Friends:

Last night’s presidential debate offered a very important lesson: when politicians face enough pushback from accountability journalism, they can be shamed into shifting. Joe Biden’s statement on deficit spending was the result of the pushback our reporting generated a few months ago, when his campaign promoted GOP talking points about the deficit.

This is exactly the kind of thing we are going to have to do day in, day out if Biden wins the election — we will have to constantly and fearlessly report accountability stories about him and his new administration, to make sure they are doing what they promise and to give progressive lawmakers the information they need to hold Biden to his promises.

To do that, we have to hire more journalists RIGHT NOW — and the only way we can do that is if free subscribers become supporting subscribers.

So my ask is simple: can you click here to become a supporting subscriber?

Let me admit something: I can’t stand asking people to pitch in. It’s one of my least favorite parts of this work — I’d rather be spending my time doing investigative reporting. So if you are annoyed by this email, I can’t blame you — I don’t really enjoy writing it.

However, after 20+ years in this work, I know that we can only be effective if we have the resources to make an impact, and this is a 100% grassroots-funded initiative.

So that’s where you come in — and that’s why I periodically ask you to click here to become a $5-a-month or $50-a-year subscriber.

Our small team has had an outsized impact in our first six months of reporting. Our journalism successfully pressured New York lawmakers to repeal parts of a corporate immunity law, we’ve brought to light important revelations about Amy Barrett’s climate record and now we’ve helped back Biden off of using GOP talking points.

We’ve proven that our model works — our only barrier to more impact is resources.

So please consider this request — and please consider forwarding this email on to any of your friends to ask them to subscribe as well. With your help, we can fund an entire newsroom of reporters holding politicians accountable.

Thanks for considering this request.

Rock the boat,

Sirota