Who would know better than a U.S. Senator what’s wrong with our system and how to fix it? That’s why we’re honored to have serving as Chairs of our organization four distinguished former senators and passionate proponents of public funding: Bill Bradley, Bob Kerrey, Warren Rudman and Alan Simpson. Hear what they have to say:
Who We Are
You Street is an initiative of Americans for Campaign Reform, a non-partisan, grassroots organization of citizens whose purpose is to help enact public funding all federal elections — for the House, the Senate and the Presidency.
Chairs
Our Chairs are former Senators Bill Bradley, Bob Kerrey, Warren Rudman and Alan Simpson.
Bill Bradley was a three-time basketball All-American at Princeton, an Olympic gold medalist, a Rhodes scholar and a professional player for ten years with the New York Knicks.
Elected to the Senate from New Jersey in 1978, 1984 and 1990, he authored extensive legislation — including the Tax Reform Act of 1986. While in office Bradley gained a reputation as a reform-minded Democrat, influential on environmental, labor and income tax issues.
Disillusioned with Capitol Hill, Mr. Bradley retired from the Senate in 1996 to teach at Stanford, the University of Maryland and Notre Dame. In 2000, Bradley re-entered the political arena, losing to Al Gore in a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Since then, he has been active as a speaker, articulating his vision for the future of the United States. He is also a managing director for the investment firm Allen & Co., Inc.
His major books include Life on the Run (1987), Time Present, Time Past: A Memoir (1997), Values of the Game (1998), The Journey From Here (2000), and The New American Story (2007).
Bob Kerrey was born in Lincoln, Nebraska and attended the local public schools before graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Afterwards, he served in the United States Navy SEAL Special Forces unit, losing the lower part of one leg in the Vietnam War. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his service.
Returning to Nebraska, he operated a chain of restaurants and fitness centers from 1972 to 1982 before running for Governor against incumbent Charles Thone, winning, and serving as Governor of Nebraska from 1983 to 1987. He refused to run for re-election in 1986, but two years later, ran for the Senate against appointed incumbent David Karnes and defeated him by a wide margin. He was reelected to the Senate in 1994 and served as the chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for the 104th Congress before retiring in 2001. An attempt to gain the 1992 Democratic nomination for president failed due to a lack of fundraising and poor results in early primary.
After leaving public office, Kerrey served as a member of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (popularly known as the "9/11 Commission"). Today he is the President of the New School University in New York City.
Warren Rudman is Co-Chairman of Stonebridge International LLC and Of Counsel to Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison LLP. He previously served two terms in the U.S. Senate as a Republican representing New Hampshire, was Chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board during the Clinton Administration and was Co-Chair of the U.S. Commission on National Security which called for the establishment of a department of homeland security just six months prior to the 9/11 attack.
While in the Senate, he served on the Senate Select Committee investigating arms transfers to Iran, as well as the Senate Appropriations, Intelligence, Governmental Affairs, Ethics Committees and on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Mr. Rudman previously served as Attorney General of the State of New Hampshire from 1970 to 1976. In the corporate arena, he currently serves on the board of several funds of the Dreyfus Corporation and on the board of Boston Scientific. He was Lead Director for Raytheon and served on the boards of the Chubb Corporation and Allied Waste. In addition, he has led major internal reviews on corporate governance and business practices for Fannie Mae, Boeing and the National Association of Securities Dealers, among others.
Senator Rudman co-founded the Concord Coalition, a non-profit focused on America's fiscal situation. He is a former member of the Board of the Council on Foreign Relations and is an honorary trustee of the Aspen Institute and Brookings.
A member of a political family — his father served both as Governor of Wyoming, and as United Stated Senator from — Al Simpson chose to follow in his father's footsteps and began his own political career in 1964 when he was elected to the Wyoming State Legislature as a state representative of his native Park County. He served for the next 13 years in the Wyoming House of Representatives, holding the offices of Majority Whip, Majority Floor Leader, and Speaker Pro-Tem.
In 1978, Al ran for, and was elected to, the United States Senate. After a successful term, he was re-elected in 1984 with 78% of the vote and then again in 1990 to a third term with 65% of the vote. Following his first term in the Senate, Al was elected by his peers to the position of the Assistant Majority Leader in 1984 and served in that capacity until 1994. In 1995, he was ousted from his position as Republican Whip by Trent Lott of Mississippi, and did not seek reelection in 1996. Unusual for a Republican, Simpson has been an outspoken advocate for abortion rights, gay rights, and feminist issues.
From January of 1998 until June 2000, Al was visiting Lecturer and the Director of the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In the fall of 2000, he returned to his Alma Mater, the University of Wyoming, as a Visiting Lecturer in the Political Science Department. He is also a partner in the Cody and Denver law firm of Burg Simpson Eldredge Hersh & Jardine, P.C. and a consultant in the Washington D.C. government relations firm, The Tongour-Simpson Group. He continues to serve on numerous corporate and non-profit Boards and travel throughout the country giving speeches on a variety of subjects.
His book published by William Morrow Company, Right in the Old Gazoo: A Lifetime of Scrapping with the Press, chronicles his personal experiences and views of the Fourth Estate.
Management Team
John Rauh, FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD
John Rauh is one of the country's leading voices on election reform. Former Senator Bob Kerrey has said, “No one understands the ins and outs of public funding better than John. When John speaks people should listen.” In 2003, John founded Americans for Campaign Reform to advance the cause of voluntary public funding of congressional and presidential elections, recruiting former Senators Bill Bradley, Bob Kerrey, Warren Rudman, and Alan Simpson to the cause. He has spoken extensively on behalf of campaign finance reform in public, the press, and on Capitol Hill.
John joined Clopay Corporation in 1961, serving as its Chief Executive Officer from 1975 to 1985. John served as President of Cincinnati, Ohio's independent political party, the Charter Committee, from 1969 to 1975. In 1992, John was the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate from New Hampshire. He has served as a board member of Common Cause and has been active on the boards of numerous civic and educational organizations, including chairing the board of the Children's Alliance of New Hampshire. John received his AB and MBA degrees from Harvard University, and was a fellow at the Kennedy School of Government. John and his wife Mary Rauh reside in New Castle, NH.
A decade-long advocate for campaign finance reform, Daniel was founding director of Students for Clean Elections and the New Haven Democracy Fund, successful initiatives for publicly funded municipal and state elections in Connecticut. Since joining the federal reform effort with the launch of ACR in 2003, Daniel has written and spoken extensively on elections and political reform, including appearances on ABC, PBS, NPR, Sky TV, and BBC and publications in the Boston Globe, Washington Post, Roll Call, Columbia Journal of Politics & Society, and numerous state publications. He has testified frequently for campaign finance reform before state legislatures and on Capitol Hill.
Daniel completed his undergraduate studies at Yale University in 2006, where he won top prizes in International Studies and Political Science for senior research on democratic peace theory and a new small donor approach to federal campaign finance; the latter proposal has been incorporated into reform legislation now before Congress. He was a 2006 Marshall Scholar in Political Theory at Oxford, completing his MPhil dissertation on “Rethinking Political Equality in America - A Positive Account”. Prior to enrolling in college, Daniel committed a year of volunteer service as an AmeriCorps teacher in City Year Washington, DC. He is a cross-country cyclist and church organist based in Concord, NH, where he lives with his fiancée, Dr. Sindiso Mnisi, of the Rural Women’s Action Research Project at University of Cape Town.
Nick Mitchell, VICE PRESIDENT & COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR
Nick is a graduate of The Lawrenceville School in Lawrenceville, NJ and Boston University, where he earned a BA in Economics. He is the Founder of MC2, Inc., a marketing and strategic planning firm. Nick has developed marketing strategies and advertising campaigns for a diverse group of clients including Agfa Corporation, Anheuser-Busch, Bitstream, Caterpillar Tractor and GTE/Sylvania. He has also managed communications and media relations for several Senate and House campaigns.
Rob Werner, NATIONAL FIELD DIRECTOR
Rob is a graduate of the University of Vermont and earned a Masters of Business Administration from Suffolk University. A public policy analyst and advocate, Rob has organized successful advocacy and legislative campaigns for the American Heart Association, Smoke-Free NH Alliance, and the American Cancer Society. Rob lives in Concord, NH with his wife Mary Ann, and serves on the Concord City Council.
Jeff McLean, POLICY DIRECTOR
Jeff completed his Masters of Business Administration in 2006 from Quinnipiac University. While at Quinnipiac, Jeff was a member of the America East Conference Honor Society and a member of the NCAA Division One Lacrosse Team. As well, Jeff was co-founder and President of the Society for the Advancement of Management. Jeff enjoys international travel and currently serves as a board member of Friends Forever, which works with youth who are experiencing the tension of political and religious conflict in the Middle East and Northern Ireland
Pam Jorgensen, ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR
Pam received her BA in Organizational Communications from Eastern Montana College. She has worked for National Public Radio and Northwest Airlines. Prior to joining Americans for Campaign Reform in 2005, she was Director of Admissions for New England School of Law.
Board Members
Robert Bass - former Chair of the Republican State Committee of New Hampshire; former member of the Republican National Committee.
John Bonifaz - Legal Counsel, Voter Action; founder and former President of the National Voting Rights Institute; co-author of "The Wealth Primary: Campaign Fund Raising and the Constitution"; 1999 recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.
Hodding Carter III - currently the University Professor of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of North Carolina; past President and CEO of the Knight Foundation; Spokesman for the US Department of State and Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs in the Carter administration; award-winning journalist and commentator.
Martha Fuller Clark - Member of New Hampshire Senate; 12-year Representative to the New Hampshire House of Representatives; Nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000 and 2002.
John C. Harris - retired clinical social worker and former Episcopal clergyman.
John Hennessey - former Dean of the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College; former Provost and interim President of the University of Vermont; Chair of the Governance Committee of Americans for Campaign Reform.
David L.K. Jeffrey - chairman of David Jeffrey Associates, Inc.; past Vice-President of Morgan Guaranty Trust Company of New York; Trustee of Englewood Community Foundation; Honorary Vice Chairman of New Jersey SEEDS an organization for the education of economically disadvantaged students.
Joseph Keefe - President of Pax World Management LLC; former Chair of the Democratic State Committee of New Hampshire; former member of the Democratic National Committee.
Matt Keller - former Legislative Director for Common Cause; former Legal Counsel to the United Nations World Food Program; currently Director for Europe, Middle East, Africa at One Laptop Per Child.
Don Petterson - former Ambassador to Somalia, Tanzania and Sudan; author of "Inside Sudan: Political Islam, Conflict and Catastrophe" and "Revolution in Zanzibar: An American's Cold War Tale."
John Rauh, Chairman of the Board - Founder of Americans for Campaign Reform.
Paul Sittenfeld - Managing Director, Robert W. Baird & Co.
Betty Tamposi - Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs in President George H.W. Bush's Administration; Partner at Tamposi Company; currently attending the Harvard University School of Divinity.
Brian F. Walsh - Chairman, Board of Selectmen, Hanover, New Hampshire; founder and original CEO of three technology start-ups including Spectra, Inc; watercolorist. Chair of the Marketing Committee of Americans for Campaign Reform.
Frank Weil - currently Chairman of Abacus and Associates, Inc.; headed the International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce from 1977-1979; past CFO of Paine, Webber Inc.; past Chairman of the Board of the Smithsonian Institution; served on the Board of the Council for Excellence in Government.
Daniel Weeks - President, Americans for Campaign Reform.
Advisory Committee
Bruce Babbitt - Chairman, World Wildlife Fund; former Secretary of the Interior under President Clinton; former Governor of Arizona
Max Bazerman - Professor, Harvard Business School; honorary doctorate, University of London; author, including, "Negotiation Genius"
Julie Belaga - former Chief Operating Officer, the Export-Import Bank; Chair, Connecticut League of Conservation Voters
Bill Brock - former US Senator and Congressman (R-TN); former Chair of the Republican party and US Trade Representative; Manager, Senator Bob Dole's 1988 Presidential campaign
Frank Carlucci - former Secretary of Defense and Deputy Director of the CIA; currently Chair Emeritus, the Carlyle GroupDonald K. Clifford, Jr - former Partner, McKinsey & Co.; President, Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks; Honorary Trustee, American Museum of Natural History
John Degnan - Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, The Chubb Corporation; former Attorney General of New JerseyWilliam H. Donaldson - former Chairman & CEO of Aetna; former Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission; Founder and Dean of the Yale School of Management
T.J. Dermot Dunphy - former CEO, Sealed Air Corporation; currently Chair, Kildare Enterprises, LLC; Cofounder of the Volunteer Consulting Group to provide management assistance to minority business owners
Peter Edelman - Professor of Law, Georgetown University; Past President the New Israel Fund; former Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services; Author, "Searching for America's Heart: RFK and the Renewal of Hope"Wesley Foster - Founder and CEO of Long and Foster Companies, the largest privately-owned real estate company in America; board member of the George C. Marshall Foundation
Douglas I. Foy - President of DIF Enterprises; served as Massachusetts' Governor Romney's Secretary of Development; President of the Conservation Law Foundation; recipient of the President's Environmental and Conservation Challenge Award
Anthony Grassi - former Chair, The Nature Conservancy; retired Managing Director CS First Boston
Lee Hamilton - President, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; former Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives; Vice Chair of the 9/11 Commission
Wade Henderson - President of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights; former Washington Bureau Director of the NAACP; recipient of the Congressional Black Caucus Chair's Award and the District of Columbia Bar's William J. Brennan AwardJack Herney - History Instructor, former Dean of Faculty, Phillips Exeter Academy; Board Member, New Hampshire Humanities Council
Gary Hirshberg - President, Stonyfield Farm; former Executive Director, the New Alchemy Institute; former Co-Chair, the Social Venture Network; former Business NH Magazine's Business Leader of the Year
Phil Hoff - former Governor of Vermont, former President of the Board of Trustees, Vermont Law School
Jeffrey Hollender - President, Seventh Generation Inc.; Board Member, Greenpeace International
Amory Houghton - Former Member of Congress (R-NY); former CEO and Chairman, Corning Glass; Director, Proctor & Gamble, IBM, and Genentech
Bill Hudnut - former Mayor of Indianapolis; President of the National League of Cities; member of Congress and clergyman; author, including "The Minister Mayor"; currently teaching at Georgetown University and consultingEd Kangas - Chairman, Tenet Healthcare; Director, United Technologies and Intuit Corporation; former Global Chairman & CEO, Deloitte
Stephen Kay - Senior Director, Goldman, Sachs & Co.; Vice-Chair, Boston Symphony Orchestra; former Chair of the Board of Trustees, Brandeis University; member of the Board of Overseers, Harvard University
Madeleine Kunin - former Governor of Vermont; Deputy Secretary of Education; and Ambassador to Switzerland
Paul Lawrence- retired Professor, Harvard Business School; author, including, "Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Our Choices"
Barbara Lawton - Lt. Governor of Wisconsin; leader of Wisconsin Women=Prosperity; founder of the Educational Resource Foundation and the Greater Green Bay Area Community Foundation
Alonzo McDonald - former Assistant to the President and White House Staff Director, Acting Special Trade Representative, Managing Director, McKinsey & Co.; Founding Chair, The Trinity Forum
Jeffrey A. Modisett - former Attorney General of Indiana; former CEO and General Counsel, TechNet; Managing Partner, Bryan Cave, Los Angeles
Paul Montrone - Former CEO, Fisher Scientific International; President Emeritus, the Metropolitan Opera; Treasurer, The Foundation of the National Institutes of HealthPeter G. Peterson - Senior Chairman and Co-Founder, The Blackstone Group; President, The Concord Coalition; Secretary of Commerce in the Nixon administration; former Chair, The Council on Foreign Relations and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
James Brian Quinn - retired Professor, Tuck School of Business; author, including 'Intelligent Enterprise'
Dan Rose - Chairman, Rose Associates; former Director, U.S. Trust Corporation and founding Board Member, EastWest InstituteGeorge Rupp - President, International Rescue Committee; former President, Rice University; former President, Columbia University; ordained Presbyterian minister; author, including "Globalization Challenged"
Kevin Ryan - CEO of Alley Corporation; former CEO of DoubleClick; board member, Human Rights Watch; member Yale International CouncilRobert Shamansky - former member of Congress; former Special Agent in the US Army Counter Intelligence Corps; partner at Benesch, Friedlander, Coplin, and Aronoff, LLP
James Gustave Speth - Dean, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; Co-founder, Natural Resources Defense Council: Administrator, United Nations Development Programme; author, including "The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, the Environment, and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability"
Sandra Swan - President Emerita, Episcopal Relief and Development; former President, Junior League of New York
Paul Volcker - Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve and Chairman of President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board
Christine Todd Whtiman - former Governor of New Jersey and Administrator of the EPA; currently Co-Chair of the Republican Leadership Council; principal of the Whitman Group an energy and environment government relations firm
Roger Wilkins - Professor of History and American Culture, George Mason University; former Assistant Attorney General; Board Member of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund; editorial board member The New York Times; winner of the Pulitzer Prize for JournalismTimothy E. Wirth - former United States Senator from Colorado; former Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs; current President, the United Nations Foundation and the Better World Fund