File:Paul Wellstone, how to do better.jpg

The Magic Green Bus

• http://www.thecie.org/wellstone/

"Politics is not about power. Politics is not about money. Politics is not about winning for the sake of winning. Politics is about the improvement of people's lives."

-- Senator Paul Wellstone

Steve Schmidt, GreenPoicy360 founder/siterunner: Paul Wellstone was a teacher, a dreamer, an activist in politics who I helped move in back in the day, his first day in Washington DC as he began his work in the US Senate. That first day, the first week of planning, I found out he didn't even have a suit, but he did have, I knew, and then I learned how he chose to do what he did, a deep vision of what could be done. Paul was a thinker, intelligent and in tune with our young generation. He had integrity, values that he followed as a guide... There were few like him and there are fewer like him these days long after his tragic death. I miss him. Paul was a dear friend, he was always an inspiration, a people person. He was going to run for president and we met to plan a campaign in the late 1990s. Health issues stopped him and then there was a plane crash as he tried to beat the weather in Minnesota and meet a commitment to a constituent. He would have made a great US president.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Wellstone

• https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/politics-july-dec02-wellstone_10-25

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Money in Politics

• https://politicopay.com/buckley-valeo-a-mega-money-future

Flashback from GreenPolicy's Steve Schmidt: In 1990 GreenPolicy360 siterunner traveled to Washington DC at the invitation of a newly elected US Senator Paul Wellstone. I helped Paul move into his first apartment in DC, carrying appliances up into his place and talking about what clothes he would need as a Senator (he had no suits, he was a professor from Minnesota's Carleton College and was casual in his style. Yet, he was to become a leader of the progressive and populist wing of the Democratic Party and the two of us became especially close on the subject of 'Money in Politics', on his desultory impact on democratic discussion, debate, and citizen involvement. We agreed to pursue legislation and we did over the years and we did until his tragic death in a plane crash as he flew through winter weather on a mission for a constituent.

Paul is known for his green bus, but I knew him for his attempts to 'clean up politics'. He led efforts to fix the 'money in politics' problem and he would tell me when I pressed the issue over the years that "Schmidt, my office phones never light up calling me to push back the big money. You and I and some folks know how big a probleme it is, but it's off radar when it comes to what makes Congress move."

And so let me recall Paul, and Jerry in '92 with whom I worked on a presidential platform with 'money in politics' at the center, for trying to make a difference that is still needed to be made if a real difference in how Washington DC runs for better - or remains operating for the worse with push and pull, dollars and barters.

Here's Paul's green bus, a simple, real campaign emblem of who he was, for people, over the years, and the campaign continues.

Here is PoliticoPay.com, highlighted in 2016 as a Green Policy project...

We addressed how US Supreme Court decisions brought on the current deluge of big money and influence in politics.

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SCOTUS Paves the Way to Politico Pay

PoliticoPay, Money in Politics, Supreme Court Decision by Decision

Buckley v. Valeo (1976)

First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti (1978)

Citizens United v. FEC (2010)

McCutcheon v. FEC (2014)

U.S. Presidential Campaign, 2024

• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Money_in_Politics,_US_Pres_Campaign_2024.jpeg

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Senator Paul Wellstone: A Light in a Political Maelstrom

Remembering the "Magic Green Bus" | Going Green

* https://greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Paul_Wellstone,_how_to_do_better.jpg

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