Rachel Hirsch
4/21/24
(Miami Student) The Department of Political Science hosted Mick Mulvaney, former President Donald Trump’s chief of staff, and Tiffany Muller, president of End Citizens United and Let America Vote, on April 15 for the spring 2024 JANUS Forum. This semester, the forum was entitled “Bought and Paid For? Money, Speech, and Elections in America.”
[…]
Muller responded with her opening remarks, countering that Citizens United has wrongfully put a price tag on the election process.
“The Citizens United decision was particularly disastrous on our political system,” Muller said. “It just let in a flood of unlimited and undisclosed [money that’s] connected to every single issue that we all care about.”
Muller also made a point that one of her organization’s main objectives is to pass the Freedom to Vote Act, which would limit “big money” in politics, expand and preserve the right to vote and prevent gerrymandering.
“I don’t believe money is the most powerful force in our politics,” Muller said. “I believe it’s people.”
[…]
Muller said that access to money is essentially required to even decide to run for office, resulting in a government that doesn’t mirror the makeup of the United States.
“You decide that you want to run for Congress, and the first two questions are: ‘How much money can you raise?’ and ‘Can you take 18 months off of work in order to campaign?’” Muller said. “This is why we ended up with a Congress that, frankly, doesn’t represent or reflect America.”
[…]
Muller, though politically across the aisle, echoed the same message.
“Gerrymandering has got to go,” Muller said. “We shouldn’t have racial gerrymandering. We shouldn’t have partisan gerrymandering. I couldn’t agree more.”