A year after the Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, Congress has not passed any major law to prevent another disaster. Why? “The opposition to new legislation that requires stricter oversight largely stems from the anti-regulatory zeal of conservative lawmakers and from the influence of the oil industry, say congressional staffers from both [...]
Blue Cross of NC is the main backer of a bill to create the health insurance exchange in North Carolina that will help implement the national health reform law. The intent of an independent exchange is to give more people access to insurance coverage, boost competition and lower premium costs, somewhat akin to Travelocity for [...]
E. J. Dionne reminds the wealthy elite that it is in their long-term interest, and a well-established American tradition, to temper greed with civic responsibility. “The influence of the ruling class comes from its position in the economy and its ability to pay for the politicians’ campaigns. . . . I am not using the [...]
With Tax Day 2011 almost here, Public Campaign has released a report called “The Artful Dodgers” about 12 well-known corporations that have spent $1 billion on lobbying and campaign donations to reduce their tax bills to nearly nothing. In several case (e.g., Exxon, Bank of America, Boeing and CitiGroup), the corporations paid ZERO taxes and [...]
Sweethearts of the Tea Party elected to Congress last November have quickly become water carriers for heavy duty lobbyists and special interests. And they are cashing in like the veterans. So much for their promises of integrity or changing the system; if anything, these guys are even deeper in the pocket of Wall Street and [...]
A coalition of advocacy groups spanning the political spectrum and a bipartisan group of state legislators held a press conference today to unveil their proposal (H-824) for North Carolina to adopt a nonpartisan redistricting commission similar to the one used for decades in Iowa. The press conference featured chief sponsors Rep. Rick Glazier and Rep. [...]
Day of Action: This Wednesday. After sending some mixed signals last week, Republican leaders waved off a possible compromise with Democrats on the photo ID bill. They’ve decided to line up with the Art Pope-financed advocacy groups and freshmen legislators who apparently hope requiring a government-issued ID will create enough confusion at the polls to [...]
The Center for Public Integrity has just released an in-depth investigative report on the sprawling, worldwide business operations of the Koch family, patrons of far-right groups descending from the John Birch Society. Ironically, brothers David and Charles Koch are happy to take government subsidies and spend millions to lobby for special tax breaks and protection [...]
Help Us Fight Voter Photo ID! (HB 351) Wednesday, April 13th at 11:00 AM NC General Assembly Building 16 W. Jones St. Raleigh, NC As you probably know -- along with protecting voter-owned elections and fighting against big money politics -- Democracy North Carolina is opposing a hard-line bill in the General Assembly that requires [...]
The federal Fair Elections Now Act was introduced in Congress on Wednesday, followed by a press conference featuring actor Alec Baldwin calling for an alternative to politics dominated by special-interest fundraising. The bill provides a path for ordinary community leaders to become viable candidates and national policy makers, thanks to a program that matches small [...]