American Promise is proud to work with people across the political spectrum and across the country — including representatives and citizen leaders — who align on our mission to get big money out of politics.
In a recent op-ed published in the Santa Fe New Mexican, Ishwari Sollohub, chapter leader of American Promise New Mexico, thanks former Senator Tom Udall for his decades of service, leading calls to end the domination of big money in our political system. Udall, a Democrat representing New Mexico, retired recently after more than 20 years in congress. Over the years, Sen. Udall has been an advocate for getting big money out of politics and has supported and introduced a 28th Amendment to do so.
“New Mexico rallied behind Udall’s action and in 2012 became one of the first states to formally call for the amendment,” Sollohub writes in the op-ed. “Since then, a growing national cross-partisan and grassroots campaign has moved this Constitutional amendment into the mainstream. In 2014, Udall navigated the amendment to a vote where 54 senators voted in favor, a remarkable early showing. Udall continued to reintroduce the amendment in each subsequent Congress. It now is consistently backed by three out of four Americans across the political spectrum. In 2018, New Mexico again sent a supportive memorial to Congress.”
Sen. Udall saw the dangers of big money influencing our elections, Sollohub writes, and his leadership helped open the door to cross-partisan support for a Constitutional amendment.
“Udall is not serving in the next Congress. But his vision, commitment and perseverance for the basic ideals of equal rights, anti-corruption and representative government that lie at the heart of the American system of government live on: His former colleagues already have reintroduced the proposed amendment. It will continue to receive overwhelming support across the partisan divide in the nation because the money-powered system must change.”
We need regulations that will keep big money out of politics and secure the rights of all Americans, Sollohub writes, and the only way to accomplish this is through a Constitutional amendment.
Read the full version of Sollohub’s op-ed here.
