Big businesses often donate to both political parties and say their support is tied to narrow issues of specific interest to their industries. That practice became increasingly fraught last week, after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol and some Republican lawmakers tried to overturn Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s win in the presidential election. A flurry…
Category: Citizens United
20 corporations, $16 million, and 138 Republicans trying to subvert democracy – Popular Information
[M]any of the members [of Congress and the Senate] who are planning to object to the certification of the vote on Wednesday are generously supported by corporate America. A Popular Information analysis reveals, over the last six years, 20 prominent corporations — including AT&T, Comcast, Deloitte, Amazon, Microsoft, and Pfizer — have donated at least…
US: Systematically Hollowing Out Democracy – The Globalist
The 2020 election cost upwards of $14 billion, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, making it not only the most expensive election in history — but twice as expensive as the previous 2016 presidential election cycle. The vast amount of money raised by campaign contributions ultimately is the most telling evidence for the cash-driven…
Dark Money: It’s Time for Boards and Institutional Investors to Act on Racial Justice
Bruce Freed of The Center for Political Accountability and Eleanor Bloxham of The Value Alliance have an important op-ed in Barron’s about the long-standing opposition of the Big 3 institutional investors – BlackRock, Vanguard and Fidelity — to shareholder resolutions calling for disclosure of political disclosure and the connection to corporate political spending that has…
Campaign contributions pay off for Ohio utilities and coal interests
Utility, nuclear and coal interests are big players in Ohio politics, giving about $3 million to Ohio political campaigns in 2018, according to data from the National Institute on Money in Politics. The industry interests have long been active politically. But just as competitive markets began coming into their own around 2010, the pattern of…
Center for Political Accountability on the SEC’s Proposed Rules on Proxy Proposals and Advisors
Behind the Chamber’s Attack on the Proxy Process, Fear of Disclosure – and CPA Founder’s Column By Bruce Freed Why is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce still running from sunlight? What are the Chamber and many of its members trying to hide? Just consider: –The Chamber receives dues from members it represents and “has spent…
Citizens United 10 Years Later: Ciara Torres-Spelliscy
Professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy testified about what we have learned about the impact of the Citizens United Decision after ten years. The full testimony, including disturbing information about the vicious cycle caused by more dark money raising the cost of campaigns, thus needing more dark money is below. An excerpt: Nearly a decade ago, I told…
Bart Naylor of Public Citizen: Testimony on Comment Abuse by Astroturf Fake Front Groups
Bart Naylor testified this morning in a hearing on the avuse of the notice and comment process by dark money-tuned fake front groups masquerading as public interest organizations. The full testimony is at the link below. The title of the hearing is “Fake It Till They Make It: How Bad Actors Use Astroturfing to Manipulate…
These corporations are quietly bankrolling Congress’ top climate denier – Popular Information
Judd Legum points out that the climate change rhetoric of Amazon, Dell, GE, Microsoft, and Google is inconsistent with their support for the biggest climate change denier in Congress. Amazon has donated $8500 in the 2020 cycle to support the reelection of Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK), the most powerful and outspoken climate denier in Congress….
