Texas City Passes Law Requiring All Lobbyists To Register
One way Big Money gets its way is by covering its tracks when it influences our government. Many local and city governments, for example, have very weak lobbying laws so it’s almost impossible to know who is influencing your local council member. The city of Galveston, Texas took a stand against that last week, passing
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Corruption Is Why Taxpayers Are Forced To Give Polluters $10 Billion A Year
It’s simple common sense that pollution is a bad thing. We all know that breathing dirtier air, drinking less clean water, and having an unsanitary environment is bad for human beings. But did you know that American taxpayers spend over $10 billion a year subsidizing it? Last week, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Sen. Bernie
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GRAPHIC: How The U.S. Chamber Of Commerce Uses Its “Spooky PAC” To Funnel Corporate Cash Into Secret Attack Ads
As Stephen Colbert rightfully pointed out earlier this week, a 501(c) organizations — which he termed “Spooky PACs” — operate like Super PACs, except that they are completely secret organizations that do no reveal any of their donors. Like Super PACs, 501(c) groups can raise unlimited corporate and union donations, and can spend that cash
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Charter Schools Association Is Using Taxpayer Money To Support ALEC’s Radical Agenda
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is a powerful corporate front group that works to pass Big Business-written laws in state legislatures. Following the outcry over the group pushing “Stand Your Ground” laws, at least fifteen major corporations, foundations, and other organizations have decided to end their funding commitments to ALEC. But ALEC has another way of
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Across France And Greece, Voters Revolt Against Corruption
Will 2012 be the year of voter revolt against corruption? As almost the entire world continues to struggle with a seemingly endless recession, the public has turned to government for answers. In nation after nation, public officials have been slow to respond, or in many cases, too close to the wealthy interests to provide meaningful
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Bill McKibben On The $146 Million Spent By Big Oil Lobbying Each Year: ‘We’re Going To Fight’
Yesterday, climate change pioneer Bill McKibben and his organization, 350.org, joined with Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Keith Ellison to launch a new bill that would cut $113 billion in subsidies to the coal, oil, and gas lobby over the next decade. The oil industry received about $7 billion in tax breaks in 2011, despite
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Cheesecake Lollipops And Crabcakes: Pennsylvania Taxpayers Have Spent $250,000 On ALEC
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the most powerful corporate front group you’ve never heard of ,or at least until more than a dozen major corporations recently quit in the wake of the controversies over it pushing the “Stand Your Ground” laws. ALEC lets corporations write model legislation that it then secretly ships to state legislatures
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Wall Street Doesn’t Think Michele Bachmann Is Fringe: Big Banks Like J.P. Morgan Support Her Bill To Repeal Financial Regulations
What do Jamie Dimon, chief executive of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., and Michele Bachmann, a conspiracy-obsessed representative from Minnesota, have in common? Both support H.R. 87, Bachmman’s legislation that would repeal all major Wall Stret reforms passed in the wake of the financial crisis. Though Bachmann has been cast as a fringe figure over
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