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Curse Of The Super PACs by The Guardian, The Guardian | February 8, 2012
The arrival of Super PACs has allowed corporate big money to take control of the electoral campaign process to an unprecedented degree. The ability of the uncharismatic and relatively moderate (in Republican party terms) Mitt Romney to exert an increasing stranglehold over his party's nomination race has many causes, but the sheer size of Mr Romney's Super PAC, Restore Our Future, is certainly a crucial one of them. Four years ago, Barack Obama raised a huge campaign war chest of his own, but insisted he did not want to be beholden to outside groups. This month, though, the president has begun signalling that he wants wealthy donors to contribute to Priorities USA Action, one of the leading Democratic Super PACs. Mr. Obama has done this simply because he risks being overwhelmed by hostile Super PAC spending if he does not. More than ever before, American politics in 2012 is politics for sale — to the biggest donors. read more »Washington's Inside Game by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | February 7, 2012
Just in case you missed the news, "Insider trading" is back. It's even bipartisan. Well, the truth is that it never really went away after its heyday during the 1980s, when Gordon Gekko served as a stand-in for era villains like Michael Milken and Ivan Boesky. It launched more investigations in the 1990s than at any other time, except for the 1980s. In the "aughts," the names and players changed, but the "inside game" remains the same. Now, Raj Rajaratnam and Martha Stewart serve as stand-ins for Milken and Boesky. Gekko even returned to the scene, getting out of prison little more than year before Rajaratnam began serving his own prison sentence. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney could even be called a stand-in for Gordon Gekko, in the 2012 presidential election. (But Newt Gingrich could be a runner-up for that spot.) Not only are insider trading and inside traders back, but they're not just on Wall Street anymore. They're all over Capitol Hill, and apparently have been for a while. Naturally, now that it's news, there's a bill to ban congressional insider trading —the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge Act, a/k/a the STOCK Act. read more »The "People" Behind the Super-PAC Explosion by Gavin Aronsen and David Gilson, Mother Jones | February 7, 2012
Since last January, super-PACs have raised nearly $93 million in preparation for the 2012 election. Of that, more than 35 percent was donated by corporations, unions, and nonprofits—or, as we've come to know them in the post-Citizens United era, people. Though non-people people have not dominated super-PAC giving (for now), their strong showing in the recent round of financial disclosures lends credence to campaign finance reformers' concerns that super-PACs enable cash-flush organizations to buy outsized influence over elections and candidates. The average corporate or union super-PAC donation was more than $62,000; in contrast, the average individual donation was around $23,500. Of the $22.4 million collectively raised by the biggest 20 corporate and union super-PAC donors, 37 percent was from labor groups, which contributed to both liberal super-PACs and their own super-PACs. The rest was largely corporate donations to conservative super-PACs and groups supporting (but officially unconnected to) Republican presidential candidates. read more »The Citizens United Catastrophe by E.J. Dionne, truth-out.org | February 6, 2012
We have seen the world created by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, and it doesn't work. Oh, yes, it works nicely for the wealthiest and most powerful people in the country, especially if they want to shroud their efforts to influence politics behind shell corporations. It just doesn't happen to work if you think we are a democracy and not a plutocracy. Two years ago, Citizens United tore down a century's worth of law aimed at reducing the amount of corruption in our electoral system. It will go down as one of the most naive decisions ever rendered by the court. read more »Is Money Speech? by Geoffrey Stone, Huffington Post | February 6, 2012
There are many reasons to be concerned about both the impact of money on our political process and the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United. But critics of Citizens United, including those calling for a constitutional amendment to overrule it, have too often made the mistake of grounding their argument on the claim that "money is not speech." Organizations like Move to Amend, ballot measures in Boulder, Colorado and Madison Wisconsin, city council resolutions in Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, and thousands of individuals protesting at the Supreme Court on the second anniversary of Citizens United have all embraced this slogan. Although the critics of Citizens United might well be right to condemn it and to call for a constitutional amendment to overrule it, they are misguided in their reliance on the refrain that "money is not speech." Of course, money is not "speech." read more »Citizens United: Uniting the One Percent by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | February 2, 2012
MItt Romney is taking a lot of heat for saying that he's "not concerned about the very poor." To be fair, he also said he's not concerned about the very rich either. Lucky for him the feeling isn't mutual that that side of the economic divide. According to recent FEC filings, the very rich are very concerned with Mitt Romney's campaign for his party's presidential nomination. And why shouldn't they be concerned? After all, some of them are Mitt's friends and former colleagues. read more »The Grim Future Of Campaign Finance by Justin Elliot, politics.salon.com | January 30, 2012
It’s not even the general election season, and we’re already seeing the electoral process dominated by super PACs, funded with unlimited donations and protected by a paper-thin veil of “independence.” The super PACs operating in the GOP primary have managed to delay disclosing their donors until next month, but the identities of who funded these groups will be public. Groups in a different category — those that don’t ever disclose donors — haven’t started operating in any prominent way, but you can be sure they will in the fall. I’ve recently explored how we got to this point. But what about the prospects for reform of a system that so many are disillusioned with? read more »Secret Email System Revealed in "John Doe" Probe of Walker Staff by Mary Bottari, OurFuture.org | January 30, 2012
The morning after his “State of the State” address where Governor Scott Walker reassured Wisconsin “We are turning things around. We are heading in the right direction,” the Milwaukee County District Attorney charged two more Walker staffers with multiple felony and misdemeanor counts of misconduct in public office. read more »Fighting Back Against Corporate Personhood by Bill Moyers, truth-out.org | January 27, 2012
Rarely have so few imposed such damage on so many. When five conservative members of the Supreme Court handed for-profit corporations the right to secretly flood political campaigns with tidal waves of cash on the eve of an election, they moved America closer to outright plutocracy, where political power derived from wealth is devoted to the protection of wealth. The decision in Citizens United giving corporations the same rights as living, breathing human beings will likely prove as infamous as the Dred Scott ruling of 1857 that opened the unsettled territories of the United States to slavery whether future inhabitants wanted it or not. It took a civil war and another hundred years of enforced segregation and deprivation before the effects of that ruling were finally exorcised from our laws. God spare us civil strife over the pernicious consequences of Citizens United, but unless citizens stand their ground, America will divide even more swiftly into winners and losers with little pity for the latter. read more »‘Licking Their Chops’ on K Street and Capitol Hill by Michael Winship, billmoyers.com | January 22, 2012
The public’s disgust with Congress has been confirmed in poll after poll; Americans are fed up with the combination of partisan squabbling and inertia that since last year has led to little or nothing accomplished. Missouri Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, told CNN on Tuesday, “I think that the 11 percent of Americans who think we’re doing a good job need therapy.” Several reports in the last day or two may finally convince that remaining 11 percent to head to the analyst’s couch. A headline in the congressional newspaper The Hill announces, “K Street Headhunters Enamored with Upcoming Class of Retiring Lawmakers.” The paper’s Kevin Bogardus writes, “The retiring class includes lawmakers who are known for their bipartisan ties, and others who have spent decades on Capitol Hill accruing seniority on powerful committees. That mix of attributes has many on K Street licking their chops…" read more »
The Latest
Corporations Hide Election Spending From the Public Eye, The Nation | October 19, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/18/2010To avoid angering the public and their investors, some corporate interests are going to great lengths to hide their political spending. These companies have dumped money into nonprofits and trade associations that often have innocuous names like Americans for Job Security or Revere America, but in reality serve to shield donors from accountability for their spending in our elections. more »
Joe Manchin's oddly inspiring debate performance, salon.com | October 19, 2010
Senators Who Opposed Tobacco Bill Got Top Dollar From Industry, mcclatchydc.com | June 12, 2009
Among the 17 senators who voted against allowing the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco are some of the top recipients of campaign contributions from the tobacco industry, which has donated millions of dollars to lawmakers in the past several campaign cycles. more »
Recession Adds To Hurdles Facing U.S. Census, npr.org | March 25, 2009
A year from now, the U.S. will conduct its decennial population count. The findings are used to re-apportion congressional districts, disburse federal funding — even decide where new traffic lights go. But the economic crisis threatens to make this daunting task even harder. There is special concern about minority groups, which are traditionally hard to count.
Political Fight Brewing on Census, Associated Press | February 12, 2009
Article Publication Date:02/12/2009There's still a year before Americans start filling out their census forms. But even before President Barack Obama has named a new director for the U.S. Census Bureau, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have begun bickering about how that person will carry out the once-a-decade job of cataloging the country's population. more »
Obama Sworn in as 44th President, The Washington Post | January 21, 2009
Article Publication Date:01/21/2009Barack Obama took the oath of office today as the 44th president of the United States and pledged to "begin again the work of remaking America." Addressing a huge throng estimated at nearly 2 million people on the capital's Mall and millions of others watching on television, Obama somberly recognized the multiple crises now afflicting the nation at a time of war abroad and economic turmoil at home more »
Obama Justice Picks Break with Bush Path, iht.com | January 6, 2009
Article Publication Date:01/06/2009President-elect Barack Obama has tapped four Clinton administration lawyers, whose records signal a sharp break from the legal policies of the last eight years, to fill four top Justice Department posts. more »
Democratic Congress Convenes, uk.reuters.com | January 6, 2009
Article Publication Date:01/06/2009The new U.S. Congress convenes on under pressure to deal with a worsening economy by passing a stimulus package that Barack Obama could sign into law soon after being sworn in as president. "We are in a very difficult spot," Obama told reporters between meetings with congressional leaders on Capitol Hill. more »
Obama Pledges to Work With Governors, CNN | December 3, 2008
Article Publication Date:12/03/2008Plagued by rising unemployment, falling tax revenue and increased demand for state services, the nation's governors met with President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden to press for federal money to ease their fiscal strain. more »
Blacks Face Voting Obstacles, The Guardian | October 31, 2008
Article Publication Date:10/31/2008While formal poll taxes were declared illegal in 1965 with the passage of the Voting Rights Act, versions of it remain in place — for instance, in the cost of taking time off work, travelling to the polls, or obtaining identification. African American votes are now discounted by many other means, as well. more »
