A MESSAGE FROM OUR FOUNDER…CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS…ALUMNI/AE HIGHLIGHT…MONEY ON MY MIND…NOT ANOTHER CITIZENS UNITED!!…GREAT LINKS…FACTOIDS: SHADOW MONEY MAGIC…
A MESSAGE FROM OUR FOUNDER
Welcome to Democracy Matters and E-News 2013! I’m so proud of the fabulous work Democracy Matters students have been doing over the last 12 years to deepen our democracy. Join me in reading our E-News every month to celebrate our victories, to keep up on the latest happenings, and help us get big money out of politics and people back in. Let’s make our democracy work for everyone – fairer, more inclusive, and more responsive.
Adonal
CAMPUS HIGHLIGHTS
Each E-News highlights a different Democracy Matters campus chapter, so watch for upcoming Campus Highlights! But even before the year begins, DM students have been planning and strategizing to implement:
- Voter Registration – Registering First Year students and others to vote.
- Numbers Campaigns – Creating attention-grabbing posters with information on how money in politics affects students.
- Faculty Forums/Teach-ins – Organizing faculty and student panels, showing how issues like the environment, inequality, student loans, voter suppression issues all relate to money in politics.
- Pizza And Politics Discussions – Holding monthly open discussions of current events and their ties to money in politics.
- Movie Screenings – Showing and then discussing movies and documentaries relating to important issues.
- Amps Against Apathy – Incorporating open mics and student bands to raise awareness!
- Petition Drives – Encouraging faculty and students to sign on in support of public campaign financing.
- School newspapers, radio, TV – Reaching students with information and ideas.
- Improv Theater – Acting out funny and informative skits in high traffic areas.
And so much more…
ALUMNI/AE HIGHLIGHT
Gus Voss founded and led the DM chapter at Boise State University. He has continued his commitment to getting big money out of politics by working for the National Institute for State Money in Politics (www.followthemoney.org). Here’s an excerpt from a recent article he wrote. Congratulations Gus!
NAMES IN THE NEWS: MONSANTO, by Gus Voss
The agricultural behemoth Monsanto has been making headlines lately for opposing the labeling of genetically modified food, as the company has dramatically increased its political contributions to state campaigns. Donations grew 1,682 percent from 2008 to 2012. These contributions have increased as more states are considering following Maine and Connecticut in requiring the labeling of genetically modified products for human consumption.
Check out other great information at www.followthemoney.org
Read the full report here.
MONEY ON MY MIND
Millions in undisclosed “dark” money continues to flood our political system. Jay Mandle outlines the damage to democracy of big private political money and then describes how we can fight back. (See Factoids below for more about this “shadow” money).
Read the full article and explore other issues of MOMM.
NOT ANOTHER CITIZENS UNITED!!
In October, the Supreme Court is set to hear a new money-in-politics case, McCutcheon v. FEC. A ruling that could increase the flow of big private money into politics by invalidating aggregate limits on direct donor contributions to campaigns. That limit now stands at $123,200, already far more than the yearly average income of an American family. If the challenge stands, it could raise the individual contribution limit to $3.5 million.
To preserve our democracy, organizations advocating for small businesses, civil rights, the environment, seniors, workers’ rights, and youth (the AARP, NAACP, Rock the Vote, and the Sierra Club) have united to oppose the challenge.
To learn more click here.
GREAT LINKS
In addition with our own website, below are great links to current (and shocking) information about money in politics:
www.opensecrets.org – Find comprehensive data on the funding of all federal election campaigns, past and present, and the impact on elections and policy.
www.followthemoney.org – Find great information on political money in all 50 states, plus insightful reports and commentary (see our Alumni/ae highlight above).
www.maplight.org – Find links between campaign contributions and their influence on specific legislation and social policy in Congress, WI and CA.
www.publicampaign.org and www.campaignmoney.org – Find all kinds of information and commentary on money in politics and the national fight to curb the political power of wealth.
AND don’t forget to check out all the money facts, plus national and campus happenings on the DEMOCRACY MATTERS FACEBOOK page.
FACTOIDS: SHADOW MONEY MAGIC
During the 2010 and 2012 elections, dozens of groups pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into the electoral system while dodging disclosure of their donors. It came to be called “shadow” or “dark” or “mystery” money. The Center for Responsive Politics has issued a report that details the steps that let wealthy donors play big in politics, hide their donors, and game the IRS here.
To honor our 2013 activists, we list ten Democracy Matters chapters in each E-News:
BINGHAMTON UNIVERSITY…BOSTON UNIVERSITY…BROWN UNIVERSITY…COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY…ELMHURST COLLEGE…FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY…GETTYSBURG COLLEGE…HARVARD UNIVERSITY…HOBART AND WILLIAM SMITH COLLEGE…IONA COLLEGE…
More Campus Chapters.