To: Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Rep. Rick Larsen (WA-2), Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA-3), Rep. Dan Newhouse (WA-4), Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA-5), Rep. Kim Schrier (WA-8), Rep. Denny Heck (WA-...

Candidates: Endorse WA State's Initiative 735 to Get Big Money out of Elections.

Our amazing volunteers gathered close to 300,000 signatures to get this on the ballot in WA State in November! WA State's Initiative 735 offers a real solution to the problem of Big Money in Elections and when approved by the voters in November 2016 will make WA the 17th State to call for change. If money is speech, then the voices of the majority of voters are drowned out! Whenever this issue has gone to the voters (in 700 cities and in two states, Montana and Colorado), it has been shown to be a non-partisan issue and has won with very strong majorities. I-735 calls for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court decisions that equated money with speech and gave the constitutional rights of personhood to corporations. Please go to www.wamend.org/initiativelanguage/ for the complete text of our initiative. Voters call on you to endorse this initiative and drive us to victory in November.

Why is this important?

On the election trail, we know candidates are hearing the frustration of We the People with the huge amounts of dark money being spent in elections. Voters see that big donors have acquired a megaphone, which is drowning out the voice of ordinary constituents. The need for money to fund their campaigns means politicians have to spend much of their time fund-raising versus speaking to or for their constituents. We ask candidates to endorse I-735. This initiative urges the Washington state congressional delegation to propose a federal constitutional amendment clarifying that constitutional rights belong only to individuals, not corporations; that spending money is not free speech under the First Amendment; that governments are fully empowered to regulate political contributions and expenditures to prevent undue influence; and that political contributions and expenditures must be promptly disclosed to the public.

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