If you are going to be in Washington D.C. on June 1, consider attending the event below. More details from Brookings here.

Is Government Broken? Strengthening Democracy through Election and Governance Reforms

In a recent CNN/Opinion Research survey, 86 percent of Americans said they believe the federal government is “broken.” In the last year, governance challenges complicated the nation’s capacity to address issues such as the economy, health care, climate change and financial regulation. As obstacles to governance continue to mount, what reforms need to be implemented to ensure that the United States is equipped to face its short- and long-term policy challenges? Is government broken? And if so, how do we fix it?

On June 1, the Brookings Institution, Demos, AmericaSpeaks, the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University and Everyday Democracy will host a forum to explore current challenges to good governance and to discuss ways of creating and strengthening a strong, vibrant and inclusive democracy, focusing mainly on proposed solutions to reform our governance, election and campaign finance systems. The first panel will focus on how electoral and campaign finance systems can be reformed. The second discussion will center on improving institutional performance, administrative infrastructure and governance processes to better address the nation’s most pressing policy problems.

After each panel, speakers will take questions from the audience.

When

Tuesday, June 01, 2010
1:00 PM to 5:00 PM

Where

Falk Auditorium
The Brookings Institution
1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC

Participants

Welcome and Introductory Remarks

Miles Rapoport

President, Demos

Darrell M. West

Vice President and Director, Governance Studies

Panel on Election and Campaign Finance Reform

Eddie Hailes

Managing Director and General Counsel, Advancement Project

Clarissa Martinez De Castro

Director, Immigration and National Campaigns, National Council of La Raza

Nick Nyhart

President and CEO, Public Campaign

Norm Eisen

Special Counsel to the President for Ethics and Government Reform, The White House

Moderator: Karen Hobert Flynn

Vice President for State Operations, Common Cause

Panel on Governance Reform

Thomas E. Mann

Senior Fellow, Governance Studies

Martha McCoy

Executive Director, Everyday Democracy

Gary Bass

Executive Director, OMB Watch

Moderator: Archon Fung

Associate Professor, Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard University

Closing Remarks

Carolyn Lukensmeyer

President, AmericaSpeaks

E.J. Dionne, Jr.

Senior Fellow, Governance Studies