Money In Politics
A big reason that Citizens United was such a blow to equal democracy is that it enabled corporations to pump money into elections in new and anonymous ways. Even before that Supreme Court decision, though, campaign finance law already included a major loophole that allows for gigantic -- and...
04/24/2013
Blog
It’s not just happenstance: Women have a two-fold stake in campaign finance reform, particularly public financing of state campaigns for public office. Why? First, tamping down the influence that money can buy is a big step towards delivering positive change for women’s priorities. If...
04/23/2013
Blog
Last week, 72 New York State Assemblymen sent a letter to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver urging him to support a public financing program for primary, general and special election campaigns for statewide offices. Such a program would match modest contributions with public funds, which allows small...
04/22/2013
Blog
The news broke last night: a deal to bring paid sick days to a vote in the New York City Council has been reached. As I noted in my recent testimony on the bill, paid sick time is far from a pie-in-the-sky idea. It is the law in 145 countries around the world as well as the state of...
03/29/2013
Blog
What does $7.5 million buy you these days? If you’re Syngenta Corp, Cargill, or Monsanto it looks like it buys you a legislative rider called the “Monsanto Protection Act,” that strips federal courts of any authority to halt the planting and sale of genetically modified (GMO) seed...
03/26/2013
Blog
This morning the Senate Banking Committee will hold a hearing on the nomination of Richard Corday to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. On the merits, Cordray should breeze through. The politics, however, are destined to be thornier.
Nobody questions that Richard Cordray,...
03/12/2013
Blog
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Tuesday that next term it will hear McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission, a challenge to limits on the amount of money that a single person may contribute to all federal candidates and parties over a two-year election cycle, known as aggregate...
02/21/2013
Blog
Tax reform may be moving to the front burner of Congress this year, if two powerful committee chairs get their way, according to Politico. Should this happen, get ready for a fierce battle over the charitable tax deduction, a large and obvious target for reformers looking for revenue. The...
02/20/2013
Blog
We’ve highlighted how the U.S. media leads the world in the amount of time given to climate deniers, even though nearly 80 percent of Americans believe in climate change. Now the Guardian reports that conservative billionaires funneled nearly $120 million to more than 100 groups to promote...
02/14/2013
Blog
We should be done by now with the idea that a corporation is a single thing. Corporations contain a multitude of conflicting interests and are much more like miniature governments with their own governance structures and election systems than is commonly recognized. While these structures are...
02/05/2013
Blog
