• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Big Picture>
  3. presidential debates>

Biden backs some, but hardly all, of democracy reform agenda in time for debate

Sara Swann
Geoff West
https://twitter.com/saramswann?lang=en
October 15, 2019
Former Vice President Joe Biden

Former Vice President Joe Biden released a campaign finance and ethics reform proposal Monday, ahead of the fourth Democratic presidential debate.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

Just in time for the first presidential debate of the fall, Joe Biden has laid out a plan for improving government ethics and campaign finance regulation that adds more substance to a democracy reform agenda he hasn't been very vocal about.

But the former vice president's package still does not come close to the expansiveness or specificity of the "good government" proposals of Elizabeth Warren, who currently stands near Biden as the front-runners for the Democratic nomination, or the other top-tier presidential candidates.

Whether these issues get any air time when a dozen of the candidates meet Tuesday night is an open question, however. To the dismay of democracy reform advocates, and in defiance of polling that shows fixing the system's brokenness is among the voters' top desires, the issue received only minimal attention in the three debates so far.

One reason may be that the debate moderators have chosen to emphasize the differences among the candidates on the most prominent issues likely to define President Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, and the dozen Democrats on stage in Ohio stand in broad agreement on most of the top proposals for improving democracy.


That becomes more clear now that Biden has put additional flesh on the bones of his ideas about slowing the flow of money in politics and mandating higher standards for those in public life. He has still said nothing concrete, however, about most of the major proposals for easing access to the voting booth, expanding voting rights and reducing politicians' control over how their own districts are drawn.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Instead, the Biden plan puts heavy emphasis on ways to chastise Trump for helming the "most corrupt administration in modern history." His plan has three main priorities: enhancing government ethics, washing big-money influences out of politics and raising accountability standards for lobbyists.

Biden wants to upend campaign fundraising in federal elections by requiring presidential and congressional candidates to only use public funds, thus blocking outside money influences, and establishing a voluntary small-dollar matching funds system.

He also wants to heighten transparency around "dark money" groups and online political ads by adding donor disclosure requirements.

In the same vein of greater disclosure, Biden said all candidates for federal office should be required to release at minimum the last 10 years of their tax returns. Biden has released his tax returns for 21 years, including all the time he was vice president and much of his time before that as a senator from Delaware.

To boost government ethics, Biden promises to bar any future president or White House from interfering in federal investigations and prosecutions. He also would create a Commission on Federal Ethics to "more effectively enforce federal ethics law" and go beyond the watchdog responsibilities of the Federal Election Commission, the Office of Government Ethics and the Office of Special Counsel.

His plan calls for lifting the veil of mystery around K Street as well. Biden proposes mandating monthly disclosure of meetings between elected officials and lobbyists. He pledges to also tighten loopholes around lobbyist registration and reporting.

For Tuesday's debate, three hours at Ohio's Otterbein University starting at 8 pm EST, Biden and 10 other veterans of at least one of the other 2020 debates will be joined on stage by a single newcomer: Billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer will get his first primetime shot at pitching his structural reform agenda to Democratic voters and a national audience watching on CNN.

Steyer, a well-heeled donor for liberal candidates and causes, entered the race in July and quickly became one of the more outspoken advocates for government reform. His campaign website says those plans include tackling a political system "corrupted by corporate influence, a lack of political transparency, and partisan efforts to suppress voter participation for their own benefit."

Steyer supports HR 1 — the catch-all campaign finance, elections and government ethics reform package passed by the House — as well as more nuanced ideas, such as establishing a national referendum process that would allow voters to weigh in directly on "no more than two key issues annually." He also supports reforms to the FEC as well as congressional term limits.

"One crucial issue that should be discussed now more than ever is the need to protect and reform our democracy," Catherine Turcer, executive director of Common Cause Ohio, wrote in a Columbus Dispatch opinion piece Tuesday urging the candidates to reshape their debate emphasis. "Corporate interests and influence of wealthy donors have left 58 percent of Americans dissatisfied with our democracy, according to a Pew Research study from earlier this year. Moreover, our dysfunctional system has led to the corruption controversies that have consumed the Trump administration."

The table below shows where the dozen candidates in Tuesday's debate stand on 17 of the most prominent proposals for improving the way democracy works in the areas of campaign finance, access to the ballot box, voting rights, election security, political ethics and revamping our governing systems.

For a more detailed explanation of the candidates' positions on democracy reform, see The Fulcrum's comprehensive story from July. Since the story was published, Steyer joined the race and five Democrats have dropped out: New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and Rep. Eric Swalwell of California.

Five whose democracy reform positions were detailed in July are still campaigning but did not have enough fundraising or polling strength to merit an invitation to Ohio: Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, former Maryland Rep. John Delaney, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan and author Marianne Williamson.


Made with Flourish
From Your Site Articles
  • Where the presidential candidates stand on the top issues of ... ›
  • Top presidential hopefuls, except Biden, open to a Supreme Court ... ›
  • Biden hires senior aide to manage voting rights efforts - The Fulcrum ›
  • Democratic ticket hasn’t pushed the reform agenda - The Fulcrum ›
  • Democrats unveil plan to rein in the presidency in 2021 - The Fulcrum ›
  • What a Democratic sweep would mean for democracy reform - The Fulcrum ›
  • Democracy reformers press Biden to make more of their causes - The Fulcrum ›
  • Biden's lobbyist ban would be unwise and discriminatory - The Fulcrum ›
  • Why Biden needs to name a democracy czar - The Fulcrum ›
  • Democracy reform groups seek Biden's suppor - The Fulcrum ›
  • Time to make sure voting remains easy again in 2022 - The Fulcrum ›
  • Reforms to renew America for the 21s century - The Fulcrum ›
  • Biden, Democrats need some new negotiating tools - The Fulcrum ›
  • Biden proposes spending billions on election security - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • October Democratic Debate: The Biggest Stage Ever - The New ... ›
  • THE BIDEN PLAN TO GUARANTEE GOVERNMENT WORKS FOR ... ›
presidential debates

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber

Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

Kevin Johnson

Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

Christine Todd Whitman

Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

Henry Santana
Jerren Chang
latest News

Podcast: Inequitable ability: Electoral and civic challenges faced by those with disabilities

Our Staff
1h

Is reform the way out of extremism?

Mindy Finn
6h

Changing pastimes

Rabbi Charles Savenor
6h

Political blame game: Never let a good crisis go to waste

David L. Nevins
20 March

Tipping points

Jeff Clements
20 March

Your Take: Bank failures, protection and regulation

Our Staff
17 March
Videos

Video: The hidden stories in the U.S. Census

Our Staff

Video: We asked conservatives at CPAC what woke means

Our Staff

Video: DeSantis, 18 states to push back against Biden ESG agenda

Our Staff

Video: A conversation with Tiahna Pantovich

Our Staff

Video: What would happen if Trump was a third-party candidate in 2024?

Our Staff

Video: How the Federal Reserve is the shadow branch of the government

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Inequitable ability: Electoral and civic challenges faced by those with disabilities

Our Staff
1h

Podcast: A tricky dance

Our Staff
14 March

Podcast: Kevin, Tucker and wokism, oh my!

Debilyn Molineaux
David Riordan
13 March

Podcast: Civic learning amid the culture wars

Our Staff
13 March
Recommended
Podcast: Inequitable ability: Electoral and civic challenges faced by those with disabilities

Podcast: Inequitable ability: Electoral and civic challenges faced by those with disabilities

Podcasts
Is reform the way out of extremism?

Is reform the way out of extremism?

Threats to democracy
Changing pastimes

Changing pastimes

Civic Ed
Video: The hidden stories in the U.S. Census

Video: The hidden stories in the U.S. Census

Political blame game: Never let a good crisis go to waste

Political blame game: Never let a good crisis go to waste

Big Picture
Tipping points

Tipping points

Big Picture