Friends

I attach below  last week's (Aug 21) Presidential Weekly Radio Address.  It pertains to the efforts by the Democratic Congress to pass legislation requiring disclosure of the funding sources and donors of the various Front Groups that are involved in advertising for and against candidates in our elections.   As expected the Republican Opposition Filibustered the Bill and made it all clear that the GOP will do anything to Defend Corporate Influence in our Elections.  

GOP Defends Corporate Influence in Our Elections

It all started with the  the Supreme Court Decision on the Citizens United vs FEC Case  earlier this year.  in the above decision the Conservative Activist majority of the Supreme Court overturned a century of precedent to allow unlimited corporate spending for or against individual candidates for election.  The funds are conveniently channeled to Front Groups with harmless-sounding or catchy names who are under no obligation under current law to disclose who gave them the money.   Thus the public hears all these negative adds paid by unknown supposedly neutral (or nonpartisan) groups without knowing the truth about the corporate interests that are backing them. 

The Congress tried to fix this last month.  There was a proposal supported by Democrats and Republicans that would’ve required corporate political advertisers to reveal who’s funding their activities.  When special interests take to the airwaves, whoever is running and funding the ad would have to appear in the advertisement and take responsibility for it – like a company’s CEO or an organization’s biggest contributor.  And foreign-controlled corporations and entities would be restricted from spending money to influence American elections – just as they were in the past.

 Making these reforms should have been a matter of common sense.  Reducing corporate and even foreign influence over our elections should not  be a partisan issue. 

The aforementioned Front Groups not only are secretive about their funding sources but also change their names frequently as befits their specific needs, i.e., when they need to attack and misinform about a specific piece of legislation passed by the Democratic congress.   The Health Insurance Reform Bill and the Wall St Reform Bill were victims of such coordinated covert attacks by several of these groups.

Such shadowy Republican Front Groups are:  Friends of the U.S Chamber of Commerce, League of American Voters, Americans for Responsible Health Care, America Future Fund, Americans for Prosperity, Committee for Truth in Politics, American Crossroads, Freedom Works, Tea Party Express, and others.   Specific information about the activities of each of these groups can be obtained from  House Speaker Pelosi's office and the DCCC.(Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee).

If we continue on this path and we are unable to force disclosure of the funding sources of the above groups or reversal of the aforementioned Supreme Court decision (which is even more difficult), the corporations and the special interests will soon be running this country.   They will be able to influence public opinion as they wish and make millions of people vote against their own interests.  This is not of course new, Fox News and Conservative Radio are doing it masterfully to millions of fellow Americans who have been turned into mindless automata (or at best parrots) following self-enriching demagogues like Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, and Limbaugh.  What is frightening is the expected scale of the assault from these Groups and their negative or deceptive adds.   It is possible that $ 0.5 to 1 billion can be spent by corporate interests in the 2010 Election Cycle, much more in the years to come.

Sooner or later our Senators or members of the House Representatives will start being referred to as the Exxon Senator, the Goldman Sacks Senator, the CitiBank Senator, the Aetna  Senator, the Blue Cross/Blue Shield and so on !!!   Is this the future we want for America ?

Fight !!!  Help Elect our Democratic Candidates !!!

Evan Geraniotis

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No Corporate Takeover of our Democracy

Remarks of President Barack Obama

Weekly Address (August 21, 2010)

As the political season heats up, Americans are already being inundated with the usual phone calls, mailings, and TV ads from campaigns all across the country.  But this summer, they’re also seeing a flood of attack ads run by shadowy groups with harmless-sounding names.  We don’t know who’s behind these ads and we don’t know who’s paying for them. 

The reason this is happening is because of a decision by the Supreme Court in the Citizens United case – a decision that now allows big corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence our elections.  They can buy millions of dollars worth of TV ads – and worst of all, they don’t even have to reveal who is actually paying for them.  You don’t know if it’s a foreign-controlled corporation.  You don’t know if it’s BP.  You don’t know if it’s a big insurance company or a Wall Street Bank.  A group can hide behind a phony name like “Citizens for a Better Future,” even if a more accurate name would be “Corporations for Weaker Oversight.”

We tried to fix this last month.  There was a proposal supported by Democrats and Republicans that would’ve required corporate political advertisers to reveal who’s funding their activities.  When special interests take to the airwaves, whoever is running and funding the ad would have to appear in the advertisement and take responsibility for it – like a company’s CEO or an organization’s biggest contributor.  And foreign-controlled corporations and entities would be restricted from spending money to influence American elections – just as they were in the past.

You would think that making these reforms would be a matter of common sense.  You’d think that reducing corporate and even foreign influence over our elections wouldn’t be a partisan issue. 

But the Republican leaders in Congress said no.  In fact, they used their power to block the issue from even coming up for a vote.

This can only mean that the leaders of the other party want to keep the public in the dark.  They don’t want you to know which interests are paying for the ads.  The only people who don’t want to disclose the truth are people with something to hide.

Well, we cannot allow the corporate takeover of our democracy.  So we’re going to continue to fight for reform and transparency.  And I urge all of you to take up the same fight.  Let’s challenge every elected official who benefits from these ads to defend this practice or join us in stopping it.

At a time of such challenge for America, we can’t afford these political games.  Millions of Americans are struggling to get by, and their voices shouldn’t be drowned out by millions of dollars in secret, special interest advertising.  Their voices should be heard.

Let’s not forget that a century ago, it was a Republican President – Teddy Roosevelt – who first tried to tackle the issue of corporate influence on our elections.  He actually called it “one of the principal sources of corruption in our political affairs.”  And he proposed strict limits on corporate influence in elections.  “Every special interest is entitled to justice,” he said.  “but not one is entitled to a vote in Congress, to a voice on the bench, or to representation in any public office.”

We now face a similar challenge, and a similar opportunity to prevent special interests from gaining even more clout in Washington.  This shouldn’t be a Democratic issue or a Republican issue.  This is an issue that goes to whether or not we will have a democracy that works for ordinary Americans – a government of, by, and for the people.  Let’s show the cynics and the special interests that we still can.