Veterans for Political Innovation, a new effort launched to fight political dysfunction, has announced Todd Connor as its new CEO. “We feel the weight of our generational responsibility to urgently address the paralyzing dysfunction and polarization we witness each day in Washington, D.C.,” says Eric Bronner, founder of Veterans for Political Innovation. “We are clear on the solution to address polarization, and now with early funding, a strong board and team, and Todd Connor’s national reputation and leadership we are poised to aggressively step forward as military veterans to say enough is enough.”
“Like most Americans, I’m distraught at the current state of affairs. This polarization is neither normal, nor cyclical, and we have to take a systems-level view at how we fix it. The primary election has become the primary problem in American politics,” says Todd Connor. “The Economist Intelligence Unit ranks the U.S. 25th among countries as a ‘Flawed Democracy’ on par with Portugal, Estonia, and Italy and behind countries we would consider peers. Reinvigorating competition into our politics, breaking the binary race-to-the-bottom nature of our current political construct, and changing the incentives for candidates and elected officials is how we fix this. Fortunately, we have a path and a plan to do just that.”
“What’s exciting about Veterans for Political Innovation is that there is a solid and achievable strategy: implement a combination of open primaries and ranked-choice voting called Final Five Voting in 6-8 states across the U.S. and start a national movement for other states to follow suit,” offers Megan Everett, Board Member of Veterans for Political Innovation. “Candidates today operate in fear of being primaried. If you introduce innovation to the primary and general election, which states can and are doing, you change the whole nature of politics. There is a national movement around these innovations, anchored on the ground-breaking thought leadership of Katherine Gehl and Michael Porter in The Politics Industry. We are just bringing solutions-oriented veterans, independents as well as Republicans and Democrats, to the fight.”
“Todd’s leadership as an entrepreneur, social innovator, national movement builder, and committed patriot is exactly what we need to propel this movement forward. Having built Bunker Labs into a financially robust nonprofit with over 30 employees and chapters in over 40 cities that are helping military veterans and spouses start businesses, he knows how to do this work,” says Yinka Faleti, Board President. “Todd has been very clear: let’s stay laser focused on implementing Final Five Voting in all 50 states. When that’s been achieved, our work will be done.”
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