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!
87% percent of Americans find, “reducing corruption in the federal government,” to be “extremely,” or, “very important” according to a new Gallup poll on American’s top priorities for the next president. This is the #2 issue, following only job creation.
Corruption in government usually ranks as an important issue when it is asked about specifically, though it is not as top-of-mind as jobs or the economy.
Particularly, corruption does less well in polls when respondents are asked to volunteer priorities. However, only 2% thought corruption was not an important issue. In addition, corruption, like job …
On Sunday’s CNN “State of the Union,” Mitt Romney senior advisor Ed Gillespie explained how a second Obama Administration would reward its rich friends: “If you’re a political donor to Barack Obama, you’re going to do fine, because you’re going to get a payoff.”
This statement was pure hypocrisy: “a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not.” Because, although the Obama Administration has indeed sometimes cozied up to special interests, it is Mitt Romney’s policies that are audaciously skewed to favor his campaign donors. And Ed Gillespie’s regular job, when not advising Romney, …
There’s a populist revolt against Big Money, and one place where you can see this on full display is in Texas. Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst is running against former Solicitor General Ted Cruz for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, and each side has accused the other of being beholden to lobbyists.
Dewhurst, who is widely considered to be the establishment candidate and who has received 33 times as much in corporate Political Action Committees (PACs) money as his opponent, has said that Cruz is “another lawyer funded by Washington special interests,” referring to his backing by right-wing groups …
As the election approaches, the public has been inundated by millions of dollars of television commercials intended to sway them one way or another in the upcoming races. While much of the media focus has been on Super PACs — new entities formed after the Citizens United decision — it’s important to remember two things about these. First, they do actually have to eventually disclose their donors. Second, they make up only a minority of the electoral spending so far.
As Chris Hayes covered on his show this Up! With Chris Hayes this past weekend, only 5 percent of electoral ad spending …
Yesterday, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman issued a subpoena targeting a foundation affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for illegally funneling $18 million to the Chamber for its political campaigning and lobbying efforts.
The New York Times reports:
The investigation is also looking at connections between the chamber’s foundation, the National Chamber Foundation, and another philanthropy, the Starr Foundation, which made large grants to the chamber foundation in 2003 and 2004. During the same period, the National Chamber Foundation lent the chamber $18 million, most of it for what was described as a capital campaign.
Watchdog groups claim that …
Last night, incumbent Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) easily bested a tea party-backed primary challenge from Dan Liljenquist, getting 66% of the vote to his 33%.
Hatch’s win came on the heels of a huge fundraising advantage. He raised $9,709,238 and spent $10,151,378 during the campaign cycle, while Liljenquist raised $778,362 and spent only $614,638.
Interestingly, 40 percent of the incumbent senator’s funds came from Political Action Committees (PACs), while Liljenquist raised virtually no PAC cash. The only strong outside interest group backing the challenger was FreedomWorks, but that group spent only roughly $900,000 on his behalf.
Corporations and K Street in particular lined up …
Last week, Governor Dannel Malloy (D-Conn.) had an opportunity to enact significant statewide campaign finance reform. Instead, he vetoed legislation that promised to be one of the most powerful disclosure laws in any state. As Public Campaign’s Nick Nyhart put it: “Malloy had a chance to be a national leader on reform, but opted to side with wealthy special interests and secret money.”
This bill, HB 5556, was intended to be a multi-pronged attack on secret money and its corrupting influence. Supporters have deemed it “disclosure on steroids” and “a dream package” for transparency by its many proponents, including the Connecticut legislature that …
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