Tag Archives: Campaign finance

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Zach Silk, Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility


We can do this.

We can make Washington safer for all of us — and our families — by requiring all gun purchasers to pass a simple criminal background check.

Sure, a small group of very powerful lobbyists have managed to pull enough strings to stop commonsense reforms in D.C. so far, but when 80% of Washingtonians support criminal background checks, there are not enough big campaign contributions in the world to stop us from doing what’s right.

So we’re going to get this done — and we need your help, right now, to make sure it happens.

www.wagunresponsibility.org

That’s it. That’s all you need to do.

It may seem like just a few mouse clicks, or phone taps, but standing up to the big money lobbyists — right now — and showing your fellow Washingtonians that you are one of the eight in ten who demand such a simple, but powerful, reform will make all the difference.

If each one of us speaks up — there’s no way that anyone can stop us.

www.wagunresponsibility.org

We’re going to get this done. And it’s all because you took a moment, right now, to say that it is time for reform.

Thank you,

Zach

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Sen. Whitehouse BLASTS right wing Cato “expert”


Last week, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) showed why he’s a national progressive rising star.

At a hearing on overturning Citizens United, Sen. Whitehouse faced an “expert” from the right-wing Cato Institute who advocated more anonymous campaign spending by corporations and billionaires. Whitehouse took him “to the proverbial woodshed,” according to one news site.

Watch the amazing video here — and join our campaign to overturn Citizens United and Take Back Democracy!

Sen. Whitehouse blasts right-wing Cato

At the hearing, the Cato “expert” said there should be no limits on campaign contributions — and only donations over $500,000 should be disclosed because the Koch brothers and other billionaires deserve their privacy!

Sen. Whitehouse showed that he isn’t afraid of a fight. He asked tough questions, made the Cato guy seem completely foolish, and received applause from the audience. Watch it happen here — and join the fight to Take Back Democracy!

Thanks for being a bold progressive.

– Andrew Mayersohn, Josh Wolfsun, Amanda Johnson, and the PCCC team

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

the 2012 election: our grassroots fundraising program…Julianna Smoot, BarackObama.com


Today we’re launching something that could change the 2012 election: our grassroots fundraising program.

Because you’re one of this campaign’s earliest supporters, we’re counting on you to be a part of it.

Other campaigns rely on powerful special interests to grow, but we’ve rejected that top-down model from the very beginning.

Grassroots fundraising opens up the process of building this campaign to anyone who wants to take the reins, putting the power in the hands of supporters like you who have already chipped in to own a piece of it.

All you have to do to get started is to sign up for your own personal page. You can get creative and customize it however you’d like — from setting a goal for yourself to uploading a photo and telling the story of why you’re getting involved. Then you’re all set to start inspiring people in your networks to step up and support the President.

By the end of the day today, thousands of people will join the first class of 2012 grassroots fundraisers, and I think you should be one of them.

www.barackobama.com

As a 2012 grassroots fundraiser, you can recruit five new supporters or 500. Either way, the people you bring into this campaign will continue to grow it themselves, and wouldn’t be taking that step without you.

If it sounds familiar to you, it’s because that’s the basis of all of our organizing — one supporter reaching out to the next, who reaches out to two more. Before you know it, you’re no longer just a handful of people doing their best to re-elect the President. You’ve helped build a movement.

The people on the other side of the aisle have shown they believe in a very different kind of politics. So much of their strategies involve taking advantage of new ways to get around campaign finance restrictions — even allowing special interests to pool unlimited sums of money from corporations to try to influence the election for Republicans.

We’re better than that. We’re empowering everyday supporters to build this campaign themselves.

In one month, we’ll close the books on this fundraising quarter — and we’ll show that our grassroots network can go toe to toe with anyone.

But that starts with you. Sign up today:

www.barackobama.com

can’t wait to see what you can do.

Thanks,

Julianna

Julianna Smoot
Deputy Campaign Manager
Obama for America

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

a message from Keith O.


It’s great — read it! Then join 60,000 others in signing the national congrats card to Keith!

Statement To The Viewers Of Countdown

 

I want to sincerely thank you for the honor of your extraordinary and ground-rattling support.

Your efforts have been integral to the remedying of these recent events, and the results should remind us of the power of individuals spontaneously acting together to correct injustices great or small.

[Sign the card to Keith!]

…I also wish to apologize to you viewers for having precipitated such anxiety and unnecessary drama. You should know that I mistakenly violated an inconsistently applied rule – which I previously knew nothing about — that pertains to the process by which such political contributions are approved by NBC.

Certainly this mistake merited a form of public acknowledgment and/or internal warning, and an on-air discussion about the merits of limitations on such campaign contributions by all employees of news organizations.

Instead, after my representative was assured that no suspension was contemplated, I was suspended without a hearing, and learned of that suspension through the media.

[Sign the card to Keith!]

You should also know that I did not attempt to keep any of these political contributions secret; I knew they would be known to you and the rest of the public. I did not make them through a relative, friend, corporation, PAC, or any other intermediary, and I did not blame them on some kind of convenient ‘mistake’ by their recipients.

When a website contacted NBC about one of the donations, I immediately volunteered that there were in fact three of them; and contrary to much of the subsequent reporting, I immediately volunteered to explain all this, on-air and off, in the fashion MSNBC desired.

I genuinely look forward to rejoining you on Countdown on Tuesday, to begin the repayment of your latest display of support and loyalty – support and loyalty that is truly mutual.