Posts tagged politics
Holding Politicians Accountable
From The Nation: “How Wall Street Defanged Dodd-Frank”
This is the billboard that will greet members of the New York legislature as they return to Albany today after a few weeks of recess. Learn more.
If Mitch McConnell used his Senate staff and government resources to do opposition research into the health and religious beliefs of a potential challenger, not only would it likely be a violation of Senate ethics rules and federal law, it’s also a violation of common decency. Kentucky voters deserve better.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think politics should be all about the money. Here’s the story.
“But there’s a striking dynamic at play in the donor world that is apparently unique to the Democratic side. Call it the Hillary Clinton Cash Freeze. According to Clinton’s friends, fundraisers, and former campaign staffers, big Democratic money isn’t going anywhere until she makes up her mind about launching a second presidential campaign.”
Republican fundraisers say the changing views of gay marriage in their party could unlock big money from GOP donors in places like New York, California and Florida — where some Republicans have kept their checkbooks closed over what they saw as misplaced priorities, at best, or intolerance, at worst, at the highest ranks of the party.
Center for Responsive Politics:
With the final 2012 campaign finance reports, and their amendments, all in (well, mostly), the Center for Responsive Politics calculates that the elections cost at least $6.3 billion — more than we previously estimated.
The final figure cements 2012’s status as the most expensive election cycle ever.
Via The Hill, the revolving door swings again:
“Barry Jackson, a long-time senior adviser to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), is heading to K Street.
“Jackson has agreed to join Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck as a strategic adviser, delivering a coup to one of the top-earning lobby firms in Washington.
“The blockbuster hire brings a premier Republican name in Washington politics to the firm. In Jackson, Brownstein Hyatt will have one of the Speaker’s longest-serving and most trusted aides, giving the firm access and insight into the House GOP majority that few can match.”
As President Obama gave his State of the Union address on Tuesday, many wondered why there was not a word in the speech about taming the power of private money over public policy. There’s no question that big money calls the shots, or at least tilts the debate, on many issues vital to America’s democracy and integrity.
On the next Moyers & Company, Bill is joined by Dan Cantor, Executive Director of New York’s Working Families Party, andJonathan Soros, co-founder of the “Friends of Democracy” super PAC and a Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. They explore the virus in our politics, and what can realistically be done about it. The two have joined forces to curb the influence of money on politics, even if it means creating yet another big money super PAC to battle for — instead of against — democracy.
NBC News: “With the $37 million being spent this week on political advertising — including the campaigns and the Super PACs that support them — the grand total for this campaign is now more than $512 million, about the amount spent on advertising in the entire 2008 general election, according to an NBC News/Smart Media Group Delta analysis.”
