Hudson Valley Progressive Coalition

Breaking news: On June 24th, the House of Representatives passed the DISCLOSE Act to mitigate the effects of Citizens United (see below). It will require groups to stand by the ads they create and will ban corporations that are 20% or more foreign-owned from electioneering. Unfortunately, it allows exemptions for groups like the NRA and others. It now goes to the Senate, where Sen. Schumer will take the lead.

Please call his office: (212) 486-4430 or the Capital Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or
send an email to ask (1) that exemptions be removed, and (2) that an amendment be added to require shareholder approval before a corporation can buy ads to help elect or defeat candidates.

Background: In January 2010, the Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 that corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money to help defeat or elect candidates of their choice. This ruling declared that “corporations are persons” with the same First Amendment rights as we have. President Obama has called the decision “a strike on democracy itself.”

A recent poll (pfaw.org) showed that 85% of Americans feel that corporations have too much power and 93% believe that citizens have too little influence. It also showed that over 3/4 of the American people support a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United.

The American public are now fighting back. The state of Massachusetts just introduced a resolution to call on Congress “to pass and send to the states for ratification a constitutional amendment to restore the First Amendment and fair elections to the people.” Hawaii and Oregon have already passed similar resolutions and many others are in the process of doing so.

Sunday, April 18th, was a great day for democracy in New Paltz, NY. Approximately 200 people came to “We, the People: A Forum to Defend Democracy” at SUNY New Paltz. Congressman Hinchey and our presenters did an excellent job of outlining the challenges before us and how we can meet them.   Here’s how we all can get started:

What We Can Do to Fight Against Corporate Domination of Our Elections!

Pass a Constitutional amendment
Congress must once and for all put to rest the idea that corporations are people and reassert Congressional power to regulate campaign finance. This can only be accomplished through a Constitutional amendment.

Progress to date:
Congressman Hinchey, Co-sponsor of H.J. Res. 74
- Senator Gillibrand, Call and ask her to support S. JR. 28
- Senator Schumer, Call and ask him to support S. JR. 28
(See below for other requests for Senator Schumer)

Capitol Switchboard- 202 224-3121

Sign petitions for a Constitutional amendment:
FreeSpeechforPeople.org
MovetoAmend.org
People for the American Way

Lobby Congress for regulations that protect the ordinary citizen:
Tell your elected officials to pass legislation to immediately mitigate this ruling’s effects.

Senator Schumer and Representative Van Hollen are proposing legislation that would:
-Exempt corporations 20% or more foreign owned from electioneering.
-Exempt corporations receiving federal contracts.

Require disclosure. It needs to be strong (i.e., ” I’m John Dough, president of Halliburton and I approve this ad.”)
Require shareholder approval. The New York Times reported that this has been dropped. Let Senator Schumer know that wording of HR 4790 to protect shareholders must be in any final bill.

Tell your elected official to pass the Fair Elections Now Act:
Progress to date:
-Congressman Hinchey, Co-sponsor of H.R. 1826
-Senator Gillibrand, Co-sponsor of S. 752
-Senator Schumer, ask him to Co-sponsor S.752

Pass State and Local Resolutions:
Urge your state legislators to pass a resolution calling on Congress to pass a Constitutional amendment and to send to states for ratification. This is already happening in Massachusetts and Maine. Pass a similar resolution at a local level.

Work for clean elections in New York State:
- Support Democracy Matters.org and Citizen Action.org, which are working to pass NY S. 7506.
- Establish Democracy Matters chapters in your high school or university and apply for an organizing internship with Democracy Matters.

Join FaceBook Pages to stay active and engaged:
Amend the Constitution so Corporations Can Not Buy Elections
We, the People, NOT We, the Corporations
Abolish Corporate Personhood Now!
Free Speech for People, People for the American Way and Democracy Matters

Personal Actions:
-Write Letters to the Editor
-Call in to Talk Radio (WVKR, WKNY, WAMC)
-Host a house party
-Engage people
-Blog about it
-Sign up here!

CAPITOL SWITCHBOARD:  202 224- 3121

For more information:
FreeSpeechforPeople.org
People for the American Way
DemocracyMatters.org
Waking Planet

In a Democracy the People Rule!
We Can Do This!

Sunday, April 18, 2010
4:00-5:30 pm
SUNY New Paltz Lecture Center, Room 100
Map (Select “Lecture Center”)
Free to the public; donations accepted at the door

A forum to educate and mobilize citizens to counter the recent Supreme Court decision (Citizens United v FEC) that overturned a century of law and which now allows unlimited corporate contributions towards influencing our elections. President Obama said, “This ruling strikes at our democracy itself” and called it a victory for special interests at the expense of the people.

The Honorable Maurice Hinchey will give the keynote. His talk will focus on the need for publicly financed elections to restore voters as the center of the electoral process.

Our panel of experts will include:
• Margery F. Baker, Vice President of People for the American Way
• John Bonifaz, Director of Free Speech for People and Legal Director of Voter Action (Free Speech for People is a consortium of public service organizations including Public Citizen, Center for Corporate Policy, Voter Action, and more)
• Joan D Mandle, PhD, Executive Director of Democracy Matters

Be on the ground floor of a grassroots movement to fight this Supreme Court ruling. This appears to be the first forum of its kind in the country. Leave with action steps, resources, connections and new hope!

Doris Haddock (”Granny D”), at age 89, walked 3,200 miles across the U.S. to raise awareness on the importance of campaign finance reform. She died on March 9, 2010, at the age of 100. This forum is dedicated to her memory.

Please sign up:
On our Facebook page
Or Our Organizing for America event page

View our flyer here.
Please help post our flyer by downloading it here.

Sponsored by the Hudson Valley Progressive Coalition, Ulster County MoveOn Council, SUNY New Paltz, Democracy Matters, and the Ulster County Democratic Committee.

For more information, please contact:  anahatasun@aol.com