Issue One launches new political reform podcast: Swamp Stories

Today, Issue One is launching a new podcast, Swamp Stories: Cash and Corruption in Washington, a deep-dive into political reform — with a conservative lens. 

The podcast follows the host — millennial Republican and former candidate for office, Weston Wamp — as he shines a light on the swampiest practices in Washington that repulse Republicans and Democrats alike: Slush funds in Congress, dark money in elections, gerrymandered districts, foreign interference in our elections, dialing for dollars on Capitol Hill, and more. 

“The 2020 election is about fixing the broken political system, and this podcast brings together voices from the left, right, and center to show how out of order Washington’s priorities have become and how we can begin fixing them,” said Issue One CEO Nick Penniman. 

Listeners will learn how cash, corruption, and special interests play too large a part in our broken politics. They will meet characters from across the political spectrum who speak candidly about the Washington swamp — including former Heritage Foundation President and Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC), Representative Ted Yoho (R-FL), former 2012 Presidential Candidate and Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), former DCCC Chair & Representative Vic Fazio (D-CA), Political Advisor Mark McKinnon, and many more. 

At a time when Washington is dysfunctional and focused almost exclusively on problems in the swamp, this series highlights reformers with bipartisan solutions that can fix these and other issues.

Season 1 of Swamp Stories releases weekly, and features interviews with:

• Congressman Ted Yoho (R-FL)
• Congressman Dan Crenshaw (R-TX)
• Mark McKinnon, political advisor co-creator of SHOWTIME’s “The Circus” 
• Former Senator & Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint (R-SC)
• Former Presidential Candidate & Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)
• Former Ambassador & Congressman Tim Roemer (D-IN)
• Former Congressman Zach Wamp (R-TN)
• Former Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA)
• Former Congressman Vic Fazio (D-CA) & DCCC Chair
• Former Congressman J.C. Watts (R-OK)
• Nick Penniman, Issue One CEO
• Meredith McGehee, Issue One Executive Director
• Trevor Potter, former Federal Election Commission Chair & Campaign Legal Center President 
• Josh Silver, Represent.Us Executive Director 
• Katie Fahey, The People, Executive Director
• Anna Massoglia, Center for Responsive Politics, Researcher
• More to be announced. 

Subscribe and listen at http://www.swampstories.org or wherever you find podcasts.

About Issue One:

Issue One is the leading crosspartisan political reform group in Washington. We unite Republicans, Democrats, and independents in the movement to fix the broken political system. Issue One’s ReFormers Caucus of more than 200 former members of Congress, governors, and Cabinet officials is the largest bipartisan coalition of its kind ever assembled to advocate for solutions to fix our democracy.

About the host:

At 27, Weston Wamp came within 1 percentage point of unseating an incumbent member of Congress in a hard-fought Republican primary. He is a venture capitalist and entrepreneur who grew up as the son of a powerful appropriator in Congress, eight-term Representative Zach Wamp (R-TN), co-chair of Issue One’s ReFormers Caucus. Weston splits his time between southeast Tennessee and Washington, D.C. He is a senior political strategist at Issue One.