Citizens United
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Jan23
Clips Round-up for 1/23/12
Important tidbit from the New York Times preview of the State of the Union: "Mr. Obama will also propose political changes, perhaps in campaign finance. Those would tap the sentiment of many Americans, expressed among both Tea Party and Occupy protesters on the political right and left, that the system is rigged against them in favor of a privileged few."
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Jan20
Nancy Pelosi on Citizens United Anniversary: Encourage Small Donors
January 21 marks the second anniversary of the Supreme Court's Citizens United v. FEC decision that allowed for our elections to be pushed further into the hands of the wealthy elite.
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi hit the nail on the head in her statement today on the decision. She said (emphasis added):
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Jan20
The Chronicles of Money, Politics, and the Anniversary Only Big Money Could Love
Here's a recap of Public Campaign and Public Campaign Action Fund's (PCAF) work from January 2 through January 20, 2011.
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Jan10
Clips Round-up for 1/10/12
Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
High court backs foreign contribution ban
Hey, the U.S. Supreme Court got something right! They affirmed a lower court ruling keeping the ban on foreign nationals from donating money to candidates in place.
- Read Rick Hasen's take: http://electionlawblog.org/?p=27557 -
Dec15
Clips Round-up for 12/15/11
Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
Occupy Denver to ask Bennett, Udall to support anti-Citizens United amendment
Spurred by a proposed new amendment that would challenge the idea that “corporations are people”, members of Occupy Denver have planned a march for Thursday to the officers of Sen. Michael Bennett (D) and Sen. Mark Udall (D) to ask them to support the amendment."
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Dec06
Clips Round-up for 12/6/11
"Failure to update the matching funds component of the law to reflect modern realities would marginalize voters by making the Legislature for sale to the highest bidder," the Times Record <http://www.timesrecord.com/articles/2011/12/05/opinion/editorials/doc4edd04d02d33c159554599.txt> in Maine editorializes on the state's Clean Elections system. Our David Donnelly, who ran the Clean Elections ballot initiative campaign, points out this was the first paper to endorse the plan back then.
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Nov14
Clips Round-up 11/14/2011
Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
The Campaign Jungle
The NYT is not pleased with candidate super PACs: "The time has come for the Department of Justice to step in and pursue criminal complaints against the candidate PACs. Limits on spending used to prevent donations from becoming outright bribes, but now the limits are gone, and the path to corruption is clear."
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Nov09
Clips Round-up for 11/9/11
We were proud to stand hand-in-hand with our friends in the immigrant rights and labor communities last night to defeat Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce, the author of SB1070 and a leading opponent of the state's Clean Elections system. Here's Huffington Post on his loss: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/08/russell-pearce-recall-election-jerry-lewis_n_1083129.html. When you leave your voters behind, they're going to do the same to you.
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Nov07
Clips Round-up 11/7/2011
Jack Abramoff was on 60 Minutes last night. Check it out: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7387331n&tag=contentMain;contentBody. "Giving a gift to somebody who makes a decision on behalf of the public.
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Nov02
Clips Round-up for 11/2/11
Campaign Finance/Fair Elections
Outside groups may open door to lifting spending caps
What we're watching: "The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision has stirred favorable rumblings about a campaign finance proposal once favored only by GOP lawmakers: Unlimited donations and full transparency."
Legal fees eat into campaign coffers