September/October 1996 Issue

The Dirty Dozen

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1. Tom DeLay (R-Texas)
Polluters’ best friend helps his brother
2. David McIntosh (R-Ind.)
Protects big insurers, smears the YMCA
3. Bob Barr (R-Geor.)
Backed by the NRA, never met a gun he didn’t like
4. Sue Myrick (R-N.C.)
GOP donor Amway has its own representative to pave the way to China
5. Richard Gephardt (D-Missouri)
Even out of power, can’t kick old habits
6. Thomas Bliley Jr. (R-Virg.)
Tobacco’s man pulls in telecom money, too
7. Helen Chenoweth (R-Idaho)
Cares more for companies than consumers
8. Jane Harman (D-Calif.)
The Cold War ended but Star Wars continues
9. Jon Christensen (R-Neb.)
Christian rightist cashes in
10. Steve Stockman (R-Texas)
Friend of the far-right fringe
11. John Ensign (R-Nev.)
Casino brat improves gambling’s odds
12 Vic Fazio (D-Calif.)
Looks out for big agriculture’s interest

A Few Good Women
Republican Linda Smith and Democrat Lynn Rivers buck the tide.

Breach of Contract
Interviews with E.J. Dionne Jr., Kevin Phillips, Theda Skocpol, John B. Judis, Lars-Erik Nelson, and Ellen Goodman.

Timeline
A chronological overview of the rise and fall of the 104th Congress.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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