In October 2010, four local Coffee Party members organized Coffee Party Austin to both educate voters on the outsized influence of big money on Texas politics and to advocate for campaign finance and electoral reforms that will give voters a greater voice in state government. Last year our goal was to build public support for fair and clean elections and to advocate for public financing of state judicial elections.
This year Coffee Party Austin is working with local Move to Amend (MTA) and Occupy groups to lobby the Austin City Council for a resolution favoring a constitutional amendment and legislative remedies to reverse the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. Our members have also joined a state-wide coalition with Clean Elections Texas, Public Citizen Texas and Texans for Public Justice and others to lobby for more effective enforcement of state campaign ethics laws by the Texas Ethics Commission.
Last month we took our reform agenda to the Democratic and Republican county conventions. In early June, we will join forces with The Woodlands Coffee Party to co-sponsor a booth and lead a breakout session featuring the documentary “Pricele$$” at the state Democratic convention in Houston. On the same weekend Coffee Party Austin board members, Joanne Richards and Stewart Snider will travel to Dallas to join members of Clean Elections Texas and MTA to participate in a panel on campaign finance and staff booth at the Texas Libertarian Party convention in Dallas.
Want to help? We still need volunteers to staff our booths in Houston on June 8th & 9th. If you can volunteer a few hours either day, please contact us at convention@coffeepartyaustin.org. You can also donate online at coffeepartyaustin.org to help cover the cost of printing and booth rentals at the conventions.
Check out our new Coffee Party Austin Scoop It News page, keeping an eye on “the good, the bad and the ugly” of Texas politics.
