A Wall Street insider newsletter provides this useful profile of the wave of stockholder resolutions demanding that companies disclose their political spending, including their donations to trade associations (e.g., the US Chamber of Commerce) that shield a corporation's partisan activity from public scrutiny. Churches, pension fund managers, social investment funds and others are using their voting power [...]
The Guardian gives a straightforward description of this weekend’s corporate conspiracy confab hosted by rightwingers David and Charles Koch: “Amid great secrecy, about 200 of America's wealthiest and most powerful individuals from the worlds of finance, big business and rightwing politics are expected to come together on Sunday in the sun-drenched California desert near Palm [...]
Facing South has an excellent summary of the meaning of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United case and its immediate impact in North Carolina's 2010 elections. On the one-year anniversary of the decision, Common Cause asked the US Justice Department to investigate conflicts of interest involving two members of the US Supreme Court who sided with the [...]
We’re coming up to the one year anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s fateful Citizens United v. FEC decision. The 5 to 4 decision on January 21, 2010, equated corporations and unions with people and granted them “free speech” rights to spend unlimited money to tell real people which candidates to elect or defeat. Public Citizen [...]
Remember Tom DeLay, aka “The Hammer” – one of the most powerful men in Congress when George W. Bush was president? A judge sentenced the former US Representative from Texas to three years in prison for an elaborate scheme to funnel $190,000 in illegal corporate contributions into state elections. The money helped Republicans win a [...]
The investment by Art Pope Inc. in NC General Assembly elections could begin to look like a buyout of the state legislature. Not only did Pope’s corporate money (from Roses department stores and his other enterprises) play a decisive role in Republican victories, he now has staff members from his wholly owned non-profits moving over [...]
For better or worse, a gaggle of “firsts” this year will have a lasting impact on North Carolina politics. Here’s the Top 10 list from Democracy North Carolina. Happy New Year!!
Fortunately, a healthy number of business leaders see big problems with the Supreme Court’s decision to encourage an arms race in secretive political spending; many are also opposed to the aggressive action by US Chamber of Commerce in the 2010 elections. If you’re a stockholder and get the proxy notices about how to vote your [...]
Ten years ago this week, the US Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore turned over the White House to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, the losers of the national popular vote. The blatantly political decision to stop the Florida recount launched a new era of anti-social ideologues undermining the rights of real people in [...]
The Coffee Party USA is gaining strength, percolating from the ground up, and it’s now joining forces with Public Citizen, People for the American Way and others to hold actions around the nation on January 21 to “commemorate” the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision. (In another sign of disgust with buy-partisan [...]