Campaign finance reform crusader launches longshot 2016 bid
CLAREMONT, New Hampshire -- Lawrence Lessig interrupted hungry senior citizens at the Earl M. Bourdon Centre during their lunch hour, introducing himself as the "presidential candidate you've probably never heard of."
Those who could hear the Harvard law professor and founder of NH Rebellion, a grassroots movement fighting big money in politics, nodded their heads in agreement. Others remained focused on their potato salad, coleslaw and ham lunch platters. "Wait, so is he a Republican?," one woman asked her friend after Lessig exited the room. "No, he's a Democrat," the friend replied.
"I think I saw him on TV. They all say what you want to hear," the lone man at the table piped in. Sarah Brockneer, who calls Bourdon Centre home, sat outside in the 88 degree heat wearing an oversized Lessig t-shirt over another shirt.
"My apartment faces the courtyard. It has balloons on it. I didn't know anything about today but they came up to my apartment and we were talking and I said it was something I was able to support," Brockneer told CBS News, pointing to her decorated balcony.
"I can't say I'm totally supporting him but I'm here to hear what he has to say. And the shirt looks great on me," she added.
But for Lessig and the thirty people in the audience for his official presidential announcement Wednesday, name recognition was not that important. The only issue at hand: Campaign finance reform.
"Be loud and excited! Cartwheels are acceptable," one coordinator told the hodgepodge of an audience that had assembled next to Lessig's podium in the courtyard moments before his announcement speech. The event was held at a location of symbolic importance for campaign finance reform: The elderly housing development where then-President Bill Clinton and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich famously shook hands on an agreement to form a commission on lobbying and campaign finance reform in 1995.
"There is no connection between what the average voter wants and what our government actually does," Lessig declared to the group, sweating through a full black suit with a blue polka dot tie in the midday summer sun. It's one of his favorite lines, meant to hit home how elected officials only care about serving their donors, not the people who elect them.
During his 20-minute speech, he slammed an American government bought by the rich and "cronies and special interests," citing climate change, gun control, and tax reform as issues that Americans feel strongly about but have seen no movement on due to a Congress that "panders to the rich." One woman standing near the podium answered her phone for a quick conversation while he was speaking (this is the kind of thing that is more noticeable when 30 people show up for your presidential announcement). Lessig ignored it.
"Four hundred families have given half the money in this election cycle so far. That's not American democracy. That's a banana republic democracy," Lessig preached, to spotty applause. "We have a Congress that is not free to lead because they are bound to their funders."
He also has an unusual plan, should he be elected. He promised that his vice president will assume the presidency on "day two," since he plans to pass campaign finance reform on his first day in office and then resign.
"What I want is a vice president who will actually deliver on the potential of a government that can actually do something once I've given them a government that can actually do something," Lessig explained to CBS News.
He may be the only candidate whose only platform is campaign finance reform, but there's another candidate who shares his passion for the issue: Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders.
The independent Vermont senator first introduced an amendment to reverse the Citizens United decision in 2011 and has rejected campaign support from super PACs. He's relying on small donors to sustain his candidacy - Sanders' average donation is $31.30.
Lessig faults Sanders for not making campaign finance reform the priority of his campaign.
"I love about what Bernie is doing. He's rallying the democratic base to be really passionately engaged," Lessig said. "But what I want to do is to give Bernie the opportunity to get something done because all the wonderful things he's talking about are incredibly important -- income inequality, taking on Wall Street. But we're not going to deal with those issues until we deal with this issue first."
Several of his supporters Wednesday seemed to have come from Lessig's home state of Massachusetts and were not New Hampshire primary voters.
"Other candidates, they have like 10, 20, 30 issues and this is just one of them. This is only one of them for Bernie Sanders," said Naushard Cader of Cambridge, Massachusetts after the announcement. "Yesterday Clinton put out something -- finally -- a two page document. No one is talking about this issue to be fixed first."
Some seemed torn between Sanders and Lessig. "I haven't been to other events but I am donating to Bernie's campaign so this is kind of hard for me - it's a conflict. Because I think they stand for pretty much the same thing so I'm torn," said Donna Montenegro, a member of NH Rebellion told CBS News.
Joe Magruder of Concord, New Hampshire said he'll be glad if Lessig's candidacy at least gets some attention.
"It's making other candidates both sides of the aisle talk about it," he said.