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ALEC-Linked Group Revealed As Major Secret Donor In Referendum On Maine Voting Rights

by PRW Staff — December 30, 2011 - 7:30am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Democracy, Politics

    • by Scott Keyes

    This article was originally published by Think Progress. The Center for Media and Democracy is cross-posting it as part of our ongoing efforts to expose the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and its attempts to disenfranchise voters across the country.

    Last month, Maine voters delivered a major rebuke to Gov. Paul LePage (R) and the Republican-held legislature when they approved a referendum restoring election day voting registration rights in the state. Earlier this year, state legislators passed a bill repealing the state's 38 year-old law allowing citizens to register at the polls on election day.

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    Colvin on How to Choose a Constitutional Amendment

    by PRW Staff — December 22, 2011 - 7:45am
  • Topics: Corporations, Democracy, Election Protection, Politics, U.S. Government

    • This is a guest post by Greg Colvin, partner at the firm Adler and Colvin, originally published at OurFuture.org.

    There is a growing movement of people fed up with corporations-as-persons, money-as-speech, elections-for-sale in America. They are ready to amend the US Constitution as the only sure way to reverse the Supreme Court's decisions in Citizens United v. FEC and Buckley v. Valeo. But what's the best amendment? Sanders/Deutch or Udall/Sutton? Move To Amend or Free Speech for People?

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    Who's Wrecking America? Meet Your 1% Nominees

    by PRW Staff — November 22, 2011 - 11:37am
  • Topics: Activism, Corporations, Democracy

    • This is a guest op-ed by Robert Greenwald, president of the Brave New Foundation, and was originally published in Truthout.

    The Occupy movement has drawn attention to how too many in the 1% get to play by their own rules while exploiting the 99%. But who's doing the most to damage our economy and democracy?

    You tell us.

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    Views on the OCCUPY Amendment

    by PRW Staff — November 21, 2011 - 11:55am
  • Topics: Corporations, Election Protection, Politics, U.S. Government

    • This is a guest op-ed by Greg Colvin, a partner at the firm Adler & Colvin, originally published at OurFuture.org.

    As the struggle in the streets intensifies, and Occupy Wall Street refuses to remain silent, it's good to know there are champions in Congress who have stepped up to the challenge of amending the US Constitution. It's called OCCUPIED: Outlawing Corporate Cash Undermining the Public Interest in our Elections and Democracy, here.

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    Occupy Wall Street: Crafting A Constitutional Amendment To Stop The 1%

    by PRW Staff — November 16, 2011 - 2:21pm
  • Topics: Corporations, Election Protection, Politics

    • This is a guest post on Citizens United by Greg Colvin, who is a partner at the firm Adler & Colvin. It was originally published on OurFuture.org.

    We've seen the signs and heard the chants: "Abolish Corporate Personhood!"

    I'm very sympathetic to the cause of reducing the power of big business corporations to control our government, our economy, our consumer culture, our society, and our lives. We can't have democracy without a major shift of power into the hands of the people.

    But would an amendment to remove all rights of corporations from the US Constitution accomplish that? Would there be unintended consequences?

    There are two problems with a constitutional amendment that abolishes corporate personhood. One, it does too much, and two, it does too little.

    Guest Contributor

    How the Austerity Class Rules Washington

    by PRW Staff — October 24, 2011 - 12:41pm
  • Topics: Politics

    • By Ari Berman, a contributing writer for and an Investigative Journalism Fellow at The Nation magazine, where this article was originally published on October 19, 2011.

    Guest Contributor

    Rep. Cantor - Bought and Paid for by Wall Street Investors

    by PRW Staff — October 18, 2011 - 7:16am
  • Topics: Corporations, Politics

    • by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) blog

    The Center for Media and Democracy is re-posting this article from the CREW blog as part of our efforts to expose the influence of corporate money in politics. Eric Cantor is also an alumnus of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which the Center has been investigating through ALECexposed, and he has introduced federal legislation that parallels the ALEC agenda. CMD is also helping to raise awareness of alternatives to the Cantor/ALEC agenda to starve government and slash government services, namely how a tiny tax on Wall Street could help. Cantor's efforts to smear Occupy Wall Street protesters and his receipts from Wall Street firms are documented below.

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    Hiding the Sausage: How a Well-Funded Right-Wing Organization is Grinding Out State Laws

    by PRW Staff — September 16, 2011 - 12:21pm
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Corporations

    • -- by Billy Manes

    The Center for Media and Democracy is re-posting this article from Billy Manes at the Orlando Weekly as part of our efforts to expose the American Legislative Exchange Council. The original can be found here.

    When Jeff Wright walked into the lobby of the New Orleans Marriott on Aug. 3, he wasn't sure what to expect. As the director of public policy advocacy for the Florida Education Association -- a prominent teachers' union that had been bearing the brunt of legislative attacks from Florida Republicans throughout the 2011 legislative session -- he wasn't there for your standard Mardi Gras-themed party. The American Legislative Exchange Council, a national nonprofit organization made up of elected officials and private interests who gather regularly to try to directly influence the substance of public policy, was holding its annual four-day meeting there, so any "partying" would probably be a little more conservative, and -- going by a recent glut of press coverage pointing out ALEC's clearinghouse mentality of privately linking big corporations with the state legislators willing to pursue their bottom-line agendas in the form of "model legislation" -- slightly more nefarious. Nevertheless, he wanted to see it for himself.

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    Koch's "Response" Agrees with Parts of Greenpeace Toxic Koch Report

    by PRW Staff — August 31, 2011 - 7:16am
  • Topics: Corporate Social Responsibility, Terrorism, Environment

    • By John Deans of Greenpeace, August 26, 2011.

    On August 25, 2011, Koch Industries issued a response to the Greenpeace report that CMD cross-posted last week, via KochFacts.com. Below is Greenpeace's August 26, 2011, counter-response to Koch. The original can be found here.

    Guest Contributor

    Publicopoly: ALEC and the Bid to Make Private All That is Public

    by Beau Hodai — August 22, 2011 - 11:16am
  • Topics: ALEC Exposed, Corporations, Democracy, Politics

    • The Center for Media and Democracy is reposting Beau Hodai's examination of the privatization schemes advanced by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), as part of CMD's effort to report on, and gather reporting about this organization through our ALECexposed.org work. This story was originally published by DBA Press (pdf) and is also available for download through this link. (pdf) You can also jump to the article's source materials directory here.

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