sankho

8 ms·

31.
by sankho 15y ago
We've been looking at the best ways to deal with finances, and we are thinking of adopting Kickstarter's model. This way we wouldn't hold the money itself - we would direct all transactions to the bank account of the partnered lobbying / ad
32.
by sankho 15y ago
To a point, but PACs are focused on a candidate or a specific cause. We The Lobby allows for multiple causes, and will not be defined as an organization by any one cause.
33.
by sankho 15y ago
Firstly, once lobbying efforts begin we do intend to post video updates as often as possible. We don't feel that lobbying is inherently evil - it is just unbalanced and mis-guided. We wish to cast an example of how lobbying can be positive,
34.
by sankho 15y ago
Well, last night Obama did urge congress to write legislation in that vein... so if there is legislation proposed, feel free to submit that as a cause on our site!
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Show HN: We made a site to crowd fund lobbying.
50 points by sankho 15y ago|28 comments
36.
by sankho 15y ago
Thanks for the warning, and yes, we are in talks with several tax lawyers about how best to handle this.
37.
by sankho 15y ago
We The Lobby feel that characterizing Lobbyists as pigs, or Lobbying as essentially evil, is foolish at best. At this point, it simply is what it is. It's not what lobbyists do that make you call them pigs - it's the fact that they are eati
38.
by sankho 15y ago
Definitely. Once we do some serious accounting we'll know best how to divy up the data information architecture-wise.
39.
by sankho 15y ago
Let's find out indeed! Make a pledge guys! Sorry for the overt plug. Figured I should do it at least once though :)
40.
by sankho 15y ago
This is an interesting idea, but for it to work, I'd add one more stipulation: 3. Have politicians sign an agreement that accepting money from We The Lobby's pool means you cannot accept money from other donors. This would ensure that speci
41.
by sankho 15y ago
We're aware of the revolving door concept, and if we gain traction on a few issues and are about to provide continual funding with them - it's definitely a concept we are looking into exploiting. As for the death threats - 0 so far, but it'
42.
by sankho 15y ago
I'd encourage you to look into www.popvox.com and www.votizen.com - they are not exactly the idea you've talked about but are similar in vein of organizing data to present to congress. However, the problem is getting congress to recognize t
43.
by sankho 15y ago
We The Lobby's main idea thus far is to rally for lobbying money while legislation is being discussed in the House or Senate - just like SOPA / PIPA are being discussed now after the vote has been cancelled. If someone puts out legislation
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by sankho 15y ago
We do have similar groups, the EFF is one of the bigger ones. However, they have to compete with the millions of dollars the American recording & media industries have. It's great to hear La Quadrature du Net does well with so little. W
45.
by sankho 15y ago
I was just about to go to sleep, but this is an important question. We want to spend as much money as we can on lobbying efforts. The site itself was made completely pro bono because we all believe in the idea. We are committed to being as
46.
by sankho 15y ago
OK guys - it's late on the east coast and I need to sleep. I'll be up in a few hours to see if anyone else has commented with a question!
47.
by sankho 15y ago
We 100% agree that we need to have continual funding, and that this will not be feasible without transparency and updating our pledgers. Before we can define these things, we are waiting for one thing: To confirm a partnership with another
48.
by sankho 15y ago
I think it's better this way. :) Thanks for sharing!
49.
by sankho 15y ago
Great question. We're waiting until we can confirm which group we will partner with on any given cause. And in the case of organizations, we are looking into partnering with advocacy groups such as the EFF as well as traditional lobbying fi
50.
by sankho 15y ago
While I'll agree there is something absurd to the idea of citizens paying for the attention of congress, it's also a recognition of how our system currently - and unfortunately - works. Lobbying firms are congress' sole source of education
51.
by sankho 15y ago
Hey everyone. I'm actually the founder & lead developer of We The Lobby. I just got home and saw this hit HN. I was planning on (and still may) posting the site asking for everyone's thoughts but... while I'm here if anyone has any sugg