experience and social justice advocacy to this role. As Director of Advancement, she will lead the expansion of the development, marketing, and fundraisingRead More
FSFP Welcomes Our 2021 Summer Legal Advocacy Program Interns! Posted on May 27, 2021 FSFP Updates Free Speech For People is pleased to announce our summer 2021 Legal Advocacy Program interns! We appreciate the talent, time, and commitment to defending our democracy that these law students bring to the Free Speech For People team. Learn more about our new Legal Advocacy Program interns below! Analiese Batchelor is a rising second-year studentRead More
WATCH: New York Democracy Preservation Act Virtual Town Hall – May 13, 2021 Posted on May 14, 2021 (May 14, 2021) Challenging Foreign Influence Since the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United, foreign-influenced corporations have spent millions to sway elections in New York. Take Airbnb, for example: the home-sharing platform, partly owned by a Russian oligarch’s venture fund, funneled $11M into a super PAC to defeat legislators seeking to impose restrictions on the company in 2016. But NewRead More
Free Speech For People Denounces Florida Legislature’s Power Grab Against Cities and Counties Posted on May 7, 2021 Challenging Foreign Influence Cities and counties in Florida have long been empowered through principles of home rule to enact their own local campaign finance laws. But the Florida governor recently signed a law, aimed directly at our success in St. Petersburg–where we helped develop and pass a groundbreaking ordinance that bans political spending by foreign-influenced corporations, and limitsRead More
Federal Election Commission Deadlocks 3-3 on Free Speech For People’s Complaint Challenging Citgo’s Illegal Contribution to Trump Inaugural Committee Posted on May 3, 2021 (May 3, 2021) Challenging Foreign Influence The Federal Election Commission divided 3-3 on Free Speech For People’s 2017 complaint against the oil company Citgo, its Venezuelan state-owned parent company, and President Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee. The FEC’s general counsel agreed with Free Speech For People that the companies and the inaugural committee violated a federal ban on donations to inaugural committeesRead More
The Democracy Preservation Act: FSFP Mounting a Challenge Against Foreign Corporate Influence in New York Elections Posted on May 3, 2021 Challenging Foreign Influence Free Speech For People has been at the forefront in the fight to end foreign-influenced corporate campaign spending, researching, drafting, and advocating for legislation on all levels of government. We helped to successfully pass laws in St. Petersburg, Florida in 2017, and in Seattle, Washington in 2020. Seven states (Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, NewRead More
Susan Greenhalgh, FSFP Senior Advisor on Election Security, Testifies Against SB 21-188 Before Colorado General Assembly Posted on April 30, 2021 Election Protection In a public hearing before the State, Civic, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee of the Colorado General Assembly, Free Speech For People’s Senior Advisor on Election Security, submitted testimony in opposition to SB 21-188, a bill which would offer insecure, unauditable, online voting to voters with disabilities. “Proponents of this bill suggest, erroneously, that secureRead More
FSFP Legal Counsel Courtney Hostetler Discusses The Equal Rights Amendment on The Damage Report. Posted on April 29, 2021 (April 30, 2021) Democracy Amendments FSFP Legal Counsel Courtney Hostetler recently appeared on The Damage Report to discuss the Equal Rights Amendment, the Constitutional amendment banning sex and gender discrimination. During the discussion with host John Iadarola, Hostetler discussed the Trump-era Department of Justice (DOJ) opinion that has, to date, blocked the publishing of the Amendment as the 28th AmendmentRead More