Posts tagged Citizens United
Holding Politicians Accountable
Huffington Post: West Virginia House Of Delegates Calls For Citizens United Constitutional Amendment
“The Democratic-controlled West Virginia House of Delegates voted Thursday to call on Congress to enact a constitutional amendment overturning the Citizens United Supreme Court decision.
“The resolution, which passed 60-39, asks for Congress to draft a constitutional amendment which would allow for corporations to be regulated in terms of how much money they could donate and spend on behalf of political candidates, The State-Journal reported.”
Fighting big money with big money?
Interesting EJ Dionne column in the Washington Post today on people like Mike Bloomberg fighting back against the NRA, or how to feel about a fight between liberal special interests and conservative special interests when you oppose things like the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision:
The Supreme Court has stuck us with an unsavory choice. If the only moneyed people giving to politics are pushing for policies that favor the wealthy, we really will become an oligarchy. For now, their pile of dough needs to be answered by progressive rich people who think oligarchy is a bad idea.
But playing the game as it’s now set up should not blind anyone to how flawed its rules are. Politics should not be reduced to a contest between liberal rich people and conservative rich people. A donor derby tilts politics away from the interests and concerns of the vast majority of Americans who aren’t wealthy and can’t write checks of a size that gets their phone calls returned automatically. A Citizens United world makes government less responsive, less representative and more open to corruption.
We are supposed to have a government of the people, by the people, for the people. The integrity of our democracy is at stake when corporations can drown out the voices of the people in our elections.
Huffington Post: Citizens United Third Anniversary Marked By Reformers With Push For Constitutional Amendment
“Campaign finance reformers are ringing in the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision with dozens of rallies and protests across the country. In Maryland, a group of protesters marked the ruling’s birthday at a rally attended by federal and state lawmakers in front of the Maryland state house in Annapolis.
“Let’s repeal this Citizens United case,” Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md.), a leading campaign finance reformer in Congress, said to the loudest cheers from the three-dozen or so attendees gathered in Annapolis.
“This was just one of many rallies planned across the country from Jan. 17 to 21 to protest Citizens United as it enters its third year.”
“The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision unleashed nearly $1 billion in new political spending in the 2012 election, with media outlets and a small number of political consulting firms raking in the bulk of the proceeds.
“Spending records released by the Federal Election Commission show that throughout the 2012 election, corporations, unions and individuals that could take advantage of the high court’s ruling were responsible for about $933 million of the estimated $6 billion spent during the contest.”
“And only people and their ideas, not corporations and their money decide our elections. By a 3 to 1 margin Montanans passed a constitutional initiative requiring Senator Baucus, Congressman Daines and me to work on this at the national level. It’s why I support overturning Citizens United because like most Montanans I see it as a kick in the teeth to democracy.”
- U.S. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont) in his address to the Montana legislature today. (via Beartooth NBC)
Slate: Citizens United Is Still Worth Hating
“The super PACs spent much of the total$1 billion in outside expenditures raised in the 2012 campaign—a vast increase relative to 2008. And yet Democrats prevailed in many major races, retaining the presidency and a majority in the Senate. Does that mean that Citizens United doesn’t actually matter?
“No. Some Democrats did lose, and super PAC money may have made a difference. More insidiously, if Republicans have wealthier backers than Democrats (as they do), and spending for candidates improves their chances of winning (as it does), then the influx of money will shift Democrats to the right, so they can reduce the incentive of wealthy donors to give to Republicans or get some of the money for themselves. If you think President Obama went easy on the banks in the last couple of years, you might point to Citizens United as the explanation.”
More than seven million voters weighed in directly with their views regarding Citizens United in Common Cause-backed ballot measures on Election Day. What they had to say was clear: corporations are not people, money is not free speech.
Not entirely surprising results from a new AP poll:
“Americans don’t like all the cash that’s going to super political action committees and other outside groups that are pouring millions of dollars into races for president and Congress.
“More than 8 in 10 Americans in a poll by The Associated Press and the National Constitution Center support limits on the amount of money given to groups that are trying to influence U.S. elections.”
The New Republic: Who’s the Boss? The Worst Post-Citizen’s United Ruling Yet
“The Ohio rally and Hawaii decision are small blips in the campaign season, and we don’t know how widespread these practices are. But they should serve as a sharp reminder that the choice inCitizens United and other debates about political money is not between freedom and regulation, but between real freedom for individuals and the sweeping power of concentrated wealth.”
