This campaign finance system … is in dire need of reform. Let’s get to the bottom of this (IRS) situation, but let’s also acknowledge that this money that is coming into the political system is a very threat to our ability, of this institution, to do the job that the people expect it to do and the Constitution requires us to do.
Holding Politicians Accountable
GREAT new tumblr from the Fair Elections for New York Campaign. These New Yorkers want campaign reform. Will politicians in Albany listen?
“In a blow against the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, the second-largest city in the U.S. sent a strong, if symbolic, message against corporate personhood and unlimited corporate spending on political campaigns.
“Los Angeles voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition C, a resolution that instructed local and state officials to promote the overturning of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. With 100 percent of precincts reporting by 3:16 a.m. Wednesday, Prop C had won 76.6 percent of the vote, according to the LA City Clerk’s unofficial results.”
2012’s biggest donor is gearing up for 2014:
“A political donation of $32,400 may seem like couch change for Sheldon Adelson, the casino executive with a $27.9 billion net worth who gave tens of millions of dollars to Republicans during the 2012 election.
“Yet $32,400 is the maximum annual amount an individual can donate to a national party committee like the National Republican Congressional Committee. House Republicans’ campaign arm surely was happy to bank that payment from Adelson and a matching amount from his wife, Miriam, on April 16.”
Sen. Rand Paul Apologizes to Apple Ahead of Silicon Valley Fundraising Tour
As Apple’s Tim Cook heads to the Senate today for a hearing, a new Congressional report finds the company “avoided billions in taxes in the United States and around the world through a web of subsidiaries so complex it spanned continents and went beyond anything most experts had ever seen.”
Maybe that’s why, as Sunlight Foundation reports, the top issue for Apple lobbyists over the years is “taxes.”
And those lobbyists know how government works. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, 25 of the 27 lobbyists Apple paid in the first quarter of 2013 are “revolvers,” or people who have previously worked in Congress or a federal agency.
Today’s the 20th anniversary of the National Voter Registration Act. Read this new report from Demos on how it’s worked and the “next era of voter registration.”
Chair of House Science Committee v. Actual Scientists
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) is out with an op-ed claiming there is too much “uncertainty” to act strongly against climate change, which is funny since 97% of peer-reviewed climate science agrees that humans are causing global warming.
The oil and gas industry is the second biggest source of campaign cash for Smith, who chairs the House Science Committee.
Mother Jones: Billionaires Now Own American Politics
Dark money is already shaping the 2016 race as motivated megadonors handpick the candidates and the issues.
Must watch episode this week: Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics and OpenSecrets.org, and Danielle Brian, who runs the Project on Government Oversight, talk to Bill about the importance of transparency to our democracy, and their efforts to scrutinize who’s giving money, who’s receiving it, and most importantly, what’s expected in return.”
