ReFormers Caucus One Year Recap

In an exciting first year of work the ReFormers have helped move money in politics to the front of the political debate. 

One year ago former members of Congress on Issue One’s Advisory Board invited fellow former members to learn more about Issue One’s work, and invited them to join the fight to reduce the power of money in American politics. Twenty-one former members gathered and responded enthusiastically to the invite, and in the weeks that followed, the ReFormers Caucus was born.

Caucus Growth

• Last March there were 17 former members of Congress and governors on Issue One’s Advisory Board.
• Since then, the Caucus has rapidly grown to more than 130 members.
• ReFormers hail from almost every state of the union, and from across the political spectrum. The Caucus has maintained its bipartisan balance, with about one-third of its members being Republicans.

Caucus Activities

ReFormers have participated in a variety of activities in the last year, and have helped move the money-in-politics issue to the forefront of the political debate:

• The ReFormers official launch last November on Capitol Hill;
• Panel discussions at the University of Maryland and at the National Archives;
• The Brookings Institution’s Solutions Summit in January;
• The New Hampshire Rebellion convention in New Hampshire in January.
• The ReFormers appealed directly to moderators of 14 presidential debates so far, urging them to ask the candidates on both sides what they plan to do about the money in politics issue if elected.
• A number of ReFormers signed a letter to the president urging him to sign an executive order that would mandate disclosure of political spending by federal contractors, and also held a conference call for reporters to learn more about this issue.
• ReFormers have appeared in such major media outlets such as NPR, USA Today, MSNBC, C-SPAN, Time, Huffington Post, Politico, Roll Call, The Hill and many others.
• ReFormers were featured on Issue One’s official launch day on a full-page ad in the Washington Post and in TV ads broadcast during morning news programs on CNN, MSNBC and Fox (as well as online).

The ReFormers Caucus has been working hard to elevate the money-in-politics conversation and to ensure that fixing our democracy is a top priority for whoever takes office in January. Here’s to a transformative year two.