Tag Archives: DISCLOSE Act

Follow the Money, Close the Floodgates


Renew today
to help close the floodgates!
 

  • Fighting for better judges and against the Corporate Court
  • Undoing Citizens United
  • Exposing the interests behind the spending

Support the work of People For the American Way today to help take our democracy back for the People.Renew

The story of this past election is one of unprecedented, unrestricted and undisclosed spending by wealthy corporate interests and their shadowy right-wing front groups.

We cannot allow that to be the story of future elections. PFAW is leading the movement to take our democracy back for the people. But we need your help.

Please renew your membership with a donation today to help us make sure there are rules about corporate spending in elections … and that corporations play by them.

Many of the same newly elected members of Congress who have been bought and paid for by corporate interests share an extreme right-wing agenda to roll back decades of progressive gains in civil rights, religious liberty, women’s rights, LGBT equality and more. This is the result of the reckless judicial activism by the Roberts Supreme Court in its 5-4 Citizens United v. FEC ruling, which overturned long-settled campaign finance law.

That decision opened the floodgates for unlimited corporate spending to influence our elections. And it set the foundation for an unholy alliance between far-right Tea Party candidates and powerful corporations that swept a tidal wave of radical Right Wing politicians into office.

Carmen, there is a solution … one that includes undoing Citizens United with a constitutional amendment and changing the balance on the Supreme Court. PFAW is leading the charge on both of those efforts. But the solution begins with passing the DISCLOSE Act, and we have only a limited window of opportunity to do it.

Your renewal will help People For the American Way work with our allies who are still in control of Congress to pass the DISCLOSE ACT.

Americans deserve to know who is behind the mountains of mysterious cash and the often-misleading TV ads that dominate the airwaves in an election year. This election showed that knowing who is behind the spending makes a huge difference. When voters know the agendas behind the messages, they are much more likely to reject them.

The DISCLOSE Act is the first big step in stopping corporations from drowning out the voice of the average voter. We must get it passed and signed into law in the next few weeks, before the Tea Party-dominated Republican majority — the very people who benefited from undisclosed corporate money — takes over the House in January.

Please renew your membership with a contribution right now to help us win this fight.

PFAW has released a series of reports documenting what happened during this election cycle with corporate spending and exposing the sources of the money where we can, and we’ll be issuing a final report within the next few days. We’ve identified the scope of the threat … winning this critical battle on the DISCLOSE Act is the first step toward solving the problem.

Carmen, this is a battle for the soul of our nation and democracy itself, and I need YOU in the fight.

Please renew your membership with People For the American Way now.

Thank you,
Michael B. Keegan signature
Michael Keegan, President

End secret election spending now


 

“It’s time to end secret corporate political spending. Secret contributions hurt our democracy. Pass the DISCLOSE Act before the end of the year.”

Sign the petition

Spending on this year’s election didn’t just break records, it obliterated them. $4 billion in total.1

In the wake of Citizens United, corporations like ExxonMobil and AIG can give hundreds of millions of dollars to a shadowy front group to swing an election. And they can do so in 100% secrecy.

Imagine how this election could have changed if voters knew which corporations were supporting Republican candidates with anonymous attack ads against Democrats.

Earlier this year Congress nearly passed a bill—the DISCLOSE Act—that would force front groups to let voters know which corporations and CEOs are funding their political attacks.

The bill came up short because some Republican senators said they didn’t want to pass the common sense measure until after the election.2 Now that the election is over we have an opportunity to pass this bill, but it won’t happen unless we push hard on Congress to act before the end of the year.

Click here to tell Congress to pass the DISCLOSE Act and end secret political spending:

http://pol.moveon.org/discloseact?id=25122-9640874-Z.3dHpx&t=3

This bill won’t get corporate money out of politics, but if we know that a company is trying to buy an election, we can shame them and we can hold them accountable. We did it successfully with Target earlier this year when state laws forced the retailer to disclose that it had made a large donation to a far-right candidate for governor in Minnesota. MoveOn members and others launched a nationwide boycott that brand analysts said reduced Target’s favorable reputation by a third among customers in just ten days.3

We also know that disclosure can have a major effect in elections. In California this year, giant oil companies backed a ballot measure to repeal the state’s groundbreaking climate change law. But they couldn’t secretly funnel their money through front groups and voters overwhelmingly rejected the initiative in part because every ad has to mention the oil companies funding it by name.

The DISCLOSE Act isn’t perfect but it will at least let us follow the money. We still need to keep working to pass stronger legislation and overturn Citizens United, but ending the ability of corporations to buy elections in secret is an important and fundamental step for our democracy.

Please, click here to tell Congress to pass DISCLOSE before the end of the year:

http://pol.moveon.org/discloseact?id=25122-9640874-Z.3dHpx&t=4

Thanks for all you do.

–Ilyse, Robin, Laura, Tim, and the rest of the team