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Posts Tagged ‘DISCLOSE Act’

January27

Money and Democracy Update: A pact on Super PACs, advice from Scalia

By: Angela Bradbery

Stunning Statistics of the Week:

$3.27 billion: Amount spent on lobbying in 2011
$3.51 billion: Amount spent on lobbying in 2010

Note: The drop is attributed to political gridlock.

Citizens United anniversary: Everything it was cracked up to be and more
We’ve been telling you for a while about the momentum that built toward protest events slated for Saturday, Jan. 21, the second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The anniversary was everything we thought it would be and then some. Citizens and elected officials took to the streets in cities throughout the country to call for a constitutional amendment to overturn the decision. Check out these pieces in Mother Jones, Truthout.org and Firedoglake. If you haven’t joined the movement, it’s not too late. Visit www.DemocracyIsForPeople.org.

Candidates say “Enough already with the Super PACs”
It might not work but it’s worth a shot. U.S. Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and his opponent Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren have signed a “People’s Pledge agreement” designed to keep Super PACs and the negative ads they pay for out of the race. Under the agreement, whichever candidate is aided by an ad paid for by a third party must contribute an amount worth half the ad to his or her opponent’s charity of choice.

House lawmakers draft new DISCLOSE Act
The DISCLOSE Act, designed to mitigate the harmful effects of Citizens United, fell victim in 2011 to GOP intransigence. Now, some lawmakers are making another run at it. U.S. Reps. Bob Brady (D-Pa.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) have drafted a bill that would, among other things, enhance disclosure by Super PACs, corporations and outside groups, and require corporations to tell shareholders about campaign expenditures.

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April29

Money and Democracy update: Disclosure fight heats up, Dems launch Crossroads answer, more

By: Angela Bradbery

Stunning Statistics of the Week:

$2.4 million: Amount Walmart spent on lobbying on federal issues in the first quarter, its highest amount ever and a 23 percent increase from the first quarter of last year.

$1.8 million: The amount Visa reported spending on lobbying in the first quarter. This is its highest amount ever.

$930,000: The amount MasterCard spent lobbying in the first quarter, an increase of 13 percent from a year earlier.

Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/lobbying-efforts-persist-long-after-health-care-financial-regulation-bills-passed/2011/04/21/AFMq0bXE_story.html

Chamber rhetoric heats up over executive order on disclosure
It’s a pretty basic notion: Companies that bid for government contracts should disclose their campaign spending to diminish the likelihood that contracts are a payoff for political expenditures. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is preparing for a knock-down-drag-out against it. “To quote what they say every day on Libya, all options are on the table,” a Chamber spokesperson said. Meanwhile, a group of senators on Thursday sent President Barack Obama a letter on Thursday urging him not to sign the executive order. In an odd interpretation of the concept of fairness, they said they were basing their request on the desire that government contracting is “conducted in a manner that ensures a fair process.” Also this week, Public Citizen launched a petition urging Obama to sign the executive order; as of Friday morning, it had garnered nearly 14,000 signatures.

Dems launch answer to GOP Crossroads
Two former White House officials have launched two groups whose aim is to raise $100 million between them to help President Barack Obama’s re-election effort. Called Priorities USA and Priorities USA Action, the groups are designed to counter similar outside groups co-founded last year by Republican strategist Karl Rove. Those groups, Crossroads GPS and American Crossroads, poured huge sums of money into the midterm elections to help corporate-friendly candidates.

Corporate political spending? Tennessee wants more
While many states have hurriedly moved to enact measures to mitigate corporate spending in politics after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling, Tennessee is going a different direction. Under a measure moving through the Tennessee Legislature, direct corporate donations to political candidates – now illegal – would be allowed. Also, the limit on individual contributions would be raised by roughly 40 percent. “More money is more free speech,” one of the bill’s sponsors claimed.

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March25

Political party spending, mystery lawsuit funder, scandal in S.C. and more

By: Angela Bradbery

Stunning Statistics of the Week:

$3.43 million: Amount the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee raised in February
$3.34 million: Amount the National Republican Senatorial Committee raised in February

Limits on certain political party spending will stand, U.S. Supreme Court says
Limits on state and national political party spending as part of coordinated efforts to help party candidates will stand. The U.S. Supreme Court this week refused to hear a challenge to the limits by the Republican National Committee, the Republican Party of Louisiana and a former congressional candidate.

Candidates who use public money spend more time with voters
Candidates spend nearly 10 percent more time interacting with voters when they take public financing, according to a University of Illinois professor. This factoid is especially relevant given that the U.S. Supreme Court next week will consider the constitutionality of clean elections laws in McComish v. Bennett.

Mystery: Who is bankrolling lawsuit challenging foreign money ban?
Someone is paying for a pricey lawsuit that challenges the ban on candidates accepting foreign money for their campaigns. But the question is, who? The plaintiffs in the case are a young attorney and a medical resident. But the case is being litigated by high-powered attorneys, the kind that cost upwards of $440 an hour. Just so happens that a firm where the lawyers work, Jones Day, Warren Postman and Yaakov Roth, also represents Koch Industries and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber was accused earlier this year for comingling foreign money with its political spending account. Hmm.

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March17

A lucky day for democracy

By: Rachel Lewis

Today is a lucky day for those who believe democracy, by definition, is government for the people, not corporations, because yesterday, well — it was an unlucky day for corporate lobbyists and the Wisconsin representatives they flew in to feature at a $1,000-a-head fundraiser.

Yesterday evening the Washington Examiner’s “Beltway Confidential” wrote, “An employee on the scene said that the crowd numbered about 2,000 people, and they’d taken over the building’s lobby.”

The connection is clear between the ridiculous fundraising efforts to bolster the campaign coffers of the Wisconsin representatives who, along with Koch brother darling Gov. Scott Walker, pushed to end collective bargaining against the opinion of the majority and the dangerous state we find ourselves in. As Public Citizen’s own Lisa Gilbert said in a piece in The Hill entitled, “License to Spend”:

Thanks to last year’s U.S. Supreme Court Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission decision, it’s a whole new world for corporate power.

Public Citizen helped promote yesterday’s protest to the media and our activist networks and, of course, joined the actual demonstration, which shut down streets and seemed to come as a surprise to many suited folks in the building.

While BGR Group, the lobbying firm hosting the campaign fundraiser bash, tried to spin the uprising as pure folly, ABC News’ Arlette Saenz captured the sentiment of the crowd when she spoke with protester Jonathan Backer who, like many others, had traveled from Wisconsin to Washington, D.C., to demonstrate:

“It’s such a good representation of what’s wrong with our democracy right now. There’s so much corporate power in our democracy where literally seconds after one of the worst anti-labor decisions that’s ever happened in the Midwest, you’ve got a big fundraiser going on here, right here in D.C.,” Backer told ABC News.

Please join our online community and check out our new website www.democracyisforpeople.org for more about yesterday’s protest and to learn how you can help Public Citizen pass a constitutional amendment overturning the Citizens United v. FEC ruling.

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Posted in: Midmorning Refill, Money & Democracy Update, Open Government2 comments

March12

Money & Democracy: Haley Barbour toasts collective bargaining vote, Granny D remembered, Koch saga continues . . .

By: Rachel Lewis

Stunning Statistics of the Week:

$15 million: Amount U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) wants to collect through his Senate Conservatives Fund, a political action committee, for the 2012 elections
$9 million: The amount his PAC raised in 2010, which was more than any other politician’s PAC raised during that time

Republicans from Wisconsin state Senate to be rewarded at Washington fundraiser
Fresh off a vote to end collective bargaining rights, Republican leaders of the Wisconsin state Senate are heading to a March 16 fundraiser in their honor at the Washington, D.C., lobbying firm of BGR Group, founded by Mississippi Gov. and big-time Republican fundraiser Haley Barbour. Donors are asked to give $1,000 to the state Republican Party; sponsors are asked for $2,500 while hosts must pay $5,000.

Rove group runs TV ad criticizing unions
We told you last month about how Crossroads GPS, a group co-founded by Republican strategist Karl Rove, was running radio ads on the budget in nearly two dozen House districts. The group is continuing to help ensure the financial health of television networks: It is spending three-quarters of a million dollars to run an ad critical of unions on CNN, CNBC and Fox News for a week.

Watchdog asks IRS to investigate group run by former Minnesota senator
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is asking the IRS to look into whether a group run by former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) violated tax laws during the midterm elections. The American Action Network may have engaged in political campaign activity as its primary purpose, contrary to IRS rules, CREW says.

Corporate cash bolsters Republicans in Florida
The state political parties in Florida are seeing a flood of corporate cash come their way as the legislative session ramps up — likely because of proposed measures that favor business. Most of the money is going to the Republican Party. “We have an extremely pro-business governor, pro-business House speaker, pro-business Senate president, and I think the business community knows this is going to be a very good year and they want to have input,” said state Sen. Mike Bennett, R-Bradenton.

Wisconsin Dems file complaint over governor’s comments to Koch mimicker
For the Wisconsin Democratic Party, the taped conversation that Governor Scott Walker had with a blogger pretending to be billionaire David Koch was more than just a prank call. It showed the governor engaging in behavior that could violate campaign finance and ethics laws. The party has filed a complaint with the state Government Accountability Board.

‎What would Granny D say?
It’s been a year since Doris Haddock, known as “Granny D,” died, but she isn’t forgotten. This week she was honored by Keene State College, which will house her travel journal notes, a campaign reform banner she carried when she trekked across the United States, and her shoes. New Hampshire’s governor issued a proclamation too.

Don’t forget to tell your friends about the Citizens United video
We told you last week about the release of “The Story of Citizens United v. FEC” video, a new 8-minute animated short by Annie Leonard, of “The Story of Stuff” fame. Haven’t viewed it yet? Do it now! Visit DemocracyIsForPeople.org to learn more! And, if you are on Facebook, “like” our page www.facebook.com/democracyisforpeople and become a part of our online activist community!