Overview
The Clean State Firewall is the foundation of the Citizens Rise strategy. It is a state-level legal and technical framework designed to block dark money, untraceable influence, and shell-group manipulation at the state line. It does this not by limiting speech or setting contribution caps (which the Supreme Court has gutted repeatedly), but by using enforceable transparency rules and access restrictions — if you don’t disclose, you don’t play.
This firewall works without needing Congressional action or federal approval. Each state can pass its own version, tailored to its laws and enforcement capabilities, but built on a shared backbone: full-source traceability, real-time disclosure, vendor transparency, and operational eligibility enforcement.
Key Components
1. Disclosure Trigger Rules
Any time a political actor spends money on:
- Candidate ads
- Ballot measure ads
- Lobbying campaigns
…and the spending exceeds a defined threshold (e.g., $5,000), it triggers an immediate disclosure requirement.
This includes:
- True funders (natural persons or entities)
- Amount spent
- Purpose (e.g., candidate, issue, or legislation targeted)
- Vendor information (to expose routing through shell orgs)
Disclosures are submitted to a public, searchable database in real time. This system is modeled after modern transparency platforms — not outdated quarterly PDFs.
2. Entity Traceability Requirements
Any organization participating in political spending must:
- List its ultimate beneficial owners (modeled on the federal Corporate Transparency Act)
- Reveal all intermediary entities in its funding pipeline
- Register a compliance agent within the state
Failing to meet these requirements blocks the entity from any political activity in the state, including ads, donations, lobbying, or vendor contracts.
3. Vendor and Consultant Transparency
To stop influence laundering through obscure vendors, the firewall requires that:
- All paid contractors related to political activity disclose their funders and clients
- Ad agencies, law firms, public affairs shops, and PR firms engaged in political work must file public reports
4. Public Enforcement Engine
A watchdog portal allows citizens, journalists, and civic groups to:
- Monitor filings
- Flag suspicious patterns (e.g., same vendor used by multiple shell orgs)
- Submit leads to state regulators
Paired with administrative enforcement, this creates dual pressure: formal penalties from the state, and reputational exposure from the public.
5. Operational Eligibility Enforcement
Entities that do not comply with firewall rules are:
- Barred from political ad buys
- Ineligible to donate to campaigns or PACs
- Blacklisted from lobbying registration
- Ineligible for government contracts related to elections or public messaging
This is not a fine-and-forget system. It’s a gated process: no compliance, no access.
Legal Strategy
The Clean State Firewall is designed to be Supreme Court-proof by avoiding direct contribution or expenditure limits. Instead, it uses:
- Disclosure, which has been consistently upheld by courts
- Eligibility rules, based on state interests in transparency and integrity
- Contract and access control, which states can regulate under procurement and administrative authority
This system is inspired in part by the Corporate Transparency Act, which requires most U.S. entities to disclose their beneficial owners to FinCEN. The firewall applies that principle to political influence — if you want to shape public policy, you can’t do it anonymously.
The firewall does not ban speech — it simply ensures speech that influences the public must come from traceable, legal sources.
Implementation Model
- Phase 1: Draft model legislation and partner with 1–2 target states
- Phase 2: Launch public education and support tools
- Phase 3: Pass firewall law via ballot initiative or legislation
- Phase 4: Deploy watchdog infrastructure and digital tools
A successful firewall becomes a replicable model for other states — and puts national dark money networks on defense.
Why It Matters
Without the Clean State Firewall, all other reforms — Democracy Credits, Debate Access, even Democracy Stream — are vulnerable. Big Money simply reroutes itself. But with this firewall in place, every dollar spent to influence voters, elections, or legislation must come through the front door.
This is how you end the era of anonymous power and restore public control over public decisions.