Fight corporate power by gathering signatures in your community

We’ve seen an extraordinary amount of enthusiasm in recent weeks for our effort to build a grassroots movement for a constitutional amendment to restore free speech and fair elections to the people.

In our recent survey, activists across the nation expressed interest in supporting our effort to undo the Supreme Court’s disastrous decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission by gathering petition signatures.

So we created a printer-friendly version of the constitutional amendment petition (PDF), a tip sheet about how to gather petition signatures and a web page where activists can pledge to collect signatures.

We’re already coordinating with activists in Washington, D.C., who are planning to help us gather signatures at several events, including Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity. And we’re encouraging activists across the nation to help build the movement by gathering signatures in their own communities.

Petitioning is a fundamental way to show Congress and others in power that the American people demand action against the threat to our democracy posed by the flood of unlimited corporate money into our elections. And we’re convinced that once they hear about it, millions more will join this cause.

As Americans gather this fall for events ranging from local festivals and concerts to political rallies and demonstrations, everyone can play a critical role by collecting signatures.

So take the pledge to gather signatures for the Don’t Get Rolled petition. If you have any questions or ideas, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at action@citizen.org.

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Revolving door between Congress and Wall Street even bigger than we thought

The army of “revolving door” lobbyists bidding for the financial services industry is even larger that we thought. After combing through Senate lobbying disclosure records, we reported in November that at least 940 lobbyists in the financial services sector.

This week, we partnered with the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) on an update to that report that included data from CRP’s in-house revolving doors database (catching lobbyists who do not report to their employment histories on their lobbying disclosure forms) as well as Senate records showing an additional two reporting quarters.

The result: At least 1,447 of the lobbyists employed by the financial services sector since 2009 previously held a government job. That is nearly 56 percent of the 2,603 lobbyists, all told, who worked for the sector in the time period.

Among these “revolving doors” are 73 former

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WANTED: Progress in the Gulf

Jeez. Still no good news when it comes to cleaning up the oil spill that started more than a month ago. Oil is still gushing into the water, the industry’s plans to top the geyser keep failing, the government still has not intervened and no entity has accepted responsibility for the environmental catastrophe. And as we wait, birds are covered in oil. Crabs are covered in oil. Marshes are covered in oil. Sea turtles are washing ashore, dead. Jellyfish, too. You get it. It’s bad.

But in case you’re a visual learner, these images will leave you horrified and searching for a way to help.

What’s Public Citizen doing in response? Using the power of the purse. We are boycotting BP, the company that leased the rig responsible for the hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf every day. Our petition page already has more than 12,500 signatures (add yours now!), our Facebook page has nearly 3,500 fans (join that, too!) and media outlets keep our phones ringing off the hook, wanting more information on this devastating spill. Help us reach our goal of a million supporters!

The Washington Post ran a piece today highlighting our boycott. In it, some people talked about ignoring the boycott for the sheer convenience of going to BP stations. They’ll never learn! Join our efforts and show them what it means to affect change.

Our sister blog has a post about another Washington Post story revealing that some environmental groups take money from oil companies, including BP. (Public Citizen is not among them; we take no corporate or government money.)

And in case we’ve depressed you too much, a little something to give you a laugh, courtesy of Politico.

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There will be blame: Oil spill meets The Daily Show

Nobody can say it quite like Jon Stewart. The man has a gift for pointing out the absurd and capitalizing on it, granted, sometimes for a cheap laugh.

The absurdity he highlighted in last night’s episode focused on the oil spill in the Gulf — discussing plans to stop the oil from pouring into the water, and trying to pinpoint who is responsible for the spill and the aftermath. (WARNING: Stewart’s humor is a bit risque in this clip.)

Here are the plans to stop the oil geyser: Top hat. Hot tap. Are these solutions or anagrams, Stewart asked. Next up, the junk shot. (You can use your imagination on Stewart’s take of the solution.) But yeah, let’s throw golf balls, debris and other waste at the well, hoping to clog it up. Seriously.

As for accountability, was it BP? No, they only leased the rig. Was it Transocean? No, concrete blocks failed, not them. Who made the concrete blocks? Halliburton. The list goes on and on.

Now, it’s We, the People’s turn to hold BP accountable. Public Citizen urges drivers to boycott BP and fill up elsewhere. Join the Facebook group, sign the petition and tell your friends!

(Full disclosure: Joe Newman promised me a penny for every person who joins the Facebook group, 1,000,000 Strong to Boycott BP. That means if a million people join, I get $10,000. If you don’t do it for the environment, do it for me!)

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CEO of Massey Energy needs to be held accountable

As the nation continues to mourn the loss of the 29 miners that died last week in Massey Energy’s Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia, President Obama and other federal officials launch an investigation. Others, like The Huffington Post, call for a criminal investigation against Massey’s CEO, Don Blankenship, for compromising the safety of his employees. Public Citizen goes even farther, calling for Massey’s board to fire Blankenship.

Blankenship’s Massey Energy is out of control. Since 2005, the Upper Big Branch Mine has been cited with more than 1,342 safety violations, including two the very day of the explosion. Massey has become a leader in the highly destructive practice of mountaintop-removal mining, sometimes in violation of the Clean Water Act and other environmental laws. And Massey’s miners have been threatened with being fired if they join a union, according to the United Mineworkers of America.

If that weren’t bad enough, Blankenship has used his wealth to launch a $3 million campaign of reprehensible political ads smearing the reputation of a West Virginia Supreme Court justice while a $50 million judgment against Massey was before the court.

We cannot allow this blatant disregard for workers’ safety to continue. Sign the petition: Tell Massey’s board of directors to fire Don Blankenship at www.FireBlankenship.org. The first step is to remove Mr. Blankenship as Massey’s CEO. Doing so is a step forward for corporate accountability and worker safety.

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More than 45,000 Tell Sen. Dodd: Stand Up to Wall Street!




Recently, a financial industry lobbyist said because Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) is retiring, he is now free to “dance with the special interests that brought him to the dance in the first place. Us, his loyal donors in the banking community.”

Nearly 46,000 concerned Americans joined Public Citizen and our partners in saying, “No way!” Dodd is now free to do the right thing and hold the banksters accountable.

Americans for Financial Reform, Credo, Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Media and Democracy helped collect signatures. Together, we urged Dodd to keep up the fight for significant financial reform to rein in Wall Street and prevent another economic crisis. In particular, we called on Dodd to ensure there is a strong and independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

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Corporations as people: the blog roundup

You’ve heard the news, you’ve read our previous blog postings, you’ve (hopefully!) signed the petition for a constitutional amendment to overturn the decision, but the blogosphere continues to flow with stories about the devastating Citizens United Supreme Court decision.

TalkingPointsMemo’s Zachary Roth writes:

Rich Masterson, a Republican political consultant whose firm, CampaignGrid, develops internet ad campaigns, said his phone had been ringing off the hook with potential clients whose eagerness to develop campaigns for the 2010 election was given a major boost by Thursday’s ruling.

Andrew White of the Daily Kos said:

Opening the door for the court to consider issues not brought before is a very wide barn door indeed. It would seem to me that there would have to be a good, sound logical path from the issues presented back to issues already decided and agreed upon in order for the court to expand its investigation into those matters. In my view no such logical path has been presented… other than the clear pre-determined desire of these 5 men to eliminate corporate electoral spending regulations.

Firedoglake’s Michael Whitney adds:

There’s some talk of allowing shareholders of corporations to exempt their shares from political use, similar to how union members can opt out of having their dues fund the union’s political activity as a fix to Citizens United.  That would hardly level the playing field, as those activist shareholders will be in the minority.  Regardless, it’s clear that corporations have the potential to spend much, much more than any union in this brave new world of campaign finance.

We cannot let corporations have more of a voice than people–you know, the ones who are supposed to be protected by the First Amendment. Sign Public Citizen’s petition. Encourage a friend to, as well. Call your lawmakers and tell them that the Citizens United v. FEC decision needs to be overturned.

Let’s use our freedom of speech to actually convey words, not money.

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