Candidate for
Charter Commission; City of Sacramento

Mr. Cressman is a policy expert and advocate for democracy issues including campaign financing, voting systems, redistricting, and the initiative process. He has testified before Congress and the federal courts on campaign finance reform, authored, coauthored, and edited numerous reports and op-ed columns, and has appeared extensively in the media including USA Today, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Roll Call, The Hill, National Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, The Washington Times, The Boston Globe, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Sacramento Bee, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Austin American Statesman, The Orlando Sentinel, The Albuquerque Journal, and the Kansas City Star.

Experience

2006-Present Common Cause, Director of State Operations for Western States, Director of Campaign to Reverse Citizens United

2006-Present The Poplar Institute, Board Member. Serves with a small think-tank that studies government accountability.

2003-2006, Research for the Rest of Us, Executive Director Directed non-partisan research organization with two staff whose mission was to investigate the role of money in candidate and ballot elections. 1995+2006, Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), Democracy Program Director Directed the State PIRGs' state and federal work on campaign finance reform, electoral reform, ethics, and the initiative process. Established media and coalition relations, drafted legislation, authored or co-authored nine reports on money in politics, directed legal defense of state CFR laws, ran 1996 national field campaign that persuaded 335 congressional candidates to pledge support for campaign finance reform, managed staff of six. April 2001, Initiative and Referendum Institute, Elections Observer Served as an international monitor of the first election in Somaliland, Africa when citizens ratified their new constitution.

1993-2006, Earth Tones, -- The Environmental Telephone Company, Director Founded and ran long distance telephone service that gives 100% of profits to environmental groups. 1990-1992, CALPIRG, ConnPIRG Lead Organizer Oversaw staff, developed campus program, recruited and developed student leaders, maintained relations with faculty and administration. Local director of GOTV campaign around 1990 Big Green initiative in California.

Education 1986 + 1990 Williams College, B.A. Political Science Graduated with honors, cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa. Won Richard Krouse Prize in Political Science, Francis Hutchins Fellowship, and Mead Government scholarship to intern with U.S. Senator Tim Wirth.

Books Authored

The Recall's Broken Promise, How Big Money Still Runs California Elections. Poplar Institute Press, 2007.

Book Contributions

Southern Pacific Railroad v. Santa Clara County entry for The Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court, Facts on File, Inc, New York, 2004.

Major Environmental Ballot Initiatives and Referendum section of Initiative and Referendum Almanac, by Dane Waters. 2003, Carolina Academic Press.

Reports Authored/Coauthored

What We Know About Voting by Mail, January 2008, Common Cause Education Fund.

Latino Voters Do Vote By Mail: But Only if We Let Them. Common Cause.

Safe Seats, Dangerous Democracy: How Politicians Draw Districts to Rig Election Results, July 2005. Research for the Rest of Us

Making Safe Seats Safer, How Big Money in Politics Compounds Gerrymandering to Lock Up Elections, August 2005. Research for The Rest of Us.

Contribution Limits And Competitiveness: An Analysis Of How State Campaign Finance Laws Affect Challengers And Incumbents, with George Mason University Economics Professor Thomas Strattman 10/1/02

Lone Star Election Laws: A Comparative Study of Texas' Campaign Finance System, July 2000

Pushing the Limits The Impacts of Raising Federal Limits on Contributions to Campaigns, July 1999

Reports Designed and Edited

Look Who's Not Coming To Washington: Qualified Candidates Shut Out by Big Money 1/3/03 The Best Elections Money Can Buy 10/30/02 The Wealth Primary: The Role of Big Money in the 2002 Congressional Primaries 10/15/02 Lobbyist's Last Laugh: How K Street Lobbyists Would Benefit From the McCain-Feingold Campaign Finance Bill July 2001

Look Who's Not Coming to Washington: Anecdotes From Across the Country of Candidates Who Were Shut Out By Campaigns Backed by Wealthy Interests January 2001.

Legalizing the Loophole: The Special Interest Ploy to Increase Contributions From the Wealthiest Donors, June 2000

Running for the Money, an Analysis of the 2000 Congressional Primaries, March 2000.

Congressional Testimony

Reduce Federal Contribution Limits, before the U.S. Senate Rules Committee, March 29, 2000.

Court Testimony

United States District Court for the District of Columbia (this case eventually went to the U.S. Supreme Court), Victoria Gray Adams v. Federal Elections Commission, September 20, 2002.

Other testimony:

California Senate Joint Hearing of Committees on Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments and Senate Select Committee on Constitutional Reform regarding reforming California's Budget Process and Governance System, August 19, 2009.

California Assembly Committee on Elections regarding gifts from lobbyist employers, April 8, 2008

California Fair Political Practices Commission hearing on Independent Expenditures, February 14, 2008.

California Assembly Committee on Elections: September 12, 2006 regarding Independent Expenditures.