Money As Speech

ALEC Serves As A ‘Dating Service’ For Politicians And Corporations

July 1, 2014 NPR, www.npr.org Educate! ALEC, Corporatism, Money As Speech, Politics

A batch of recently leaked to The Guardian has revealed new insights into the goals and finances of the secretive group called ALEC. The American Legislative Exchange Council is a group that brings together state legislators and representatives of corporations. Together, they develop model bills that lawmakers introduce and try to pass in their state legislatures. Through these model bills, ALEC has worked to privatize public education, cut taxes, reduce public employee compensation, oppose Obamacare and resist state regulations to reduce global warming gas emissions. "ALEC is like an incubator of predominantly conservative legislation," Guardian correspondent Ed Pilkington tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "The vast majority of the model bills are conservative in their inception and those bills then spread right across America." ALEC is sort of almost a dating service between politicians at the state level, local elected politicians, and many of America's biggest companies. It brings them together much as a dating service would do. It sits them in rooms behind closed doors where three times a year they come together to think about what should be the next wave of state-based legislation and they have presentations from the companies that say what they would like to see done legislatively in states right across America.

Brooklyn College Says No To Koch Millions

July 1, 2014 Steven Rosenfeld, www.alternet.org Resist! Education, Koch, Money As Speech, Protest

Brooklyn College of the City University of New York has a new academic credential. Unlike an estimated 150 colleges and universities that have taken $56 million from the billionaire libertarian industrialist Koch brothers since the 1980s—and then integrated their extreme right-wing agenda into business classes while censoring other views—the New York City college keeps rejecting Koch cash, an aggrieved libertarian business school professor complained in a detailed report by InsideHigherEd.com. The libertarian professor, Mitchell Langbert, apparently approached the Charles C. Koch Foundation twice—in June 2013 and again this January—seeking multi-million dollar grants to expand Brooklyn College’s business faculty. Langbert’s effort, however, were apparently rejected by his supervisors, who did not want to pursue the grants. “The professor said that in the summer of 2013, he was in unofficial but promising talks with representatives from the Koch Foundation about a $4.3 million grant to advance market-based economics at Brooklyn College,” Inside Higher Ed reported. “The grant would have funded the hiring of multiple faculty members and graduate students, and established an honors program and an institute on markets at the college.”

Inequality Is Not Inevitable

June 30, 2014 Joseph E. Stiglitz, www.opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com Educate! Bankers, Capitalism, Corporatism, Inequality, Money As Speech, Politics

AN insidious trend has developed over this past third of a century. A country that experienced shared growth after World War II began to tear apart, so much so that when the Great Recession hit in late 2007, one could no longer ignore the fissures that had come to define the American economic landscape. How did this “shining city on a hill” become the advanced country with the greatest level of inequality? One stream of the extraordinary discussion set in motion by Thomas Piketty’s timely, important book, “Capital in the Twenty-First Century,” has settled on the idea that violent extremes of wealth and income are inherent to capitalism. In this scheme, we should view the decades after World War II — a period of rapidly falling inequality — as an aberration. This is actually a superficial reading of Mr. Piketty’s work, which provides an institutional context for understanding the deepening of inequality over time. Unfortunately, that part of his analysis received somewhat less attention than the more fatalistic-seeming aspects.

Charter School Funds Ads To Hide Truth

June 27, 2014 Eclectablog, www.eclectablog.com Educate! Charter Schools, Detroit, Education, Money As Speech

It’s Day Four of the explosive Detroit Free Press exposé of Michigan charter schools and also Day Four of the National Heritage Academies complete takover of the websites of Detroit’s two biggest newspapers with a monstrous ad buy. NHA is Michigan’s largest for-profit charter corporation. Like yesterday, when you open the webpages of the Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News today, you’re greeted with an overwhelmingly large NHA banner ad. If you have your browser set for normal view (I zoomed out to grab this screen shot), the ad takes up well over three-quarters of the window. It’s a big damn ad. My friends at Progress Michigan did some research and found that the typical price for just one day of this type of advertising is $37,500. Multiply that by four days at two newspapers and NHA has spent roughly $300,00, over a quarter million dollars, on this ad campaign. And it’s only Wednesday. And the Free Press charter school series runs through Sunday.

Inside The Koch Brothers’ Secret Billionaire Summit

June 23, 2014 Lauren Windsor, www.thenation.com Educate! Elections, Koch, Money As Speech, oligarchy

Charles and David Koch wrapped up their annual summer seminar on June 16 in Dana Point, California, at the St. Regis Monarch Bay resort—a fitting location for two men whose combined net worth is more than $100 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. The highly secretive mega-donor conference, called “American Courage: Our Commitment to a Free Society,” featured a who’s who of Republican political elites. According to conference documents obtained through a source who was in attendance, Representatives Tom Cotton (AR), Cory Gardner (CO) and Jim Jordan (OH) were present, as were Senators Mitch McConnell (KY) and Marco Rubio (FL). Cotton, Gardner and McConnell are all running for the Senate this year; Jordan for re-election in the House. Rubio is widely considered a major contender for a 2016 presidential run. According to the documents, the conference attendees discussed strategy on campaign finance, climate change, healthcare, higher education and opportunities for taking control of the Senate. (The draft agenda is available for viewing here.) According to another source who also attended the conference, 300 individuals—worth at least a billion each—were present. This source said that the explicit goal was to raise $500 million to take the Senate in the 2014 midterms and another $500 million “to make sure Hillary Clinton is never president.”

Money Talks And Those Without Money Have No Voice

June 23, 2014 Margaret Kimberley, www.globalresearch.ca Educate! Democracy, Money As Speech, oligarchy

A new study confirms the obvious: the will of the people carries no weight in the United States. Within the nation’s borders democracy is everywhere proclaimed but nowhere to be found. These truths we hold to be self-evident: “ordinary citizens have virtually no influence over what their government does in the United States.” Too many Americans love to boast that the United States is a democracy. That idea is accepted uncritically and celebrated as proof of this country’s superiority. Every public activity and event is an opportunity for the false narrative to be repeated and indulged. Events as disparate as elections, holiday celebrations, advertisements, school commencements and religious worship are all used to propagandize and create false belief about the degree of power the average citizen has vis a vis their government. Of course all evidence shows that this narrative is and always was a lie. Dictionaries define democracy as government representing the citizens through elected representatives, or as majority rule, or a society which provides equal rights to all.

March To “Stand Up For Democracy”

June 8, 2014 Ashley Curtin, www.nationofchange.org Resist! California, Democracy, March, Money As Speech, Protest

In an attempt to end plutocracy, millions of Americans, who believe in true political equality, have created a movement to reclaim democracy for the 99 percent. From March Against Corruption protests to the New Hampshire Rebellion, more people are joining the struggle to fight for democracy and spread the word. And on May 17, California March for Democracy started their non-violent march in Los Angeles. The 480-mile march will continue “over mountains and across the valleys of California” to reach the state capitol in Sacramento. As a way to protest plutocracy, California March for Democracy is demanding the politicians leading the largest state to “publicly acknowledge the crisis of corruption and take immediate action to end it.” “Big money’s corruption of American politics is so complete that we can no longer deny the truth: democracy is dead in America.” California March for Democracy’s call to action is urging the California legislature to give California’s voters the chance to formally instruct the U.S. Congress to propose an amendment to outlaw big money corruption through the Assembly Joint Resolution and to start reigning in anonymous big money in elections through the DISCLOSE Act, therefore requiring top donors be revealed.

Activists Rally Outside David Koch’s NY Home

June 7, 2014 Jodie Gummow, www.alternet.org Resist! Koch, Money As Speech, New York (NY), oligarchy, Protest

“America Has a Koch Problem!” That was the hard-hitting theme of a block party protest hosted by New York activists and concerned citizens outside David Koch’s Park Avenue apartment on Thursday night, aimed at exposing the Koch Brothers' extremist right-wing political agenda. A Facebook campaign launched prior to the protest called upon those who were “tired of our democracy being sold to the highest bidder” to stage an intervention to address America’s growing Koch problem undermining democracy in America. At the demonstration which was crawling with police, handouts of 2014 political candidates who have taken money from the Koch Brothers were distributed along with pamphlets revealing how the Koch funded group, Americans for Prosperity, plan to spend $125 million on this election to benefit conservative candidates and have flooded the airwaves with misleading campaigns in states with key Senate races. Darius Gordon, organizer of Citizens Action explained to AlterNet that the more people who became aware of the Koch brothers extremist right-wing agenda, including running campaigns to raise taxes on clean energy and do away with the minimum wage, the greater the opportunity to rise up and challenge it. “We’re here today to protest against the Koch Brothers and let them know democracy is not for sale. They cannot buy our elections, they cannot buy our elected officials and we’re here to protest against that. This is a democracy! We want to educate and inform the people of New York about exactly what is going on for those who are not aware and ensure that our leaders are doing things democratically by stressing the message that our elections cannot be bought," he said.

SEIU Local 73 Gives Mayor Rahm $25,000

June 6, 2014 Ben Joravsky, www.chicagoreader.com Educate! Chicago, Corruption, Money As Speech, Rahm Emanuel, Unions

I was sitting by a pond on a bright sunny day, watching the little ducks float around, when a friend texted to say: SEIU Local 73 donated 25 grand to Mayor Rahm. No way, I texted back. No union—even one in Chicago—can be that stupid. Yes way, my friend responded, look it up yourself. So I went to the Illinois Board of Elections website and there it was in black and white. On May 30, Local 73—which represents hundreds of working-class city, park, and school employees—gave the mayor a little more of what he most definitely does not need: campaign money. WTF?!! I dutifully called and e-mailed Adam Rosen, Local 73's press spokesman, for an answer to my main question—what the hell were you thinking? But he didn't get back to me. Look, I understand that self-interest drives politics. In that regard, I can see why people like hedge-fund billionaires or lawyers for the parking meter company donate to Mayor Rahm. He's looking out for them.

The United Corporations Of America

June 6, 2014 James Woods, www.dcmediagroup.us Educate! Corporatism, Money As Speech, oligarchy

Earlier today, someone asked me to explain why corporations have so much more power than the American people. The easy answer is that now, in America, money is free speech and corporations can speak far louder. And while the sentiment is true, I thought a viable example of how it works was required to validate my statement. So I did a little research and discovered just how intertwined large corporations are and how much power they wield. Citigroup, Inc. was formed in 2008 after Citicorp and Travelers Group merged into the largest financial services network in the world. Their current 13-member Board of Directors feature financial giants who also sit on the Board of Directors of 25 other corporations. This practice is called “Corporate Interlocking,” and it allows one “parent company” the ability to control Congress and dictate the direction of future state and federal legislation any time it chooses. For example, let’s say that a state like Oregon has a public referendum, and the people vote overwhelmingly to ban GMOs (genetically modified organisms). Now, in a democracy, where representatives are sworn to uphold the will of the people, this would become a state law. However, Pepsi uses GMO beets to make the sugar that goes in their product, which is sold globally in every Taco Bell and KFC (owned by Yum Brands), as well as all Target stores. The members of the Board of Directors of Yum Brands, Pepsi, and Target go back to Citigroup and explain that they need the will of people ignored, because using non-GMO sugar would increase their unit price of Pepsi by 2 cents and shrink their shareholders’ quarterly earnings.

99Rise Leads California March To End Corruption Of Money In Politics

June 2, 2014 Eleanor Swede, www.occupy.com Resist! Corruption, March, Money As Speech, Occupy, Protest

The last time I had been to Los Angeles City Hall was at night. Chalk dust rose off of asphalt and cops in military combat gear stood opposite tents surrounded by handmade signs. Occupy LA fizzled but the conversation it changed gave rise to countless grassroots initiatives and shifted the focus of many political non-profits and organizations. The new aim: End corruption. Get money out of politics. One such organization is 99rise, co-founded by Kai Newkirk in 2012, which touts an impressive and continuing campaign of civil disobedience. The group's goal is to “build the nationwide movement waging nonviolent struggle to get big money out of American politics.” From arrests at Bank of America protests in downtown LA to rallies in New York, 99rise activists put themselves in visible, controversial places knowing full well they may attract attention not just from media and onlookers – but from the police as well. And that's the point.

Rich People Rule: Struggle Lies Ahead

May 5, 2014 Rivera Sun, www.truth-out.org Educate! Corruption, Democracy, Money As Speech

A Princeton-Northwestern study confirms that wealthy individuals and business interests control US politics. Citizen movements need to use more powerful, effective forms of nonviolent and political action in order to make change. If a dictator moved into the White House and condemned the populace to servitude, the US political situation might be a lot clearer. But beneath the lies, false campaign promises and empty rhetoric, this is, in effect, exactly what is going on. "Rich People Rule," the Washington Post proclaimed on April 8, 2014, when the Gilens-Page study made headlines by confirming everyone's suspicions that the elected officials don't give a damn about government of the people, by the people and for the people. In the study "Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens," Princeton researcher Martin Gilens and Northwestern University professor Benjamin Page spanned 20 years of Republican and Democratic Congresses and presidents, studying nearly 1,800 issues between 1981 and 2002. The results were startling. Politicians don't represent the average citizen, the study finds. They represent business interests and wealthy elites.

Vermont Calls For Constitutional Convention

May 3, 2014 Morgan True, www.vtdigger.org Create! Congress, Money As Speech

On Friday Vermont became the first state to call for a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution to reverse the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which precipitated a flood of cash into politics. Mike Monetta, 37, drove from Boston with a colleague and spent more than 10 hours Thursday in the House gallery waiting for the lower chamber to vote on the Senate-passed resolution, which — as lawmakers race to wrap things up before the end of the biennium — was taken up at the end of a marathon floor session. He was back in the gallery Friday morning to see Vermont’s resolution get final approval from the House. Monetta is the organizing director for Wolf PAC, which he described as a political action committee to end all political action committees. “We exist for only one purpose and that’s to get a 28th amendment to get all money out of politics,” he explained. Wolf PAC was founded by Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks online newscast. “(Uygur) has this thing where in almost every story he keeps coming back to ‘whoever has more money wins,’” Monetta said. “But he didn’t want to just be negative, he wanted there to be a way to fix it.”

A Government Of The Rich, 3% Are Millionaires But They Dominate Government

May 2, 2014 Nick Carnes, www.talkingpointsmemo.com Educate! Inequality, Money As Speech

People who care about American democracy have recently been paying a lot of attention to new research by Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page, which shows that for decades wealthy Americans and business interests have consistently gotten their way in public policy – even when their views conflict with what the vast majority of Americans want. These troubling findings have many observers asking urgent questions: Why do the rich have so much influence in politics? And is there anything we can do about it? Many people have pointed the finger at two culprits. They point at the political participation problem that poor and working-class people vote less than wealthier and white-collar Americans. And they point at money in politics, at the billions spent on lobbying and political campaigns. Those are important problems, but we also have to remember another big reason why the wealthy have more influence in politics: Wealthy people are the ones in office themselves. If millionaires in the United States formed their own political party, that party would make up just 3 percent of the country, but it would have a majority in the House of Representatives, a filibuster-proof super-majority in the Senate, a 5-4 majority on the Supreme Court and a man in the White House.

Overcoming Cynicism: We Can End The ‘Rule Of Money’

April 28, 2014 Joshua Holland, www.billmoyers.com Educate! Citizens United, Money As Speech, Organizing

Harvard’s Lawrence Lessig, the crusader for campaign finance reform, feels that his fellow reformers don’t think big or boldly enough to inspire the kind of grassroots campaign that might break elite donors’ stranglehold on America’s political system. In a recent piece in The Atlantic, Lessig argues that public cynicism about the prospect of deep reform actually working is the only thing keeping widespread outrage at our slide toward plutocracy in check. And he thinks that only a “moonshot” campaign — an ambitious, collective, national effort “unlike anything they’ve seen before” — can “crack this cynicism” and usher in a more democratic system. BillMoyers.com asked Lessig to lay out his vision of change. Below is a transcript of our discussion that’s been lightly edited for clarity.

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