In March of 1999 the Committee for Economic Development (CED), a 60-year-old policy group comprised of top corporate and university executives released a campaign finance reform proposal. CED tapped Widmeyer Communications to help raise awareness for the proposal in the media and amongst business leaders and government officials.

Through a major media campaign orchestrated by Widmeyer, CED shattered that myth within six months, moved business leaders into the forefront of reform and played a key role in the historic passage of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation in 2002. 

Building on this significant reform, in 2005 CED employed Widmeyer again to push its latest campaign finance reform initiatives through the use of major media coverage. In order to recruit more support from the business community, Widmeyer organized a news conference, at which the proposal was released, and numerous other events that featured legislators and business leaders, including Senators McCain and Feingold.  Additional media outreach included Op-Eds that were published in major papers, including The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Results:
Throughout the campaign, CED was covered by scores of papers and magazines, featured in dozens of editorials and columns and on the major news programs of ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox, and NPR. CED changed the debate and played a key role in the historic passage of campaign finance reform legislation with Senator Feingold thanking CED in his remarks on the Senate floor.