Focus Areas
OSI's Program on Governance and Public Policy takes a pluralistic approach to political reform, encouraging states to experiment with various approaches to reduce the pressure of money on elections and legislation, ranging from improved disclosure to full public financing of campaigns, through grants to the Piper Fund, Western States Center, Democracy South and other intermediary organizations. OSI has also supported efforts to collect data on contributions and influence, through a grant to the National Institute on Money in State Politics, and to build a more sophisticated understanding of the legal issues surrounding the regulation of political communication, by supporting the Brennan Center for Justice and the National Voting Rights Institute.
However, money is hardly the only force separating Americans from their government. A healthy democracy depends on free and open communication among voters, candidates, parties, interest groups and elected officials, and if money has an undue influence today, it is largely because paid television advertisements are the only channel for that communication. Limits on money must be coupled with efforts to create alternate channels for political communication that are less dependent on money whether on the Internet, broadcast media, or through community organizations and that can open up the process and offset the restrictions of campaign finance regulation. OSI has been particularly involved in efforts to model an Internet-based system for voter information and participation in New York that would strengthen deliberation and preserve the local character of politics.
OSI continues to encourage experimentation along both tracks—controlling the influence of money while also trying to reduce its importance by creating alternatives. The organization continues to place a priority on state and local efforts, believing that to change the political process requires not just formal adjustments to the rules, but a deep public engagement in the question of what we expect from our democracy.
