Posts Tagged ‘Lobbying’

February17

Money and Democracy Update: Supreme Court showdown

By: Angela Bradbery

"Public Citizen Money and Democracy"Stunning Statistics of the Week:

$5.2 million: Amount President Barack Obama’s campaign spent last year for Internet advertising
$9.5 million: Amount Obama’s campaign spent on telemarketing
$2.6 million: Amount GOP contender Newt Gingrich spent on telemarketing
$1.3 million: Amount Obama’s campaign spent on credit card fees for donations
$143,862: Amount Obama’s campaign spent last year on text messages

New Mexico Legislature approved amendment resolution
New Mexico’s Legislature has passed a resolution calling on Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that said corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections. New Mexico is now the second state to pass such a resolution (Hawaii was the first).

Supreme Court showdown
Corporations challenging the Montana Supreme Court’s decision upholding the state’s restrictions on corporate political expenditures have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put the law on hold pending a decision on whether the Supremes will hear the case. Montana’s Attorney General has responded that the challengers are asking the court “to invalidate Montana’s Corrupt Practices Act – an Act that has safeguarded the republican form of government in Montana for a century from the scourge of political corruption.” The challengers’ request will be considered by Justice Anthony Kennedy and may be referred to the full court for decision.

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February10

Money and Democracy Update: Jack makes a splash, 25K people demand Obama fix FEC

By: Angela Bradbery

"Public Citizen Money and Democracy"Stunning Statistics of the Week
$10,000: The amount people had to raise to participate in a “policy roundtable” at a Washington, D.C., fundraiser for GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney this week
$2,500: The amount people at the event were charged for having their photo taken with Romney
$1,000: Price of admission to the reception
Source: http://influencealley.nationaljournal.com/2012/02/romneys-washington-fundraiser.php

Strange but true: Jack Abramoff makes a splash at Public Citizen
Yes, yes, we know, it was very strange. Notorious ex-superlobbyist Jack Abramoff at Public Citizen?! It happened this week, and oh boy, did Abramoff’s appearance make a splash. Read some of the coverage and watch the video.

25,000 people say: Obama, fix the FEC
A petition on the White House website calling for President Barack Obama to nominate new commissioners to the deadlocked Federal Election Commission (FEC) has garnered 25,000 signatures – enough to prompt the administration to respond.

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Posted in: Campaign Finance, Congress, Money & Democracy Update, Uncategorized1 comments

October28

What we are fighting for

By: Editor

By Aquene Freechild, Senior Organizer with the Democracy Is For People campaign.

Americans are taking to the streets and standing up to corporate greed and injustice. This is a moment to make our voices heard. As we are protesting the forces that are consolidating economic and political power, we should not lose sight of what we’re fighting for.

Despite deep and trying struggles for a better society, most people can look around and have much to be thankful for. I hold a degree from an affordable public college; I enjoy safe and healthy food; I recovered from asthma thanks to cleaner air; I love our public transportation systems and bike lanes in Boston, New York and Washington, D.C.; and I love my neighbors, family, and the community we have built and are building.

To express my love of these things and to defend my rights and the rights of those I care for, I love to vote.

Yet according to a Brennan Center report, in the coming election more than 5 million voters may see that right taken away from them due to changes in voting laws. For all but a few of these 5 million people the right to vote was fought for and won, as once only the wealthy, white and male could vote. It is a right some are still fighting for, and for which many more will have to fight now.

How is this tied into money and politics? According to the Brennan Center for Justice, 34 states saw Voter ID laws introduced in the last year. Voter ID laws disproportionately impact, and effectively disenfranchise, senior citizens, students, people of color, and lower-income Americans. And they, and other disenfranchisement measures, are being written and promoted by a corporate-state legislative body called the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).  ALEC drafts model laws and promotes them to state legislatures for passage.

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Posted in: Activism, Campaign Finance, Open Government, Social Justice0 comments

August11

Energy Industry Lobbyists Pull the Plug on Public Protections

By: Amit Narang

Despite repeated claims by Republicans that their signature anti-regulatory measure, the REINS Act (“Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny”) is geared toward helping small business, Public Citizen has learned that the energy industry has by far exerted the most lobbying influence in support of the proposed legislation.

Today’s  report is being released just days after Republicans announced their intention to make passage of the REINS Act a central feature of their legislative agenda this fall. Soon, Republicans will be unleashing a new wave of rhetoric about how overregulation is killing small businesses and preventing job creation, without any mention of the essential benefits that regulation provides in the form of clean air and water, safe food and consumer products, a sound financial system and strong workplace safety protections.

In spite of the Republicans’ insistence that small businesses stand to benefit the most from REINS, lobbying disclosures analyzed in the report reveal that the dominant force behind the push for REINS is in fact a particular industry composed almost exclusively of large corporations: the energy industry.

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Posted in: Climate Change, Congress, Environment, Regulation0 comments

July22

Money and Democracy Update: Corporations write laws, Murdoch’s lobbying is like a pie in the face

By: Editor

"Public Citizen Money and Democracy Update"Stunning Statistics of the Week:

  • 244: The number of bundlers who raised money from others on behalf of Obama and Democrats
  • $37 million: The amount these bundlers raised this quarter for both the campaign and the Obama Victory Fund, a fundraising vehicle Obama shares with the Democratic Party
  • $86 million: The amount raised by both President Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee in the second quarter of the year

Koch, ExxonMobil, other corporations buy their way to the legislative drafting table
Can corruption be as or more rife at the state level than in Washington, D.C.? Apparently. Big corporations pay a $25,000 membership fee and another fee of up to $10,000 to the American Legislative Exchange Council. Then they roll up their sleeves and sit down with state lawmakers – who also are members – to draft bills. This “model legislation” is then circulated in state legislatures throughout the country.

Wall Street does not want to be reformed
As the first anniversary of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law passes, Wall Street is pressing to excuse itself from a rule specifically designed to address one the main causes of the financial meltdown: inappropriate incentive compensation packages. In addition to filing tons of comments to regulators, 30 Wall Street companies, trade associations and allies spent nearly $243 million lobbying on financial services issues and $46.7 million contributing to campaigns in 2010 election cycles.

Wall Street money helps Obama campaign coffers grow
President Barack Obama is relying more on Wall Street money during this election than the last one, according to a new analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics. A third of the money Obama’s elite fundraising corps has raised is from the financial sector.

It depends on what your definition of “lobbyist” is
When President Barack Obama broke fundraising records last week, his aides bragged that he didn’t “accept a single dollar from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs.” But it’s not like his corporate-connected donors have nothing to do with policymaking. Donors include the corporate executive who oversees Comcast’s lobbying efforts, the chairwoman of pharmaceutical giant Pfizer’s political action committee and the CEO of a public relations firm that billed more than $4 million in federal lobbying last year.

News Corp. giving out the big bucks
Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch has been dishing out the cash to U.S. lawmakers. In June alone, News Corp.’s political action committee (PAC) gave more than $50,000 to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Murdoch himself has donated $451,438 to American politicians and PACs since 1987.

Speaking of News Corp. …
Oh, irony of ironies. Around the time that the News of the World phone-hacking scandal was emerging, News Corp. sent its lobbyists to swarm Capitol Hill, spending more than $1.5 million in the first three months of the year. What were they hoping to influence lawmakers about? Digital privacy. Well ain’t that just a pie in the face.

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