2 Years of Citizens United Damage

A message from MoveOn.org:
Two years ago this week, the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United that corporations have the constitutional right to spend unlimited money influencing our elections.

Since then we've seen a massive wave of corporate cash, super-PACs, and secret spending flood our democracy. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being spent to influence elections and we have no clue which corporations are behind it.

But President Obama has the power, right now, to begin to undo some the damage caused by Citizens United. An executive order, already drafted by his advisers, would force corporations like Halliburton, Verizon, Chevron, and others that get government contracts to at least disclose their political spending. Reports indicate that the president is considering whether or not to issue the order right now.¹

It would be a game-changing step, but he needs to act quickly in order to implement it in time for this year's election. So today we're joining the growing campaign to to convince the president to step up and act right away.

Click here to add your name to the petition supporting an executive order.

Our goal is to deliver as many petitions as possible before the State of the Union address next week. Two years ago the president criticized Citizens United during the State of the Union. Now is the perfect moment for him to take action.

The executive order he's considering would immediately end the secrecy that so many companies can exploit right now. Many of the biggest corporations in the world are government contractors for defense, telecommunications, technology, and more. All told, companies that could be affected by the order employ 22 percent of the American workforce.²

Democrats in Congress tried to pass a comprehensive bill requiring all corporations to report their political spending but Republicans in the Senate blocked it.

But President Obama doesn't need Republican approval to enact this executive order. He can bypass their obstruction and begin to bring transparency and fairness back into our broken democracy.

Click here to ask President Obama to sign the executive order.

Thanks for all you do.

–Robin, Elena, Stephen, Milan, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Will Obama Issue an Order Exposing Big Corporate Political Spenders in Citizens United Era?," Alternet, January 10, 2012.
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=269582&id=34891-18623853-ddROjvx&t=5

2. Ibid. 

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PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to Cheryl Lyda on January 19, 2012. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.