Author Archive

May10

Despite Shareholder Pressure, Corporat3Money Spigot Gushes Away

By: Rick Claypool

I have a nest egg, just like most working people have, where I tuck away a portion of my earnings in order to make things easier once it’s time for me to retire.

But, I wonder, what good is planning for the future if my retirement investments are being spent by companies like 3M, Target and Bank of America, to elect politicians who want to allow corporations to pollute our environment and ransack our economy?

This was the question kicking around my head when I joined other opponents of corporate money in politics during the 3M’s annual shareholder meeting earlier this week.

Protestors outside 3M shareholder meeting. Photo via 99% Power.

Despite the stormy weather, scores of protesters carrying signs with messages such as “Post-its, Not Politics” and “Corporat3Money OUT of Elections” rallied outside the meeting, which was held at River Centre in Saint Paul, Minn. Groups joining the rally included Common Cause, Public Citizen, Minnesotans for a Fair Economy, Take Action Minnesota, MPIRG and others associated with the Corporate Reform Coalition and the 99% Power movement.

Several demonstrators went inside as proxies for shareholders who are concerned about the impact of corporate money in elections. Their concern in 3M’s case is well-founded – in 2010, 3M (like Target) gave $100,000 to MN Forward, a front group backing radical right-wing gubernatorial candidate, Tom Emmer.

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Posted in: Activism, Campaign Finance15 comments

May2

Amplify Your Voice: Write to Your Local Paper

By: Rick Claypool

a photo of newspaper pagesLast night, I had the pleasure of talking during a webinar with activists from all over the country who are concerned about the damaging impact of corporate money in elections.

The focus of last night’s talk was tools and tips for sending a letter to the editor to a local newspaper. Getting a letter published in the opinion pages of your local paper is a great way to raise awareness in your community about the issues that are important to you.

Download the presentation (PDF) and the sample letter to the editor (PDF).

Letters to the editor are a critical part of any campaign in support of progressive reforms. Here are two big reasons why:

1.) Letters to the editor help newspapers gauge what interests their audience. If the newspaper’s editors know that there are locals (like you) who are interested in the problem of corporate money influencing elections, they’re more likely to devote page space to coverage of that issue. Even if your letter isn’t published, it’s probably having an impact that helps your cause.

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Posted in: Activism, Campaign Finance, Open Government0 comments

March27

Vote Count for Bill Against Patient Rights

By: Rick Claypool

Photo of a hospital bed.Last week, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 5, an extreme bill that would severely undermine patients’ rights. The vote was 223-181.

We are extremely disappointed. Christine Hines blogged last week about the damaging impact of this bill, which would let the medical industry to go virtually unpunished when patients are harmed or killed by the industry’s negligence or recklessness.

We put together a vote chart (PDF) so you can find out how your representative voted. Here’s the basic breakdown:

Our efforts to thwart H.R. 5 resulted in a robust, bipartisan opposition. Most Democrats voted no, as did 10 Republicans: Amash (R-Mich.), Duncan (R-Tenn.), Garrett (R-N.J.), Gohmert (R-Texas), Griffith (R-Va.), Johnson (Ill.), Poe (R-Texas), Terry (R-Neb.) and Webster (R-Fla.).

Most Republicans voted in favor of the bill. Seven Democrats joined them: Boren (D-Okla.), Cardoza (D-Calif.), Hochul (D-N.Y.), Kissell (D-N.C.), Matheson (D-Utah), Peterson (D-Minn.) and David Scott (D-Ga.).

Four Republicans voted simply “Present”: Broun (R-Ga.), King (R-Iowa), Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and Woodall (R-Ga.).

Twenty-three members (11 Republicans and 12 Democrats) did not vote: Ackerman (D-N.Y.), Austria (R-Ohio), Bachus (R-Ala.), Bishop (R-Utah), Bono Mack (R-Calif.), Brown (D-Fla.), Castor (D-Fla.), Chaffetz (R-Utah), Davis (D-Ill.), Duffy (R-Wis.) Gonzalez (D-Texas), Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Jackson (D-Ill.), Kinzinger (R-Ill.), Lee (D-Calif.), Lowey (D-N.Y.), Manzullo (R-Ill.), Marchant (R-Texas), Marino (R-Pa.), McIntyre (D-N.C.), Paul (R-Texas), Rangel (D-N.Y.) and Thompson (D-Miss.).

Follow this link for a full vote chart (PDF).

Share your thoughts about how your representative voted and the outcome of this vote in the comments below.

And let’s make sure the Senate stops this awful bill.

Flickr photo by Nathan & Jenny.

Posted in: Activism, Congress, Consumer Protection, Health, Regulation15 comments

February10

#corporateloveletters

By: Rick Claypool

Corporate front groups, Super PACs, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the nasty menagerie of unaccountable electioneering entities are dumping billions into the elections this year – most likely geared towards electing the horrendous candidates a small cadre of CEOs and hedge fund managers like best.

The whole situation is awfully ugly and getting uglier (c/o the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission).

Then it occurred to me. You know what this stinking bog of profligate political spending needs?

Love, that’s what it needs.

That got me thinking: If corporations are people, to whom are they sending love letters this Valentine’s Day?

And so the thought experiment that is #corporateloveletters was born.

I went onto Twitter and posted these gems:

#corporateloveletters

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted in: Activism1 comments

December19

The SEC’s Teeth

By: Rick Claypool

photo of Rick Claypool

Rick Claypool

Like lots of Americans, I don’t really think of myself as an investor, but I am.

I’m an investor because I have a 401(k)-type retirement account. Which means that some significant part of my financial future depends, for better or for worse, on corporate profits, stock performance, and other creatures of the market.

Because I’m an investor, it’s the job of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to look out for my interests, whether or not I am aware of it. About 50 percent of U.S. households are investors of some kind or another. Some are the day-trading aficionados who follow the market as tenaciously as my father-in-law tracks his fantasy football team. Some are like me – we’re investors because that’s the kind of retirement account we were offered for our jobs.

Either way, the SEC is the agency that’s supposed to prevent corporate malefactors from abusing the money we shareholders invest in them. By law, that basically means that these corporations are required to spend shareholder money in ways that will increase profits – profits that are supposed to, among other things, boost my retirement account, since that’s where the money came from. The good folks from Occupy the SEC have a good primer on what it does, from an activist perspective.

Then, about two years ago, the Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission happened – and a brave new world of ways to spend investor money to influence elections was opened up.

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Posted in: Activism, Campaign Finance, Consumer Protection, Financial Reform, Regulation13 comments

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