We have a short time in which to pass measures limiting the impact of the SCOTUS decision- crosspost

[clear eye]

Once the members of Congress and the state legislators who have been the benefactors of the corporate largesse are seated it will be all over.

There are two points we can still affect if we act quickly.

=>One is to make sure that our states have provisions expanding on what's in McCain-Feingold at the federal level requiring that all ads about candidates for election contain visible and audible full disclosures of their funding sources. Full disclosure means not only the group or coalition name, (such as "Americans for America") but all the contributors to the creation and running of the ad.

=>The second and most important, is to work at both the federal and state levels to pass voluntary public financing of campaigns, similar to what is available in Presidential campaigns. There is a bill to do that for Congressional races which Sen. Durbin has been introducing for years but which has gotten little interest until now. We must resurrect it. It is called the Fair Elections Now Act or FENA, for short and has a parallel bill in the House. The website of the coalition of over 38 NGOs supporting it is here. They also accept membership by individuals, and provide suggestions for useful activities to support the effort.

Most states have PIRGs which have been trying for years to get programs at the state level. I know that NYS also has a group called Citizen Action of NY that has recently gotten Gov. Patterson's support for the measure there.

Here's the group from Iowa: www.iowacan.org/campaigns/campaign-finance-reform/

It would be great to see replies on this thread w/ info about groups in the other states, and the experience Maine has had w/ its system.

[dflprincess]

1. Too late

"the members of Congress and the state legislators who have been the benefactors of the corporate largesse" are already there and looking forward to receiving even more.

Not that we still shouldn't try. They do still need our votes.

[clear eye]

3. It's important not to defeat ourselves before we start.

If you like the measures in the OP, please do make your calls, join the groups, and let others know.

[flamingdem]

2. Barney Frank has solid plans - we can still control corportations under law nt

[clear eye]

4. Tell us more, please.

or post a link?

[Hissyspit]

5. Keith Olbermann Tonight:

"Russ Feingold told me today there might yet be ways to work around this, to restrict corporate governance, and how corporations make and spend their money. I pointed out that any such legislation, even if it somehow sneaked past the last U.S. Senate not funded by a generous gift from the Chubb Group would eventually wind up in front of a Supreme Court, and whether or not John Roberts is still at its head would be irrelevant.

The next nine men and women on the Supreme Court will get there not because of their judgement nor even their politics. They will get there because they were appointed by purchased presidents and confirmed by purchased Senators.

This is what John Roberts did today. This is a Supreme Court-sanctioned murder of what little actual Democracy is left in this Democracy."

[bleever]

6. I'm curious how Feingold responded to Keith's point.

This seems pretty damn dire to me.