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Two interviews with Public Citizen President Robert Weissman at last month’s Netroots Nation convention on the need to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s disastrous ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. That ruling opened the door for unlimited corporate spending on elections. Up top Weissman talks to The Uptake’s Jacob Wheeler about the need to overturn Citizens United and about Public Citizen’s and People For the American Way’s Pledge for Democracy campaign in which candidates for Congress are asked to take a pledge to support a constitutional amendment to undo Citizens United. And after the jump, an interview with Sum of Change that delves a little deeper into the legal issues behind the ruling.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFzgHCM8Bng]
Weissman was at the Netroots convention for a panel discussion where he joined U.S. Reps. Alan Grayson and Donna Edwards in calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Citizens United ruling.
jeanne' serrano
The Rabid Right considers even an effort getting to the point of HAVING TO MAKE AN AMENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION A MAJOR VICTORY – AS IT SETS UP THE “MIND SET” THAT THE CONSTITUTION CAN BE WHITTLED AWAY AT JUST LIKE WAVES ERODING A BEACH, IF YOU STICK WITH IT LONG ENOUGH, THE ENTIRE BEACH DISAPPEARS, AND SO OPENS THE CONSISTENT “TACTIC” TO KEEP CHIPPING AWAY AT THE CONSTITUTION A LITTLE HERE, A LITTLE THERE, AND MAKE HAVING TO MAKE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS THE NORM HERE. THAT IS A DANGEROUS PRECEDENT. AM NOT SAYING THAT IN THIS CASE IT IS NOT NECESSARY BECAUSE OF BABOON COURT DECISIONS, BUT THAT IF THESE ISSUES HAVE GOTTEN THIS FAR – IT WAS TOO FAR TO BEGIN WITH.
August 6, 2010 at 11:14 pm
Elliot Aronin
Corporate political spending is what i call
“legal bribery”. There are countless cases
proving that Congresspeople will legislate
directly in proportion & in favor of the money
they receive from Corporations. I did a study, for example, of the relationship
between the Tobacco industry political funds and the results of favorable tobacco
legislation by the recipients. The results
were so directly connected that there could
be no other conclusion but that the funds
contributed were indeed “Legal Bribery”
August 7, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Big business has money to burn this election season « CitizenVox
[...] The reason for their excitement is this year’s disastrous U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which cleared the way for unlimited corporate spending in our elections. Stone writes: BIPAC [...]
December 24, 2010 at 5:55 pm
Money & Democracy Update: Outrage growing over Target’s campaign spending « CitizenVox
[...] At Netroots Nation last month, Public Citizen President Robert Weissman sat down and chatted with Uptake about the need to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. He also mused about the corporate takeover of our democracy, noting that candidates are “either with the people” or “with Exxon, Goldman Sachs and General Electric.” Watch the interview here. [...]
December 24, 2010 at 6:12 pm