West L.A. Screening, Panel Session Benefits Clean Money’s “Yes on Prop 15″ Campaign

On Thursday, May 20, leading Los Angeles activists groups are hosting a benefit screening of Casino Jack and the United States of Money in West Los Angeles to benefit the “Yes on Prop 15” campaign.

Following the screening, a panel of experts will discuss campaign finance reform in the wake of the Citizens United decision lifting restrictions on corporate campaign financing and remedies such as public financing of campaigns. Panelists will include Trent Lange, Chair of the Yes on 15 Campaign; Kathay Feng, Executive Director of California Common Cause; and Jessica Levinson, Director of Political Reform at the Center for Governmental Studies.

Proposition 15 represents fundamental election reform that will allow candidates and elected officials to get out of the fundraising game and get back to solving California’s problems. Authored by then-Assemblywoman Loni Hancock and signed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the California Fair Elections Act will appear on the June 8th ballot. Prop 15 will create a pilot project to make voluntary public financing available to candidates running for Secretary of State in 2014 and 2018.

The evening’s sponsors include The Los Angeles League of Women Voters, The Los Angeles Coffee Party, The California Clean Money Campaign, California Common Cause, and Progressive Democrats of America’s Los Angeles and Santa Monica Mountains Chapters.

Telling the story of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Casino Jack was directed by Alex Gibney, who directed the Academy Award®-winning Taxi to the Dark Side and the Academy Award nominated Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. From Indian casinos and Chinese sweatshops to Russian spies and a mob-style killing in Miami, Casino Jack and the United States of Money is at once a colorful tale of international intrigue and a story of the corrupting role that money plays in our political process.

Lauren Steiner

By following ongoing criminal investigations – including the indictments of federal officials, staffers and congressmen – and inquiries into the day-to-day business of favor-trading in our nation’s capitol, the film shines a light on the way that politicians’ desperate need to get elected – and the millions of dollars it costs – may be undermining the basic principles of American democracy.

Tickets are $20 and must be purchased in advance on the web at www.YesOnProp15.org/jack. For more information, call 310-397-0200 or email: [email protected]

For more information, contact: Lauren Steiner, 310.273.-9031 or [email protected]