Democracy 'Waking Up' with National Movement to Reform Campaign Finance

Common Dreams

 

Communities throughout the country are winning 'important victories' in the fight against big money, new report finds

by

Nadia Prupis, staff writer

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"This report demolishes the conventional wisdom that nothing can be done to break the hold on our democracy that Citizens United and other Supreme Court decisions have given to corporations and wealthy special interests." (Photo: Reuters)

As the 2016 election cycle shapes up to be the most expensive in history, communities throughout the country are winning "important victories" in the fight against big money, according to a new report released Monday by a coalition of progressive groups.

Since 2010—the year the Supreme Court codified corporate personhood and opened the doors to unlimited election spending with Citizens United v. FEC—at least 23 states have enacted disclosure laws to counteract the court's ruling, while a slew of cities and localities have launched efforts to prioritize small donor participation, Our Voices, Our Democracy (pdf) found.

"This report demolishes the conventional wisdom that nothing can be done to break the hold on our democracy that Citizens United and other Supreme Court decisions have given to corporations and wealthy special interests," Karen Hobert Flynn, Common Cause’s senior vice president for strategy and programs, said Monday.

"People are working in their communities, and now connecting state-by-state, in building a national movement to preserve democracy and make sure our government listens to and reflects the people it serves," Hobert Flynn said. "And they’re winning important victories."

That includes more ballot initiatives in 2016 than any previous election cycle to "rebalance the system so it works for voters."

Ballot initiatives like South Dakota's Government Accountability and Anti-Corruption Act, a proposal to safeguard transparency and political ethics; New York's push to close its infamous "LLC loophole," which enables special interest  groups to circumvent disclosure laws and contribution limits; and three separate measures in California that seek to overturn Citizens United, remove the ban on public financing, and require public disclosure of donors making contributions of $10,000 or more.

Other ballot initiatives are cropping up throughout the country, from Washington state to Washington, D.C., according to the report, released by advocacy groups Common Cause, the Center for Media and Democracy, Demos, Every Voice, People for the American Way, Public Citizen, and U.S. PIRG.

"The debate about the problem of money in politics is over," the report states. "The question is not 'if 'but 'when and how' we will reform our democracy."

The report comes as a potentially groundbreaking voting rights case continues in North Carolina, where plaintiffs are arguing that the state's election laws act as roadblocks for black and minority voters.

In his final State of the Union address, President Barack Obama pledged to make dark money a priority of his remaining year in office, stating, "We have to reduce the influence of money in our politics, so that a handful of families or hidden interests can’t bankroll our elections."

Common Cause, along with dozens of other organizations, delivered one million petitions to the president following his address urging him to issue an executive order requiring federal contractors to disclose their political spending.

As of the report's publication, Obama has said he is "seriously considering" heeding the call. To that end, more than 100 groups are scheduling dozens of actions in the nation's capital for the week of April 11-18, including a three-day mobilization they are calling "Democracy Awakening," to call for reform proposals that will restore and strengthen voting rights and curb the influence of money in politics.

It will be the first mass demonstration calling for reform on both of these fronts, the NAACP said Monday.

"We’re not talking about the nostalgic disenfranchisement of 1965. Once again, states with the worst histories of discrimination are pushing for new barriers to block the young, the poor, the elderly and minority voters from the ballot in 2016," said NAACP president Cornell William Brooks. "We must answer the call for action."

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ABOVE IS FROM:  http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/02/08/democracy-waking-national-movement-reform-campaign-finance

Letters to Editor supporting Michelle Courier

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Letter: Boone County Board members support Michelle Courier

• We, as current and past county board members of Boone County are writing to express our support for Michelle Courier to be re-elected as our state’s attorney for Boone County.

  We have all had an opportunity to work with Michelle and have observed her integrity and dedication to all of Boone County.

  We urge you to join us in endorsing and re-electing Michelle as our Boone County state’s attorney.

  — Danny Anderson, Sherry Branson, Jeffrey Carlisle, Kenneth Freeman, Fred Genrich, Laura Guerin-Hunt, Dana LaPier, Raymond Larson, Peggy Malone, Craig Schultz, Brad Stark, Marion Thornberry, Ron Wait and Cathy Ward, Boone County current and past board members

• Letter: I am voting for Michelle Courier

• Posted Jan. 25, 2016 at 9:00 AM

  As a zoning board of appeals member, I have had the privilege of personally working with our State’s Attorney Michelle Courier and proudly endorse her.

  Over the last several years, we have had numerous and sometimes contentious zoning hearings over the wind ordinance. Many of the hearings went way into the late hours. Michelle herself attended the hearings. She always remained professional, impartial and focused on doing what was right, not on doing what was popular. She displayed a great deal of integrity, a quality to be admired in our leaders.

  With Michelle, we know we are in good hands. Please join me in re-electing Michelle Courier as our state’s attorney on March 15.

  — Norm Stimes, Capron

• Courier for Boone County state's attorney

Rockford Register Star

• Posted Jan. 21, 2016 at 1:00 PM

  I would like to take this opportunity to endorse Michelle Courier for Boone County state’s attorney.

  I am currently the state’s attorney for Kane County, and have worked with Michelle in my role as the state’s attorney for Kane County, Illinois. I have also served with Michelle in the Illinois State’s Attorney Association. This organization is comprised of all the elected state’s attorneys in Illinois, representing 102 counties. Despite being from a smaller county, Michelle earned the respect of her peers and was elected to represent them on the association’s board of directors.

  Michelle is an effective and proactive prosecutor. She has aggressively prosecuted crime. She provided law enforcement another tool in the fight against gang activity by filing the street gang civil lawsuit. She implemented the SCRAM program to address repeat drunk drivers. She implemented the first offender program to hold offenders accountable while ensuring justice is served. Michelle’s hard work and innovative solutions for prosecution of individuals in Boone County make her the right choice for state’s attorney in Boone County.

  — Joe McMahon, Geneva

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• Letter: Boone county has benefited with Michelle Courier as its state's attorney

 

• Rockford Register Star

• Posted Jan. 21, 2016 at 3:00 PM

  As the current state’s attorney for Lake County, I have had the privilege to work with Boone County State’s Attorney Michelle Courier. She is a leader in the state’s attorney community and has provided outstanding representation of Boone County throughout the state.

  A state’s attorney has enormous responsibilities from criminal prosecutions to providing legal guidance to ensure the proper administration of the county government. A state's attorney plays a pivotal role in public safety and county operations. The responsibility of a state’s attorney is not lessened by the size of the county. Michelle shares the same duties as I do, just with less people. Michelle has used her vast experience to provide excellent service to Boone County.

  State’s attorneys are also tasked to do what is right, even if it is not popular. Michelle has shown the integrity and commitment to justice needed in a state’s attorney. Boone county has benefited with Michelle as its state’s attorney.

  — Michael G. Nerheim, Waukegan

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• Letter: Boone County is safer because of Michelle Courier

 

• Rockford Register Star

• Posted Jan. 21, 2016 at 6:00 PM

  I had the honor and pleasure of working with Michelle Courier for four years where she served with distinction as the chief of the civil division in my office.

  As Boone County state’s attorney, Michelle has demonstrated an ability to organize and manage resources to accomplish goals without compromising time and budget restrictions. Her analytical ability and sound judgement led to the efficient prosecution of cases. A tough on crime approach to criminal prosecution has resulted in raising the bar regarding plea negotiations.

  Her collaborative skill has given her the ability to bring out the best in others, while tempering individual positions and opinions, in order to serve the interests of justice and equality.

  According to the U.S. Justice Department statistics, there are over 25,000 gangs and 750,000 gang members who are active in the United States. Gang activity has been directly linked to the narcotics trade, human trafficking, assault and gun violence. Michelle took a proactive approach in the war on gangs and filed a lawsuit against the Latin Kings making use of the Illinois Street Gang Terrorism Omnibus Prevention Act to make the citizens of Boone County safe and deter gang activity. This type of action is endorsed by the law enforcement community and other Illinois state’s attorneys.

  I have every confidence in Michelle Courier and heartily endorse her in her bid for re-election as Boone County state’s attorney.

  — Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County state’s attorney

Obama Will Seek to Double Budgets for Wall Street Regulators

By Angela Greiling Keane 1 hour ago

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.President Barack Obama will ask Congress to double funding for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over the next five years, bolstering two financial regulators that the White House sees as integral to curbing Wall Street excesses.

Obama will propose the increases in the fiscal 2017 budget blueprint that he will release on Tuesday, Jeff Zients, White House National Economic Council director, wrote in a blog post set to be released Monday afternoon. By 2021 the two agencies’ budgets would be twice the 2015 level, starting with an 11 percent increase for the SEC to $1.8 billion in 2017 and a 32 percent increase for the CFTC to $330 million, Zients said.

“The president will continue working to make sure that the financial system works for everyone,” Zients wrote. “As the financial services industry continues to rapidly evolve, some in Congress have used budget limitations to hamper the agencies charged with establishing and enforcing the rules of the road.”

Republican congressional leaders already have said they’ll reject most of Obama’s budget plan, the last of his presidency. Obama will ask for substantial increases in funding for programs including community college, jobs for disadvantaged young people and cancer research.

Building on Dodd-Frank

Zients said additional money for the financial regulators would build on the 2010 Dodd-Frank law, the regulatory expansion enacted after the global financial crisis.

Obama will also again recommend funding the CFTC through user fees, to shift the costs for the agency to the firms it regulates. His budget will propose a fee on the biggest financial firms pegged to their liabilities, Zients said.

“We learned the hard way in 2008 just how damaging risk and leverage in the financial system can be, and we’ve done a lot to curb excessive risk on Wall Street since,” Zients wrote. “This fee is another way to further those reforms, ensuring that taxpayers aren’t on the hook for risky Wall Street gambles.”

CFTC Chairman Timothy Massad has repeatedly complained that his agency lacks enough money to carry out its responsibilities for regulating most of the derivatives market. In May, he told lawmakers that the CFTC has insufficient resources to conduct even routine inspections of exchanges and other companies it policies. 

“We simply can’t get into these entities on a regular basis,” Massad said in testimony before a Senate appropriations panel. “We don’t even get to many of the clearinghouses and exchanges once a year. That is a big problem.”

SEC chairman Mary Jo White asked at a House Financial Services Committee hearing in November for $1.8 billion in funding for fiscal 2017. She’s argued that the regulator has responsibilities that are far beyond its resources.

More from Bloomberg.com

• Obama Confronts a Failure of His Presidency in Illinois Capital
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Read Obama Will Seek to Double Budgets for Wall Street Regulators on bloombergpolitics.com

Controversial WV Legislation Tied to Shadowy Billionaires' Network

February 8, 2016

Public News Service - WV | February 2016

CHARLESTON, W. Va. - The right-to-work bill and prevailing-wage repeal just passed by the Legislature have ties to Kansas oil billionaires Charles and David Koch and their shadowy network, watchdogs say.
According to the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), the bills were based on model legislation from the Koch-funded American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Lisa Graves, executive director of CMD, says ALEC is part of a national network of funders and front groups carefully designed to promote a pro-corporate agenda.
"The Kochs playing a ventriloquist role through these different organizations," says Graves. "Cookie-cutter ALEC bills, cookie-cutter talking points, ad campaigns by Americans for Prosperity and willing, pliable politicians who want to please these billionaires."
CMD says Senate President Bill Cole is a member of ALEC. The Charleston Gazette reported he attended what Graves called "Koch Fest," an annual closed-to-the-public donors retreat at a resort in Palm Springs, California. Cole's office said he attended in his "official capacity" and denied it was a "political event."
Graves says the Kochs have promised to raise and spend nearly a billion dollars in this election cycle. Cole says he did not collect any donations for his campaign for governor while at the Palm Springs event. But Graves says hundreds of billionaires and multi-millionaires attend the donor's retreat.
"They don't necessarily write the check at that meeting, but they're the connections," she says. "This is a network, and that produces big dividends. This is really a network where you're plugged into future funders of your campaign."
Cole's office says he did tell the donors in Palm Springs he was working to make West Virginia the 26th right-to-work state. According to the National Journal, Koch organizations such as Americans for Prosperity have supported that effort with expert testimony, advertising and door knocking and phone banking, like you might see during an election. Graves says they haven't said how much they have spent.
"What is certain is they've spent a lot," she says. "It's a real blanketing effort - ads and mailers, and spending a big sum in a small media market. The Koch brothers through AFP has been known to really inject more cash than almost any other group."
The right-to-work and prevailing-wage bills are likely to become law.

Dan Heyman, Public News Service - WV

- See more at: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/2016-02-08/livable-wages-working-families/controversial-wv-legislation-tied-to-shadowy-billionaires-network/a50274-1#sthash.iBAuaH8c.dpuf

Rauner’s “Wedge” Pledge Has Yet to Divide Democrats

 

Written by Rich Miller

Sunday, 07 February 2016 05:13

Last week, a reporter said to Governor Bruce Rauner that Secretary of State Jesse White had suggested that Rauner bring in former governors, including George Ryan, to help break the long governmental impasse that has prevented the state from having a budget for more than seven months.

Rauner laughed and said, “Uh, wow.”

The governor clearly did not take the suggestion seriously.

“I’m not gonna talk about the failures of the past that created this mess,” Rauner said through chuckles. “I focus on the future. I don’t live in the past. We’ve had failure in our elected government for decades. This mess didn’t happen overnight. And what we’re not gonna do is reproduce the dynamic that created it.” The governor laughed throughout most of that last sentence.

Bringing in graybeards has been tried before without success. Governor Rod Blagojevich asked former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert and then-Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard to town to help him pass his massive construction proposal that Speaker Michael Madigan refused to agree to. It didn’t work. The two men left town as soon as they realized how hardened Madigan’s position had become against Blagojevich.

While former governors have been through similar troubles, nothing really compares to today’s self-inflicted disaster. Madigan and Blagojevich played hardball, but the game is exponentially meaner now.

And, besides, what would the former governors say or do that could make a difference? They’d probably advise Rauner to cut a deal that doesn’t bash unions. But our governor seems wholly uninterested in doing such a thing.

The simple fact is that nothing – nothing – will change until Madigan and Rauner decide it will.

Madigan’s long history clearly shows he forces the other side to negotiate against itself until he believes they’re close enough to his position. Rauner has clearly not moved far enough away from anti-union proposals and things such as term limits for Madigan’s taste.

And Rauner, for his part, seems fed up with the whole process and has taken to issuing repeated dire warnings of political consequences to Madigan’s Democratic members if they continue backing the speaker.

But as we saw not long ago, when rank and file Senate Democrats rejected the pension-reform compromise negotiated by Senate President John Cullerton (even though a majority of that caucus had voted for a very similar bill a couple of years earlier), most Democratic legislators are in no mood to work out a deal, either, and continue to insist that the governor come to the table and finally agree to a budget instead.

Late last Thursday, Chicago State University (CSU) officially declared a “financial exigency,” which could lead to the reduction of tenured faculty and drastic reductions in programs to save the school from closure. The state’s only majority-black university had already announced last month that it would run out of money to pay salaries in early March.

CSU gets more than a third of its funding from the state, more than all but one other four-year public university in Illinois. But the governor has publicly complained that taxpayers have been throwing Chicago State’s money “down the toilet” and wants drastic reforms. For now, anyway, the Democrats are staying on the sidelines and pointing fingers at Rauner.

The governor has been talking about his grand plan for years, long before he was elected.

He never made it a major campaign issue, but it’s clear from looking at his past statements that he believes Democrats will eventually side against the unions and with social-service agencies (and places such as the CSU campus and the Chicago Public Schools) if he can, in his own words, “drive a wedge” into the party. The object is to make the Democrats choose between money for their pet causes or union rights. He’s shut off the money, but he hasn’t yet driven that wedge.

That’s probably why Rauner looked like he was attempting to tank the Chicago Public Schools’ bond sale last week with loud demands that it should go bankrupt and be taken over by the state. Without that bond sale, the school system would’ve been in danger of shutting down.

The object here appears to be to create so much chaos that the Democrats finally start negotiating to save all the programs and institutions they’ve been building for decades.

So far, that isn’t happening, but the real chaos is yet to come. We’ve seen smaller social-service agencies close, we’ve seen larger agencies shut down vital programs, but so far nothing huge has happened.

It’ll probably take the “death” of something very important and very large to test this theory.

Rich Miller also publishes Capitol Fax (a daily political newsletter) and CapitolFax.com.

Above is from:  http://www.rcreader.com/commentary/rauners-wedge-pledge-has-not-divided-democrats/