Dear ones,
I hope you had a restful weekend and that you are enjoying the hush of snowfall. Vaccination appointments and in-person school are canceled today. Our work — to rebuild and sustain democracy — is not.
There’s no question that we have to get the money out of politics. The 2010 decision in Citizens United equated spending with free speech and conferred rights on corporate entities as if they are persons. That ruling has allowed unlimited spending by corporations for campaign advertising, as long as “they are not formally ‘coordinating’ with a candidate or political party.” Most significantly, the decision led to the creation of super PACs, which expanded the expenditure of ‘dark money’ nonprofits that don’t disclose their donors.
A Brennan Center report by Daniel I. Weiner pointed out that a very small group of Americans now wield “more power than at any time since Watergate.”
“This is perhaps the most troubling result of Citizens United: in a time of historic wealth inequality,” wrote Weiner, “the decision has helped reinforce the growing sense that our democracy primarily serves the interests of the wealthy few, and that democratic participation for the vast majority of citizens is of relatively little value.”
An election system that is skewed heavily toward wealthy donors also sustains racial bias and reinforces the racial wealth gap.
Senator Jon Tester of Montana is taking a leading role to undo the damage of the Citizens United decision. Tester, a long-time advocate of campaign finance reform, is planning to introduce three bills: The Spotlight Act, which would stop non-profit organizations from concealing their big donors while engaging in political activity: The SUN Act, which would require that tax-exempt organizations disclose the identity of donors and share financial information in a searchable database, and
a constitutional amendment that would overturn the Citizens United decision, declare that corporations are not people, and give Congress greater authority to regulate our campaign finance system.
Sign this petition to support a Constitutional Amendment to overturn Citizens United.
We want to get big money out of politics and we also want to redirect more resources to the people and programs that need to be funded. It’s time to pass the the Invest In Our New York Act (a bundle of six bills) Here’s an action that will accomplish so many things: 1) it puts something on your calendar for the weekend that does not involve Zoom, and 2) it’s an outdoor activity off your well-worn path, and 3) it will educate voters about legislation to make a more equitable society! The work is to raise awareness among voters by placing covid-safe door hangers across strategic locations around NYC. My recent door-hang experience helped elect Phara Souffrant Forrest to the NYS Assembly; and I learned that door-hang activism is much more efficient and fun with a companion.
Register here for Saturday’s Tax the Rich Door Hang. Email me if you want to be my door hang buddy this Saturday.
Sign the petition in support of the Invest in Our New York Act.
The vaccine rollout in NYC has been plagued by design flaws that result in gross racial disparities:
Of nearly 300,000 city residents who received one dose and whose race was recorded, about 48 percent were white, 15 percent were Latino, 15 percent were Asian and 11 percent were Black. Latino and Black residents were underrepresented: The city’s population is roughly 29 percent Latino and 24 percent Black.
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Comptroller Scott Stringer are calling on the Mayor to stop vaccinating non-residents, 94,000 of whom have received doses from the city supply. This is complicated by the fact that significant numbers of city employees live outside the city. More pressing is their demand to improve the confusing websites that make scheduling a vaccination so difficult and “to provide paid time off for essential workers to get vaccinated.”
Contact the mayor to demand immediate action to rectify the racial disparities in the vaccine rollout.
We need to do better.
Have a good day!
with love,
L