The poplar tree has long-been a symbol of the people, or democracy, because the leaves are never still but blow with the wind. It's name derives from the latin populus, or "of the people."  Thomas Jefferson named his second home, Poplar Forest, in homage to not only the scenery but also his ideals of government.    

The Poplar Institute is decidated to the idea that the people can do a better job of running the government than experts, professional politicians, and the lobbyists who advise them.  We provide ordinary citizens with information on what their government is doing and suggest ideas to create a system of government that is more accountable to voters than to special interests.

The board of directors of the Poplar Institute includes:

Derek Cressman is a senior fellowand member of the Poplar board of directors.

Cressman is one of the nation’s leading experts on applying spending and contribution limits to big money in politics with experience in researching and analyzing data, drafting legislation, creating and implementing strategies to enact reforms into law, defending campaign finance statutes from legal challenge, and enforcing the law. Both the U.S. Senate and federal courts have relied upon Cressman’s expert testimony regarding campaign finance reform. He has helped craft campaign finance and ethics ballot initiatives in four states.

Cressman has been quoted in The New York Times, USA Today, Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, CNN Headline News, San Francisco Chronicle, Sacramento Bee, San Jose Mercury News, San Diego Union Tribune, Orange County Register and numerous  other news outlets. His columns about money in politics have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Christian Science Monitor, Cleveland Plain Dealer, The Hill, Minuteman Media, The Oregonian, Albuquerque Tribune, Orlando Sentinel, Tompaine.com, and the Washington Times among other publications.

Cressman has worked professionally on democracy issues since 1995 when he served as the State Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) Democracy Program Director. With the PIRGs, Cressman helped write and edit many reports on money in politics, including Soft Money Shuffle, Carpetbagger Cash, Pushing the Limit—The Impact of Raising Federal Limits on Contributions to Campaigns, Lone Star Election Laws, Look Who’s Not Coming to Washington, and Contribution Limits and Competitiveness. From 2003-2006, Cressman directed TheRestofUS.org, a nonpartisan watchdog group.  In 2005, Cressman authored two reports examining democracy in Ohio, Safe Seats, Dangerous Democracy and Making Safe Seats Safer. He authored sections for the Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court, published by Facts on File (2004) and the Initiative and Referendum Almanac, by Carolina Academic Press (2003).
In 2001, Mr. Cressman served as an election observer in Somaliland, Africa, with the Initiative and Referendum Institute.

Cressman graduated cum laude from Williams College where he won the Richard M. Krouse prize in political science.

John Bonifaz:

John Bonifaz is a dedicated leader who has spent years working with citizens across the country to protect the right to vote and to broaden citizen participation in the democratic process.

In 1994, John founded the National Voting Rights Institute, based in Boston, and, after directing the organization for a decade, he now serves as its general counsel. NVRI today is a prominent legal and public education center committed to preserving the right of all citizens to vote and to participate in the electoral process on an equal and meaningful basis. Since founding NVRI, John has been at the forefront of many of the key voting rights struggles facing the nation today. Some highlights of his work at NVRI include:

• Leading the fight in the courts for presidential candidates Michael Badnarik and David Cobb in their demand for a full recount in Ohio of all of the votes cast for President in the 2004 general election.
• Defending the Massachusetts Clean Elections Law, which was passed overwhelmingly by the voters of the Commonwealth in 1998. John led the effort to challenge the Massachusetts legislature's refusal to fund the law and NVRI won a landmark ruling from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, forcing the state to provide the necessary funds to all qualified candidates running in the 2002 state elections.
• Working to overhaul the nation's campaign finance system by defending mandatory campaign spending limits, public financing of elections, and other important campaign reforms. John and NVRI are pressing for a US Supreme Court review of a 1976 ruling which equated money with speech and sanctioned today's system of unlimited campaign spending, and John has led a challenge to today's exclusionary system on voting rights grounds, linking the movement for change in the way we finance our elections to earlier civil rights struggles.

In 1999, in recognition of his pathbreaking work with the National Voting Rights Institute, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awarded John with a prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowship.

Benson Chiles directs the Coastal Ocean Coalition (COC) on behalf of Environmental Defense, NRDC, the Conservation Law Foundation, and the Marine Conservation Biology Institute. COC advocates for state level ocean policy reform in the coastal United States. Previously, Mr. Chiles worked as a Regional Director with the Public Interest Research Group, and he has consulted to numerous environmental organizations. He launched and managed N Space Labs, a data visualization company, and the Front Porch Club, a social and community service organization. Mr. Chiles is a member of the Atlantic Highlands, NJ Planning Board. He holds a BA from the Plan II Honors Program at the University of Texas and an MA in Organizational Change Management from the New School University.

Elena Nunez has worked as an activist and advocate in Arizona, California, and Colorado.  She currently works with Common Cause Colorado on ethics and campaign finance issues and has worked in the past with CALPIRG, COPIRG, and Environment California. 

Nick Penniman is an American writer and independent media producer. He is currently the publisher of The Washington Monthly. Prior to the Monthly he was the editor of TomPaine.com, program director of the Campaign for America's Future, director of Moving Ideas, associate editor at the American Prospect, director of the Alliance for Democracy and editor of the Lincoln Journal.

Submissions:

The Poplar Institute accepts submissions of news items and 1000 word essays for the website.  We are looking for material that relates to how citizens can hold government accountable that is of interest to policymakers, academics, and most importantly the general public.

E-mail web submissions.  Please include a brief author bio and list of other publications. 

For books and white papers, please mail a query letter and SASE to:

Editor
The Poplar Institute
2320 D St #203
Sacramento, CA 95816