Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr., Republican member of Congress from eastern North Carolina, is again stepping up to sponsor legislation to reign in the power of big money in politics. In 2010, he co-sponsored the Fair Elections Now Act, which would provide a much-needed alternative path for candidates to finance their campaigns. Yesterday, he’s joined [...]
Aren’t you glad you don’t live in Iowa? Get ready: attack ads and over-the-top hype will soon be coming into your home in unbelievable quantities. In the past week, new creatures known as Super PACs have spent nearly $2.7 million, mostly on TV ads for and against various Republican presidential candidates. Because Super PACs are [...]
If the men on the US Supreme Court say that corporations are people, are you surprised that the biggest corporations look just like them? The Citizens United ruling makes perfect sense from the perspective of the good ole boy club. A new study says women hold less than one sixth of the seats on the [...]
The “Art Pope Exposed” teach-in went off without a hitch on Tuesday, except for the traffic jams, video difficulties, and a few Popers in the audience (their camera seemed to work fine). More than 250 people (100 in person, the rest via web streaming) participated in the event that ended with a rump workshop about [...]
Have you heard about tomorrow’s teach-in about Art Pope - North Carolina’s 40 million dollar man? He told the newspaper he might show up himself and express himself, not just be the subject or object; Art Pope is a verb! There’s still time for you to say you’re coming to “Art Pope Exposed.” The teach-in happens at 7 PM [...]
The transition from “good ol’ boy” politics to money-dominated politics is a story best told from the South, and who can tell it better than Fritz Hollings, the former South Carolina governor who represented his state in the US Senate from 1967 to 2005. His column in the Charleston, SC newspaper gives a special window [...]
Citizens in Rowan County gave their county commissioners an earful for wasting time with a resolution calling for photo IDs in local elections. The town council in nearby East Spencer echoed the dissent by adopting a resolution that said, the “Voter ID bill would cause more problems with widespread voter disenfranchisement than it could possibly [...]
You are going to hear more about this throughout the next year: growing consensus among reformers that an amendment is needed to the US Constitution to affirm the rights of real people over inert objects, e.g., corporations. John Bonifaz, a wizard on the subject provides this op-ed column with some of the context. The Occupiers already [...]
Three individuals on the inside of Bev Perdue’s 2008 gubernatorial campaign were indicted today – not by the feds but by a Wake County grand jury. According to the News & Observer, the indictments allege that a top fundraiser for candidate Perdue “schemed to pay a staffer $32,000 for work that was kept off the [...]
What can those new Super PACs do with their money. Stephen Colbert's ad with presidential candidate Buddy Roemer gives you the clue. Meanwhile, Larry Lessig of Rootstrikers is joining with Dylan Ratigan's "Get Money Out" to create a new organization to work against special-interest control of government: United Republic. Lessig also has a new book out about the corrupting [...]