~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Toxic Democracy


by Greenpeace
Corporations don’t have a vote.
But when Chevron dumped $2.5 million into a super PAC devoted solely to  running negative ads against environmentally-friendly congressional  candidates, it exercised the kind of influence over our political system that few voters could ever dream of having.For Chevron, it was a business investment, an investment in congressional hard-liners who refuse to cut corporate welfare subsidies and ignore the overwhelming  scientific evidence that suggests we are heading towards catastrophic  climate change.  Members who side with Chevron and Big Oil on such issues demonstrate by their  actions that they would  rather prop up the companies’ short-sighted,  record-breaking profits than leave their grandchildren a livable planet.Chevron must be held accountable.

Demand that Chevron keep its corporate profits out of We the People’s politics.

Why is Greenpeace involved? Because this sort of corporate meddling in elections is toxic to our  democracy, and impedes our ability to pass any kind of comprehensive  environmental legislation— including legislation to tackle climate  change.

In Chevron’s case, it also appears to be illegal, according to a 90-page  complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission by Public Citizen,  with Greenpeace’s support.1

Despite the Supreme Court’s abominable Citizens United ruling, Chevron’s political spending seems to have violated the law  because Chevron is a federal contractor. Chevron has received government contracts worth more than $44 million since 2000. The Citizens United ruling didn’t eliminate the laws against bribery in federal  contracting, which prohibit contractors like Chevron from directly or  indirectly supporting candidates for elected office. Allowing Chevron to get away with this apparent violation would create a  self-perpetuating cycle of corruption, in which corporations spend their money to elect candidates, who then reward the corporations with  government contracts and other favors, which in turn generate more  revenue to be spent on still more candidates— actively destroying our environment in the process.

Help Greenpeace & Public Citizen break the cycle and tell Chevron to keep its corrupting cash out of our democracy.

Thanks for all you do, Your friends at Greenpeace

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1 http://www.citizen.org/chevron-fec-complaint-super-connected-report-update