Meet Fred Wertheimer 2.0

K Street Files
By Matthew Murray and Anna Palmer
Aug. 12, 2009,

Not five years ago, Daniel Weeks was a college student in New Haven, Conn. But these days, the 26-year-old says he's attempting to "bring a new burst of energy" to the campaign finance reform community -- and appears well on his way to establishing himself alongside veterans like Democracy 21 founder Fred Wertheimer.

Weeks, president of the New Hampshire-based Americans for Campaign Reform, is in town this week pushing his group's marquee issue: publicly financed Congressional campaigns. Meeting with Wertheimer, Members of Congress and groups like the Cato Institute and National Rifle Association, Weeks is lobbying for passage of the Fair Elections Now Act, a bill that would provide federal "seed money" and matching funds for candidates who raise a nominal sum in small-dollar donations.

In an interview Tuesday, the 2006 Yale University graduate also said the campaign finance community is ready for a makeover. Weeks said "from the start" reformers have been too aligned with "left-of-center" political ideology, which has discouraged possible conservative allies from affiliating themselves with a liberal-leaning cause.

Unlike other Washington, D.C.-based groups, Weeks says his organization is not taking foundation grants, relying instead on a network of 2,500 supporters to fund its $350,000 annual budget.

"He's part of a new generation that's become deeply involved in the campaign finance issues and the campaign finance battles," Wertheimer said Wednesday. "His value in this battle is that he's extremely talented and very committed to the issue and prepared to make the kind of commitments that you have to make to fight campaign finance reform battles."

Weeks' group has enlisted an impressive -- and politically diverse -- roster of supporters, from former netroots darling Ned Lamont, who beat Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) in a 2006 primary only to lose to him in the general election, to former Sens. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), Warren Rudman (R-N.H.), Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) and Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.).

"We're trying to bring all types of crazy people into this," Weeks said.

For now, Weeks has no plan to relocate his group closer to the action in Washington, preferring to make the 500-mile commute from Concord, N.H., as the lobbying demands. And not unlike many workplace contrasts between baby boomers and twentysomethings, Wertheimer suggested the arrangement is curious but workable.

"It's usual [sic] not to have any specific presence in Washington, but he spends time here," Wertheimer said.