Special interests – from Big Oil, to the Military-Industrial Complex, to tech giants like Amazon – want what’s best for them, and not for workers, communities, or the planet. And they know how to get it by spending big money to buy influence. As a result, Congress supports hawkish military policies, a business environment that… Read more
Tag: corporate spending in elections
Big Money Is Trying to Buy Our Democracy Behind the Scenes
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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
Defense contractors spent $101 million lobbying this year. What are they hoping to get for Christmas?
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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
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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?
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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
Citizen Spotlight: Rick Hubbard is Walking across America to Fix Our Democracy
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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
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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
The Ban Corporate PACs Act, Explained
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It’s been over twelve years since the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United that corporations are considered people under federal election and campaign finance laws. Hundreds of millions of dollars from corporations and big money interests have since flooded our elections and lined the pockets of politicians, drowning out the voices of American voters en… Read more
Closing a Major Citizens United Loophole
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We’ve established that Citizens United was a disastrous decision for American democracy. But did you know that it also allowed foreign interests to dodge federal laws to influence our elections? According to federal election law, foreign governments and individuals are not allowed to participate in U.S. elections. But after the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens… Read more
The Beginning of the End for Corporate Campaign Spending?
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The events of January 6th shook our country to its core. Hundreds of rioters stormed the Capitol, endangering the lives of Members of Congress, their staffers, and Capitol Police in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Despite the violence, some Republicans still chose to contest the results when Congress reconvened that… Read more