It seems like the Supreme Court corruption stories will never end. ProPublica reported earlier this month that Justice Clarence Thomas has enjoyed 38 vacations due to the largesse of “industry titans and ultrawealthy executives”: Yacht trips around the Bahamas. Dozens of private jet flights, and 8 helicopter flights. VIP passes to sporting events. Luxury resort… Read more
Big Money Is Trying to Buy Our Democracy Behind the Scenes
Posted
We talk a lot about how Big Money tries to influence our government through campaign contributions, independent expenditures, and unaccountable dark money spending. Usually, we think of how corporate interests spend on legislative and executive elections to benefit their bottom line. But we cannot ignore some of the subtler ways Big Money is undermining our… Read more
Oil & Gas Industry Spent Millions Lobbying Congress to Increase Record Profits
Posted
What’s more frustrating than the oil and gas industry raking in record profits at the expense of consumers and the environment? Learning that they spent $124.4 million lobbying the federal government in 2022 for favorable legislation and regulations, and knowing that their spending has tangible results. A new report from Open Secrets found that the… Read more
The Unlucky 13th Anniversary of Citizens United
Posted
January 21 will mark 13 years since the Supreme Court made its ill-fated Citizens United ruling, which allowed special interests to wield more influence than ever before on our political system. From 2010 through 2021, more than $4.4 billion in outside money was spent on federal elections alone (more than $1 billion of that was… Read more
Defense contractors spent $101 million lobbying this year. What are they hoping to get for Christmas?
Posted
This holiday season, defense contractors have to be feeling pretty good. With Congress adding an extra $45 billion to President Biden’s request for the Pentagon, and the war in Ukraine increasing demand for weapons, the five biggest defense contractors have a lot to celebrate. And those defense contractors are spreading the wealth around to their… Read more
$2 BILLION and Counting: Outside Groups Tried to Buy the 2022 Midterm Elections
Posted
Most Americans are breathing a sigh of relief this week. With election day in the rear-view mirror, they’re thankful that the deluge of political advertising will finally end. Of course, for those places where run-off elections will be held, the deluge will probably intensify (sorry, Georgia). Federal campaign spending this cycle approached $10 billion (with… Read more
What do all these campaign contributions buy?
Posted
OpenSecrets recently released a report that estimates that the midterm elections will cost more than $9.3 billion – and they admit that’s a conservative estimate. Just let that sink in. $9.3 billion, and it’s not even a presidential election year. Even adjusted for inflation, that figure will blow away the previous record. If you’re thinking… Read more
Walking to Fix Our Democracy UPDATE! Rick Hubbard is Going West in September
Posted
Last month, we told you about Rick Hubbard, who is walking across America to help inspire us to fix our broken democracy. Rick’s official walk begins on October 1, but in September he is driving from Vermont to Los Angeles to meet up with activists along the way. Rick has been good enough to share… Read more
Citizen Spotlight: Rick Hubbard is Walking across America to Fix Our Democracy
Posted
This month, we’re spotlighting Rick Hubbard, who is walking across America to help inspire us to fix our broken democracy. Rick is a Vermont native and former national board member of Common Cause who previously walked with Granny D and has long advocated for ending the corrupting influence of big money in politics. Rick’s walk… Read more
Big Money, January 6, and the Future of Democracy
Posted
If you’ve been following the coverage of the January 6 hearings, you might have noticed a troubling connection: big money and brazen efforts to undermine our democratic elections. The Supreme Court’s misguided 1976 ruling in Buckley v. Valeo established that the federal government could not restrict independent political expenditures. By essentially decreeing that “money =… Read more