By Heather Arkwright
The fight to restore democracy by taking it back from the hands of wealthy corporate interests continues, and Public Citizen is excited to report some victories and upcoming events.
After the disastrous 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling, which allowed corporations to pour unlimited amounts of money into political campaigns to influence elections, a grassroots movement, spearheaded by Public Citizen and other organizations, has grown that calls for a constitutional amendment to overturn the ruling.
As part of that, Public Citizen President Robert Weissman and Mark Hays, campaign coordinator for Public Citizen’s Democracy Is For People Campaign, are speaking Saturday at a conference organized by Occupy DC, called “How to Get Money Out of Politics Through Cross-Partisan Citizen Movements.” The conference will feature former Louisiana Gov. and presidential candidate Buddy Roemer and the national field director at Americans for Campaign Reform, Rob Werner.
And next Wednesday, a congressional summit is taking place in Washington, D.C., in which lawmakers and activist organizations stand together to demand an end to corporate dominance of political campaigns. Sponsors of the constitutional amendment, senators, representatives, and spokespeople from activist organizations will discuss their commitment to getting corporate money out of politics. (Public Citizen President Robert Weissman will be a co-moderator for the organizational speakers.) The summit will focus on the information and tools necessary to build and strengthen the movement at the local, state, and national level that drives at change. Check out this link if you’re interested in joining us at the summit!
