Joy Clendenning

Michael and I have supported Public Citizen for eleven years because it’s an easy way to do something about big, sometimes overwhelming issues we care about such as campaign finance. When we are trying to get truly progressive candidates elected here in Chicago, people sometimes complain to us about how much money is in politics. So for us it’s a both/and–at the same time that we are raising money to get good people into office, we are also supporting Public Citizen so that one day it won’t take so much money to get good people into office. It’s how we feel about our imperfect democracy–at the same time that we do participate in this imperfect system for example by working to get good people in office, we are also striving for a more participatory
truly representative democracy. We appreciate that Public Citizen works relentlessly to analyze issues and strategically resources campaigns for long-term change.

We trust Public Citizen. As people who are very involved locally here in Chicago, Public Citizen provides us the opportunity to act on a national level. Financial support is action. When people feel that issues such as campaign finance reform or fracking are too big and overwhelming and hopeless, Public Citizen provides a concrete way to do something.