Anger at corporations is spilling -- literally -- into the streets.
Big businesses are no longer content to wield their considerable influence only through lobbyists. Now they want to use their profits to directly elect and defeat political candidates, and thanks to Citizens United, there's nothing to stop them.
We believe that elections should be decided by "we, the people," not "they, the corporations." That's why we're launching a major campaign calling on publicly traded companies not to spend their profits on politics in the 2012 elections. Their ability to spend huge amounts of money drowns out the rest of our voices.
We need your help to determine where to start. Vote today and tell us who is #1 on your "worst of the worst" list.
Will you vote for Bank of America, which is under investigation for its role in the mortgage collapse and which gave $14 million to PACs (political action committees)? Or will Comcast, a company that pays big bucks to the American Legislative Exchange Council for the privilege of sitting side-by-side with state legislators to draft bills to protect its media monopoly, be your top choice?
See who else made our list and submit your vote today. Think we missed someone? There is even a write-in ballot! (Just in case you're wondering why Koch Industries isn't on our list: We're focusing on publicly traded companies, and Koch is private. But don't worry -- we're keeping the pressure on the Kochs in other ways!)
It's time for corporations to get out of the business of electing our leaders. Please vote today, and stay tuned for more ways you can help take back our democracy.
Sincerely,
Bob Edgar
and the rest of the team at Common Cause
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Common Cause is a national nonpartisan organization with chapters in 35 states. Our mailing address is 1133 19th Street NW, 9th Floor, Washington, DC 20036. Our phone number is (202) 833-1200.
Showing posts with label corporate lobbyists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corporate lobbyists. Show all posts
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
The Infestation of Corporate Lobbyists
The response is extraordinary.
Public Citizen supporters across the country are answering my urgent call for financial support with incredible generosity.
We’re pulling out all the stops to challenge corporate power from the moment the new Congress convenes in early January.
In the next four days—before the clock strikes midnight this Friday, December 31—we must reach our $150,000 goal to have a fighting chance against the infestation of corporate lobbyists in Washington, D.C.!
Please contribute $10, $20, $35 or whatever you can right now.
From winning the fight that created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to mobilizing more than half a million people in support of a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC ruling, we’ve done good and great things this year.
Your online activism has been instrumental to the success we’ve achieved together. Now, as we prepare to take on a Congress more beholden to corporate greed than any in recent memory, I’m asking you to supplement your grassroots advocacy with financial support.
We can’t afford to face the new Congress wishing we had done more to strengthen our defenses. Contribute today!
We can’t do what we do without your grassroots advocacy. But we can’t organize and coordinate that grassroots effort without your generous support.
We need to raise $150,000 by midnight this Friday so that corporate lobbyists don’t get even one day’s head start in the new Congress.
Corporate lobbyists have risen to a new level of influence in Washington. They’re not just raising money for members of Congress, they’re joining congressional staffs and writing the very laws that directly benefit their former, and future, employers.
For example, Speaker of the House-elect John Boehner—who once handed out checks from tobacco company PACs on the House floor—hired the chief lobbyist for the medical device industry as his policy director. This example of the “revolving door” is representative of the pro-corporate mindset that dominates the Republican Party and even many Democrats.
Stand with Public Citizen against this corporate faction by contributing $10, $20, $35 or whatever you can.
There’s no question, we’re going to have to work in a more hostile political environment. But Public Citizen has met challenges like this in the past. We took on Nixon. We took on Reagan. We took on Bush. Both of them. And we consistently won substantive reforms and protections that make life better for ordinary Americans like you and me.
Public Citizen’s strength comes from the grassroots activism and financial generosity of our members. I want to thank you for all you’ve contributed by staying informed and taking action as part of our online community. And I want you to know that I’m counting on your financial support, too.
We will do this.
Together.
Robert Weissman, President
P.S. Contribute $100 or more right now and we’ll send you a DVD from a selection of progressive films like Battle in Seattle, An Unreasonable Man and The Story of Stuff as our thanks for your support.
To get regular e-alerts about opportunities for activism and other ways to help with Public Citizen's work, sign up for the Public Citizen Action Network.
Public Citizen supporters across the country are answering my urgent call for financial support with incredible generosity.
We’re pulling out all the stops to challenge corporate power from the moment the new Congress convenes in early January.
In the next four days—before the clock strikes midnight this Friday, December 31—we must reach our $150,000 goal to have a fighting chance against the infestation of corporate lobbyists in Washington, D.C.!
Please contribute $10, $20, $35 or whatever you can right now.
From winning the fight that created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to mobilizing more than half a million people in support of a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC ruling, we’ve done good and great things this year.
Your online activism has been instrumental to the success we’ve achieved together. Now, as we prepare to take on a Congress more beholden to corporate greed than any in recent memory, I’m asking you to supplement your grassroots advocacy with financial support.
We can’t afford to face the new Congress wishing we had done more to strengthen our defenses. Contribute today!
We can’t do what we do without your grassroots advocacy. But we can’t organize and coordinate that grassroots effort without your generous support.
We need to raise $150,000 by midnight this Friday so that corporate lobbyists don’t get even one day’s head start in the new Congress.
Corporate lobbyists have risen to a new level of influence in Washington. They’re not just raising money for members of Congress, they’re joining congressional staffs and writing the very laws that directly benefit their former, and future, employers.
For example, Speaker of the House-elect John Boehner—who once handed out checks from tobacco company PACs on the House floor—hired the chief lobbyist for the medical device industry as his policy director. This example of the “revolving door” is representative of the pro-corporate mindset that dominates the Republican Party and even many Democrats.
Stand with Public Citizen against this corporate faction by contributing $10, $20, $35 or whatever you can.
There’s no question, we’re going to have to work in a more hostile political environment. But Public Citizen has met challenges like this in the past. We took on Nixon. We took on Reagan. We took on Bush. Both of them. And we consistently won substantive reforms and protections that make life better for ordinary Americans like you and me.
Public Citizen’s strength comes from the grassroots activism and financial generosity of our members. I want to thank you for all you’ve contributed by staying informed and taking action as part of our online community. And I want you to know that I’m counting on your financial support, too.
We will do this.
Together.
Robert Weissman, President
P.S. Contribute $100 or more right now and we’ll send you a DVD from a selection of progressive films like Battle in Seattle, An Unreasonable Man and The Story of Stuff as our thanks for your support.
To get regular e-alerts about opportunities for activism and other ways to help with Public Citizen's work, sign up for the Public Citizen Action Network.
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