While MLB players will be taking the field for Sunday’s and Monday’s opening day games in hopes of winning a World Series title in October, team owners may have their sights set on winning a different sort of Fall Classic.
According to data from Sunlight’s Influence Explorer, MLB organizations pumped in over $24 million to politicians, PACs and independent expenditure groups throughout the 2012 election cycle.
We’ve launched a new ad campaign along with Citizen Action of New York and NY Friends of Democracy to push for comprehensive reform of the way elections are financed in New York.
It’s time to raise the voices of everyday people in our political process.
Latest from the Public Campaign blog:
The Washington Post published a front page story on Wednesday looking at the plummeting tax rates paid by the 30 firms represented in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, providing a microcosm of the rampant tax avoidance by corporate America.
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The Post does not delve into what might account for the failure of Congress to update to a fairer tax code that would put large multinationals on a more level playing field with smaller, domestic-focused companies, but looking at the political influence of the Dow 30, it’s hard to imagine that their status as lobbying giants does not play a part.
Since 1998, the Dow 30 have collectively spent over $2.2 billion dollars lobbying the federal government, based on Public Campaign analysis of data from the Center for Responsive Politics…
“The Democratic-controlled West Virginia House of Delegates voted Thursday to call on Congress to enact a constitutional amendment overturning the Citizens United Supreme Court decision.
“The resolution, which passed 60-39, asks for Congress to draft a constitutional amendment which would allow for corporations to be regulated in terms of how much money they could donate and spend on behalf of political candidates, The State-Journal reported.”
Interesting EJ Dionne column in the Washington Post today on people like Mike Bloomberg fighting back against the NRA, or how to feel about a fight between liberal special interests and conservative special interests when you oppose things like the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision:
The Supreme Court has stuck us with an unsavory choice. If the only moneyed people giving to politics are pushing for policies that favor the wealthy, we really will become an oligarchy. For now, their pile of dough needs to be answered by progressive rich people who think oligarchy is a bad idea.
But playing the game as it’s now set up should not blind anyone to how flawed its rules are. Politics should not be reduced to a contest between liberal rich people and conservative rich people. A donor derby tilts politics away from the interests and concerns of the vast majority of Americans who aren’t wealthy and can’t write checks of a size that gets their phone calls returned automatically. A Citizens United world makes government less responsive, less representative and more open to corruption.
Passing a comprehensive campaign finance law would be a remarkable act of political leadership by Governor Cuomo. No state has adopted a small dollar matching system nearly as groundbreaking as what Cuomo has proposed. In addition to transforming New York’s political system, it would generate nationwide attention and could galvanize efforts to replicate the ‘New York model’ across the country and in Washington. This is a fight with big stakes for New Yorkers and for all Americans. It is the kind of fight that can define a leader. Lead on Governor.
“But there’s a striking dynamic at play in the donor world that is apparently unique to the Democratic side. Call it the Hillary Clinton Cash Freeze. According to Clinton’s friends, fundraisers, and former campaign staffers, big Democratic money isn’t going anywhere until she makes up her mind about launching a second presidential campaign.”
The reconfigured Obama campaign is getting involved in a fight for campaign finance reform in New York and plans a conference call with grass-roots supporters Wednesday to urge action in the “fair elections” fight, POLITICO has learned.
Organizing for Action, the new incarnation of Obama for America, will send an email to its list later Tuesday about the call.
The email references New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who recently advocated for campaign-finance reform on a tele-town hall. State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, will also be on the call, according to the email.
Public Campaign Action Fund is part of the Campaign for Fair Elections in New York working to pass small donor public financing legislation to raise the voices of everyday people in the political process. OFA’s involvement gets us closer to victory. A win in NY could change what’s possible nationally when it comes to addressing big money influence in politics.
“Sixteen lawmakers who left Congress recently have landed posts with groups that seek to influence policy — despite rules aimed at slowing the revolving door between Capitol Hill and lobbying firms, a USA TODAY analysis shows.”
I cannot approve such an unnecessary measure that would negatively impact one of our most precious rights as citizens.
