Fredreka Schouten

USA TODAY

CLEVELAND – Morris Pearl is familiar with the perks and political access granted to big campaign donors.

The former BlackRock Inc. managing director has lavished more than $1 million on politicians, party committees and super PACs in recent years, federal records show — earning himself seats inside luxury skyboxes at political conventions and the chance to hobnob with celebrities like Ben Affleck.

On Monday, however, the 56-year-old New Yorker found himself on the outside of a convention hall – by choice. Pearl, chairman of the group Patriotic Millionaires, joined the masses of protesters gathering in Cleveland on the opening day of the Republican National Convention and took to a makeshift stage to argue that rich guys like him have too much power in elections.

"Some wealthy people are using their wealth to get more political power and using their political power to get more wealth,” Pearl said to a group of about 15 onlookers who listened as he made his case before the microphone at Public Square, one of a handful of protest zones set up around the city during the convention.

Pearl, a Democrat, left BlackRock in 2014 and now serves as chairman of the Patriotic Millionaires, a coalition of some 200 high-wealth individuals who push for liberal-leaning policy changes. Members include Men’s Wearhouse founder George Zimmer and legendary TV producer Norman Lear, whose TV hits in the 1970s included All in the Family and The Jeffersons.

In an interview before his Monday speech, Pearl said he sees a country increasingly divided by wealth.

“We want a less of a bifurcated society of rich and poor and more of a society with a lot of middle-class people in it,” Pearl said of Patriotic Millionaires’ goals. “We want to give people an opportunity to better themselves.”

To that end, he favors public financing of political campaigns, modeled on New York City’s system, which boosts the power of small donors. Under that system, donations of up to $175 are matched 6-to-1 by public funds. As a result, a $10 contribution to a candidate grows to $70 with matching taxpayer money.

Pearl's group also backs a $15-an-hour minimum wage and wants Congress to eliminate what critics call the carried-interest loophole in tax law, which allows hedge-fund and private-equity investment managers and others to pay a lower tax rate than most individuals because their profits are treated as long-term capital gains rather than ordinary income.

On Monday, Pearl was joined by a Republican, Alabama-based political strategist John Pudner, who also is pushing to overhaul the campaign finance system. Pudner gained attention in 2014 when he helped Virginia college professor David Brat defeat then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the Republican primary.

Pudner now runs his own advocacy group, Take Back Our Republic, aimed at winning over conservatives. “I’m sure on taxes and other things, we have conflicting views,” Pudner said of Pearl, “but this is as unifying issue.”

In an interview, Pudner argued that campaign contributions increasingly are “business transactions” for corporate interests aimed at “gaining financial gain at the taxpayer’s expense.”

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As the two men spoke Monday, some people in the small group of onlookers listened closely and applauded lightly but occasionally turned to watch a louder protest unfolding across the square. The competing protesters, armed with a megaphone, bore signs attacking Muslims and exhorted people to "put down your alcohol and pick up the Bible."

However, at least one influential figure joined the small cluster listening to Pearl and Pudner: Ann Ravel, who is one of the nation's top election regulators as a member of the Federal Election Commission. Ravel, a Democrat who has crusaded to rein in unfettered political spending, said the sparse attendance at the protest doesn't mean Republicans don't care about the issue.

Republican Donald Trump's populist rhetoric about self-financing his primary campaign is one sign the issue resonates, she said. "Republicans, Independents and Democrats are concerned that their votes don't count because of the prevalence of campaign-finance issues," Ravel added.

Pearl said he wasn't disheartened by the light attendance either. "I'm glad I didn't have a huge group of hecklers," he said.

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In Philadelphia, where Democrats will convene for their convention later this month, Pearl won’t be standing in a public square.

The Democratic donor has been invited to more than two dozen receptions, luncheons and other events over the four-day gathering. But one of the biggest items on his calendar will be a cocktail party Patriotic Millionaires will throw for elected officials, Democratic donors and what he called a smattering of “minor celebrities” at a law office in downtown Philadelphia.

Even as he mingles with other powerful people at the Democratic conclave, Pearl said the message at his reception won’t be any different than the one he pushed outdoors on a sunny and warm afternoon in downtown Cleveland.

“We’re not against parties,” he said of his Philadelphia soiree. But, he said, “we’re going to be the inside rabble-rousers.”