On Tuesday, July 7, New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics (NMMOP) became RepresentUS New Mexico, a state chapter of the national organization RepresentUs. Over 70 people attended the virtual launch. Sen. Tom Udall, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver and Mayor Alan Webber all spoke adding their support to this momentous occasion.

RepresentUs is a national, non-partisan, nonprofit organization that “bring(s) together conservatives, progressives, and everyone in between to pass powerful anti-corruption laws that stop political bribery, end secret money, and fix our broken elections.” (See www.represent.us.)

We believe this shift is a natural fit since our newly revised mission and goals closely align with those of RepresentUs. It marks the beginning of a new era in our efforts to revive democracy that NMMOP has been championing since its inception four years ago. By taking on the mantle of RepresentUs New Mexico, we are placing the fight against political corruption front and center.

RepresentUs New Mexico will continue NMMOP’s work with American Promise to promote a constitutional amendment limiting the influence of money in politics. Additionally, joining RepresentUs will sharpen our focus on rooting out the political corruption that Big Money perpetuates as well as give us greater resources to accomplish this goal.

Clearly, this is a huge undertaking. But RepresentUs has a plan that is already working to end political corruption. It has drafted a model anti-corruption act that has been adopted in a number of states. Here’s a brief informative video that explains how it functions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTP4uvIFu5c#action=share.

RepresentUs New Mexico’s mission is to promote ethical government that adheres to the Constitution, respects the rule of law and serves the public good. Our goals are to:

1. Enact a campaign finance amendment to the U.S. Constitution that establishes the government‘s authority to impose reasonable limits on campaign contributions and expenditures, and to require full disclosure and transparency.
2. Enact Lobbying reform at the federal, state and local levels so that all of us are fairly represented, and the “revolving door” between government and wealthy organizations or individuals is closed.
3. Eliminate the rigging (gerrymandering) of congressional and state representative districts so that every citizen is fairly and equally represented.
4. Protect and enhance the right and ability to vote and ensure that every citizen’s vote counts equally.
5. Enact anti-corruption, ethics and conflict-of-interest laws.
6. Establish public financing for all federal, state and local elections.

For RepresentUs New Mexico to succeed, we need you. We must build a large and strong team of volunteers, supporters and directors to achieve our goals. If you are interested in joining our team and helping us lead the way to real political reform, please go to our website, nmmop.org, (which we are using until we finish building a new one for RepresentUs New Mexico). Please let us know you want to help by clicking on the “contact us” button at the top of the home page.

Imagine what we can accomplish together: a fairer, more just New Mexico and the revival of democracy in our country.

Bruce Berlin

A retired, public sector ethics attorney, Berlin is the author of Breaking Big Money’s Grip on America (See breakingbigmoneysgrip.com.), the founder of New Mexicans for Money Out of Politics, a former U.S. Institute of Peace fellow, and the founder and former executive director of The Trinity Forum for International Security and Conflict Resolution. He can be reached at breakingbigmoneysgrip@gmail.com.

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