Sign to overthrow Citizens United

Senator Al Franken says:

"Our new effort to reverse the effects of Citizens United was pretty exciting even back when it was just the seven of us -- me; fellow Democratic Senators Sherrod Brown, Mark Begich, Kay Hagan, and Tom Udall; and Democratic Congressmen Bruce Braley and Gary Peters.

But now, 91,314 supporters have signed up to join us. This thing is starting to take off!

And we’ll really be cooking when we hit 150,000 signers -- something I’m hoping you can help with.

Click here to add your name and help us to stop Citizens United in 2014!

Remember, this is bigger than one election. This is about whether the people will continue to have the final word in our democracy, or whether powerful corporate special interests will be able to buy the government and shut out the voices of middle class Americans.

And this movement has to be bigger than just us elected officials. Reversing the effects of a Supreme Court decision is a serious undertaking, and only a well-organized, super-powerful grassroots effort will get the job done.

Fortunately, we’re well on our way, with 91,314 people already on board.

Be our next signer -- and help us get to 150,000 by December -- by clicking here and adding your name to stop Citizens United!

We’re well on our way. But we have a lot of work left to do. My fellow Democratic Senators and candidates are ready to take this fight to the next level -- and we need you with us."

Your Interesting Links For 11/16/13

Senator Al Franken says:  "A group of Senators and House members are teaming up and renewing our push to overturn the effects of Citizens United as we hit this important election year!

There’s me and Sherrod Brown, of course, plus other pro-democracy Democratic Senators like Mark Begich, Kay Hagan, and Tom Udall -- and a couple of awesome challengers, Bruce Braley from Iowa and Gary Peters from Michigan.

It’s a fantastic team, and there’s only one member missing: You.

Click here to sign on to our brand new effort to stop the effects of Citizens United!

I don’t need to tell you why Citizens United belongs in the Dumpster of Bad Ideas. Unlimited outside special interest spending? Giving big corporations a pass to buy our elections? No disclosure at all? It’s a mess.

Here’s what I do need: for you to tell me you’ll be part of our new effort to stop this.

My colleagues and I are teaming up, like some sort of anti-special-interest Justice League. But we can’t do it if we don’t each bring our most passionate supporters to this new effort.

Click here today, and join me and other Democrats to fight against Citizens United in 2014!

We’ll be in touch with more on our new effort soon. And thanks for being part of this."

The Only Way Republicans Can Stay In Congress...

... is by blanketing the airwaves with their paranoid, militarist, racist - quoting Winston Churchill's immortal phrase - "terminological inexactitudes".

To do that they need huge amounts of cash.  And they would dearly love to have all limits taken off their ability to receive these bribes - which is what they are.

Why are they bribes?  Because the rich - should we call them people; are they actual humans like the rest of us? - persons who pay these dues to "conservative" politicians, know full well that what they are buying is the right to have the laws passed that suit them - see my earlier posts about A.L.E.C., the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Now the Supreme Court is going to rule on a case called McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission.  (I mentioned this case a month ago, in Goddammit, What Did I Just Say?, and pointed out that "Judging by the Supremes' unconscionable decision in Citizens United, we may have a problem, Houston.") The hearing on McCutcheon was this past Tuesday.

A group called SierraRise is calling on us to raise our voices against this travesty of a case that should never have been filed, let alone taken seriously by the Supreme Court.

They say, "This is pretty crazy: There's a Big Coal CEO demanding the right to donate as much as he wants in an election cycle."

The message continues, ending in a Petition for your signature - 

"The CEO's name is Shaun McCutcheon. His case would end campaign finance law as we know it -- and the top Senate Republican, Mitch McConnell, is on board, eager for all that coal cash. ^[3] If they get their way, corporate polluters will be able to buy more politicians and elections than ever before, launching a brutal assault on all the environmental progress we've made together.

But there is good news: Several leaders in Congress are standing up and fighting back. These lawmakers are pushing for major reforms that would reduce the amount of dirty money in politics -- and with the Supreme Court considering the McCutcheon case, that work has never been more important.

Will you take 30 seconds right now to push back against billionaire polluters? Let campaign finance reform champions know that we're 100% behind fair elections!

McCutcheon's Supreme Court case, which the justices are considering right now, is just the beginning -- imagine a system where billionaires could just keep giving and giving. As the U.S. solicitor general told the Court, take away those limits and "Less than 500 people can fund the whole shooting match. The government will be run of, by, and for those 500 people." ^[4] These are the people trying to replace our democracy with their dollars, and our health and climate with their profit. We must stop them in their tracks.

McCutcheon is the CEO of Coalmont Electrical Development in Alabama. He filed his lawsuit with the Republican National Committee, and Senator McConnell jumped at the chance to join them. McConnell, who's up for re-election, is one of the biggest coal champions in the country, and he couldn't be more excited to take all that dirty money -- even sending his lawyers to join McCutcheon at the Supreme Court.

Environmental champion Senator Bernie Sanders took a different approach outside the Court that day, and told it like it is: "Freedom of speech, in my view, does not mean the freedom to buy the United States government." ^[5]

We can turn the tide. Our allies on this in Congress, known as the DARE task force, want to "disclose, amend, reform and elect." ^[6] They're fighting for several critical changes: overturn Citizens United, provide more public campaign financing by matching small donors, block efforts to stop Americans from voting, and require donor disclosure for political front groups like those run by Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers.

Tell the DARE task force to keep at it -- let's send them a petition with 60,000 names so they'll know we've got their backs!

In it together,

Nathan Empsall
SierraRise Senior Campaigner

P.S. Five signatures are even more powerful than one -- after you take action, be sure to forward this alert to your friends, family, and colleagues!
"

Goddammit, What Did I Just Say?

No sooner have I finished a Post about the need for the 99% to have a say in Washington - and the Democrats to pay attention to that need - than I open an e-mail about the case coming up in the Supreme Court next week, McCutcheon v. FEC.

USAction tell us that "The outcome of this case will determine if a "super limit" of $117,000 on large donors will remain the law of the land".

"The impact of this case is huge. Right now, only four out of one million Americans neared or reached the aggregate contribution limit of $117,000 in 2012.¹ But if the FEC loses this case, elite donors will be able to give as much money to influence elections as they want."

Judging by the Supremes' unconscionable decision in Citizens United, we may have a problem, Houston.

The e-mail continues:  "Unfortunately we can't decide for the Supreme Court. But we can work together to pass meaningful campaign finance reform laws. So starting today, USAction and Public Campaign Action Fund are running ads in Kentucky against Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) -- who has been a leading advocate for unlimited campaign contributions.

Click here to view our ad that will be hitting the airwaves of Kentucky today. Then tell Sen. McConnell to stand up for everyday people, not for big campaign donors.

Americans already believe their elected representatives are more responsive to their big donors than voters. But if the Supreme Court strikes down super limits next spring, this will only get worse.

America was founded on the idea of government for the people, by the people. But this idea has been eroded over time by big moneyed interests buying off our politicians -- in the form of political donations -- in order to get the policies they want.

We need real, meaningful campaign finance laws. And we need them yesterday. But right now, we must defend super limits, one of the few remaining protections our Democracy has left.

Watch our video against Mitch McConnell now. Then, tell Sen. McConnell to stop fighting to weaken campaign finance laws.

Together, we can create the Democracy our Founding Fathers envisioned and which the American people deserve."

 Go for it, Citoyens!

UPDATE to "Overthrowing Citizens United: Progress!"

In addition to the material below, People For the American Way tell us that there's a Ballot Initiative in progress right here:  "in California, where we've already achieved a major victory in the legislature, an effort to get a referendum on the 2014 ballot supporting a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United JUST launched -- think of the incredibly powerful message it will send if we can get voters in a state of 40 million people to overwhelmingly approve this measure directly!"

They're also "... working with a coalition of state groups and state legislators to draft an advisory referendum to push back on Citizens United in Wisconsin and are engaged in similar efforts in Minnesota..."

Of course, PFAW need money;  you can donate here:   https://secure.pfaw.org/site/Donation2?3446.donation=form1&idb=349402178&df_id=3446&autologin=true


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People For the American Way report that

• 12 states have passed legislation supporting a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, including West Virginia just last week...and we're working on getting it passed in New Hampshire, Washington State and Nevada this session...
• We're helping to build grassroots and "grass tops" support in more states, like Delaware, where we've helped organize support for a sign-on letter from state legislators to the congressional delegation, and Wisconsin, where we're building support with a statewide petition effort...
• More than 500 local resolutions have passed, including one we recently helped get passed by referendum in the New Hampshire Senate Majority Leader's district, in part to increase pressure on him to move the state bill...

Happy to say that here in Ventura, California, our Board of Supervisors passed a Resolution calling for a Constitutional Amendment.

As they so accurately say,

"The Supreme Court's disastrous 5-4 decision in 2010's Citizens United v. FEC made the longstanding problem of big money in politics exponentially worse, opening the floodgates for unlimited spending by Super PACs, corporate special interests and billionaire right-wing ideologues in America's elections. It's getting worse with each cycle, but PFAW is mobilizing Americans in every corner of this country to build the support we'll need to amend the Constitution and undo Citizens United."

You can check out PFAW and their issues here.