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danw329.bsky.social
Director, Elections and Government Program, Brennan Center for Justice @ NYU Law. Previously, Senior Counsel, FEC. Husband. Dad. 🇺🇸🏳️‍🌈✡️
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Posts 26 Comments 24

The danger of private interests capturing our political system has never been more apparent. Here's what we can do about it:

submitted 2 days ago • 8 comments

Trump has given some of his biggest donors key positions with extraordinary potential to influence decisions impacting their own bottom lines. Our latest analysis follows the money:

submitted 2 days ago • 3 comments

Follow the money. Great resource from my colleague Eric Petry on how to identify conflicts of interest and self-dealing at a time that private wealth and political power has become even more concentrated and intertwined.

submitted 3 days ago • 0 comments

ICYMI: my piece on how Trump's move to take control of the independent federal agencies (SEC, FTC, FCC, etc.) is premised on the Supreme Court's willingness to throw out a century or so of law, which it hasn't yet done. "Break the law and see if the courts stop me" is a whole strategy for him.

submitted 4 days ago • 33 comments

"[Trump] has stakes in a much wider range of businesses than he did when he was last in the White House," @danw329.bsky.social told @nytimes.com. This means "the potential for conflicts of interest has broadened and deepened."

submitted 4 days ago • 7 comments

AI will transform our democracy. Now is the time for states to set up guardrails to protect personal data, improve transparency and ensure election security.

submitted 9 days ago • 5 comments

It’s 1973 all over again at DOJ. Great analysis from @lmillerkaralunas.bsky.social. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

submitted 9 days ago • 0 comments

“The next wave of reform must also address the concentrated power of a few tech oligarchs as a core antidemocratic threat.” — @larrynorden.bsky.social & @danw329.bsky.social in TIME

submitted 11 days ago • 7 comments

"Tech billionaires, who already had enormous power, helped underwrite a winning presidential campaign in ways that would have been illegal just a few elections ago." — @larrynorden.bsky.social & @danw329.bsky.social on the rise of the "broligarchy" and what we can do about it

submitted 11 days ago • 12 comments

Just a reminder to the White House: If you have a problem with a judge's ruling in the U.S. system, the remedy is to appeal. Ignoring the judge’s order would be blatantly unconstitutional and a shocking abuse of power. /1 www.nytimes.com/live/2025/02...

submitted 14 days ago • 13 comments

"The firing is a dangerous and unprecedented maneuver that opens the door to a partisan takeover of the watchdog agency that both sides of the aisle have long agreed needs to be independent and free from political weaponization." @danw329.bsky.social www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

submitted 13 days ago • 0 comments

"To say that the president can remove FEC commissioners for any reason is unprecedented, and in my view highly dangerous.” - Brennan Center's @danw329.bsky.social. readsludge.com/2025/02/07/t...

submitted 15 days ago • 12 comments

Trump's attempt to fire the FEC chair is an exercise of unrestrained power without any regard for our system of checks and balances, says Brennan Center's @danw329.bsky.social , a former FEC counsel. "It's very, very concerning."

submitted 16 days ago • 14 comments

Let's talk more about President Trump’s unilateral move to fire the sitting @FEC chair when multiple complaints are pending before the agency involving Trump and his top donor-turned-right hand man, Elon Musk. This sets a dangerous precedent for the watchdog agency. 1/

submitted 16 days ago • 4 comments

In the last election, New York implemented the most powerful response to the big money politics of Citizens United: public financing. Under the program, small donors in a candidate’s district became a more important source than large donors or corporations. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

submitted 17 days ago • 2 comments

Also noteworthy: the president is trying to fire the FEC’s Democratic chair when it is set to rule on dozens of complaints from the 2024 election — including complaints against Trump and Elon Musk (who spent almost $300M to support his campaign) and complaints Trump filed against Harris + the media

submitted 17 days ago • 7 comments

In the entire history of the bipartisan FEC, no president has ever removed a member from the opposing party without naming a successor recommended by that party’s congressional leaders. This is an extraordinary break from that history.

submitted 17 days ago • 7 comments

AG Pam Bondi's announcement to shut down the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force is not surprising, but it leave our country more vulnerable to foreign interference in future elections, at a time when that threat has become more dynamic and sophisticated than ever before. /1

submitted 17 days ago • 3 comments

The richest person in the world, who spent almost $300M to bankroll President Trump’s campaign, is now poised to get control of the payment system through which trillions of dollars in government spending gets distributed, including bullions to Musk’s own companies. www.nytimes.com/2025/01/31/u...

submitted 22 days ago • 15 comments

Trump fires at least a dozen agency inspectors general. These are the main internal watchdogs against corruption (a/k/a theft of your tax dollars). They were not supposed to be (and mostly havent been) partisan appointments. thehill.com/homenews/adm...

submitted 29 days ago • 1 comment

Tonight's pardons and commutations for the January 6 rioters are an attempt to rewrite history and erase an attack on the Constitution and the country. www.tiktok.com/@brennancent...

submitted 34 days ago • 6 comments

The new president swore to uphold the Constitution, and within minutes, he began to undermine it. Declaring a national emergency at the southern border is an abuse of emergency powers. 1/2

submitted 34 days ago • 25 comments

Tech oligarchs were a notable presence at the inauguration ceremony. Thanks to Citizens United, we have a political system dominated by ultra-wealthy individuals to a degree never before seen in American politics — a cash-for-access economy. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

submitted 34 days ago • 12 comments

For everything you ever wanted to know about the Alien Enemies Act but were afraid to ask, my @brennancenter.bsky.social colleague Katherine Yon Ebright’s brilliant explainer is a must read. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/pol...

submitted 34 days ago • 3 comments

Monday is the 15th anniversary of Citizens United, the impact of which is now clear. Much of the 2024's election funding (through dark money, in conjunction with a handful of billionaires) would have been illegal before, opening the door to vast corruption. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

submitted 39 days ago • 1 comment

NEW from the Brennan Center: Citizens United, the controversial Supreme Court decision that led to the rise of super PACd and dark money, turns 15 this month. The decision shaped the 2024 campaign like no other before. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/res...

submitted 40 days ago • 1 comment