Suzanne Merkelson is the former Associate Web Editor at United Republic. She previously worked at Foreign Policy magazine, where she was a web producer. She has also interned at The Atlantic and NPR’s On Point with Tom Ashbrook. Suzanne has written for the Chicago Tribune, Foreign Policy and The Atlantic, among others.
We all know how the Founders wanted lawmaking to work — but lately, the democratic process has been upended by a flood of Big Money. From our friends at unPAC, here’s how a bill(ionaire) becomes a law(maker)…and what we can do to take back our democracy!
Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis are out with a new movie that looks like it will be a hilarious skewer of the modern political campaign. The Campaign, out on August 10, gets one thing a bit too right — campaign finance. Watch this clip…so funny because it’s so true.
Yesterday at Sen. Tom Harkin’s press conference on the release of his new report on the predatory nature of the for-profit college industry, one of the most illuminating testimonies came not from the senator or his colleagues, but from a former active and knowing participant in the abusive system. Laura Brozek worked for ITT Technical Institute for over seven years as a recruiter in southern California. She started as an entry-level recruiter, enticing prospective students, including parolees and those with felony records who were interested in criminal justice jobs they likely could never obtain, to enroll at …
Two more major companies have joined the exodus of corporations, organizations, and politicians fleeing the American Legislative Exchange Council, the corporate front group responsible for pushing Stand Your Ground and voter ID laws in states across the country. Yesterday, General Motors and Walgreens confirmed that they will no longer continue their membership in ALEC, according to Common Cause. They join at least 25 other corporations in dumping ALEC, thanks in large part to pressure from activist groups.
Meanwhile, the organization had its 39th annual conference in Salt Lake City earlier this week, certainly a less festive event than in years past …
On Tuesday, a Senate Judiciary subcommittee held a hearing called “Taking Back Our Democracy,” examining special interests’ increasing grip on American politics and policy, especially focusing on the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision. Two panels of witnesses, including both current lawmakers and activists, testified to a friendly panel of Democratic senators (no Republicans appeared to have shown up) that our democracy is under siege.
That sentiment was no surprise to anyone in the room (over 400 people showed up for the hearing, packing the room and causing spillover to another room). Again and again, testimonies confirmed that while money has …
Politico: DISCLOSE Act fails again in Senate
Senate Democrats on Monday lost another attempt to pass legislation forcing donors of groups that bankroll most election ads to be revealed. But Democrats, led by New York Sen. Charles Schumer, pledged to hold the Senate floor hostage and continue the debate well into the night.
The DISCLOSE Act, which was dealt the same fate in the Senate in 2010, failed to overcome a key procedural vote on entirely partisan lines, 51-44. Democrats will push for another vote as early as Tuesday after holding a “midnight vigil” to protest the GOP filibuster of the measure
Mother …
United Republic, which sponsors Republic Report, has partnered up with Link TV to send one citizen reporter to the 2012 Republican and Democratic national conventions in Tampa and Charlotte on August 29 and September 3. The chosen citizen reporter will be a volunteer who will report on the conventions through the lens of money in politics. He or she will receive training and technical support and will be featured as part of the national station’s political coverage.
The search will end on July 25, with the final announcement made August 3.
Would-be reporters have already started to submit videos on …
iWatch: Vote set for quixotic bill that would reveal attack ad funders
A bill designed to reveal the donors behind anonymously funded political attack ads is scheduled to hit the floor of the Senate Monday — however, the legislation has virtually no chance of passing, and even if it did pass, it still wouldn’t go into effect until after the 2012 election.
The original DISCLOSE Act — which stands for “Democracy is Strengthened by Casting Light on Spending in Elections” — has been stripped down considerably since it was first introduced in 2010. The newest version is the thinnest yet.
The Washington …
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