Roll Call is reporting that Representative Elaine Luria, the Member of Congress from Virginia’s Second Congressional District, is breaking the pledge she made to Virginians to reject campaign contributions from corporate PACs.
When she was running for Congress, she called the pledge “a key tenet” of her campaign, saying, “as a naval officer, I took a pledge to put people first and that’s why I am rejecting corporate PAC donations…”
Now, after four years in Washington, Rep. Luria plans on breaking her pledge.
Elected leaders pledge to reject corporate PAC money to stand up to the corrupt status quo in Washington. Too often, policies benefit corporate special interests instead of regular people. Representative Luria’s decision is incredibly disappointing, but there’s still time to change her mind.
Write Your Letter to the Editor
You can take action by writing a Letter to the Editor of your local newspaper! Here are some key points you can put into your own words before submitting it:
- Representative Elaine Luria pledged not to take corporate PAC money and said she would put people first.
- Corporations already have enough influence in Congress — if we’re going to clean up corruption in Washington, we shouldn’t give them more power.
- Corporate PACs put corporate interests ahead of the needs of regular people. They exist to serve a corporation’s bottom line, not promote the general welfare.
- Representative Luria should not break her pledge and she should continue to reject money from corporate PACs.
Tip: How to Submit Your Letter (Source: Indivisible)
- Find your local newspaper’s Letters to the Editor submission email or submission form on their website.
- Be sure to check that you are obeying your newspaper’s word limit, sometimes it’s as low as 150–200 words.
- Write your letter!
- Paste your letter into the body of your email or into the submission form on your newspaper’s website.
- Note that many newspapers will require that letter writers submit contact information with their letter. Phone numbers won’t be published. This is just to verify your identity.
- Submit to smaller local papers, not just the nearest big city paper. You’ll have a better chance of getting published. And, it maximizes that feeling that the whole district is paying attention!