If Congress doesn't do something to counteract the Supreme Courts ruling in Citizens United, real people will be effectively denied the right to self governance and determination by corporations who will use their money to drown out our voices.

I'm fully supportive of the Disclose Act. The ACLU would be better served by focusing on other, more pressing issues.

Stephen, Are you friggin kidding us? “ACLU sides with GOP”

WTF? So does ACLU “side” with neoNazis when they DEFEND their 1st Amendment right?

Wake the hell up, it's called FREEDOM. PERIOD. NRA, Sierra Club have something in common, as long as they're BIG establishment “NGO/Charity” orgs, they're exempt.

Really, should we be all for that? Go back and do a bit more in-depth research why don't you?

Webster, as you are a 9/11Truther, if you believe 9/11 may not be what Gvt.propaganda tells you it is, you think it's any different now that a Dem is in charge?

How gullible does one have to be to believe ANY legislation based on its title? Was Patriot Act really “patriotic?”

I swear, you all sound no different than the neoCON morons on the Right, during the GWB regime.

oBUSHma=GWB, different name, same Wall St.Military Industrial Complex Banksters' puppet.

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Rob, RawStory, Dan Gainor, Cary D Conover, EvanPokroy and others. EvanPokroy said: RT @dangainor: ACLU: Bill aimed at toppling Citizens United decision would ‘compromise free speech’ http://bit.ly/dufNeL #P2 #TCOT [...]

The GOP assures it's funding and entrenchment with Citizens United, the DLC dems do it with 3rd party and 'radical' discouragement.

Evidence that the Singular Party in the corrupted union is purely protecting itself and it's corporate sponsors. Congressmen and women ARE the fucking lobbyists.

I agree. And, though I question some of the ACLU stands when they get their facts wrong, I agree with them on this too.

The pathetic thing is that we seem to have to rely on the ACLU to bring details like this to the attention of the media. Where have all the journalists gone? Every time something like this stays submerged until a big-presence organization forces it into the open, it's one more strike against big-media and their misleading news coverage. One also has to question why not a single representative brought these features to light – and one more percent drop in confidence in our political parties and their congress.

Cue Teabag and Neocon heads exploding in 3…2…1
The Teabaggers support the Citizens United ruling because Rush, Glenn and Sarah told them it was a good thing… just like how Dick Armey told them it was good to protest in favor of Health Insurance companies being allowed to keep Pre-Existing Conditions and the right to raise your fees or even dunp you without remorse if you get sick… (I guess they don't get sick and get $300,000 bills for 2 days in the hospital…)

The ACLU is a fine organization, I'm a member and I agree with them about 95% of the time… can't say I do this time… I know, principles only mean something if you stick to them when it's inconvenient…
but SOMETHING has to be done to eliminate (or reign in) the effects of CU vs. FEC…

The Right Wing knuckle draggers have been conditioned to refer to the ACLU as “American Communist Lawyers Union” and they view them as Terrorist Lovers and Pedophile Lovers…

except when they defend Jerry Falwell, Rush Limbaugh and come out against the DISCLOSE bill…

Then their heads explode, because they still can't openly support the ACLU in any way

i love the smell of bad legislation in the morning

i prefer to know who is trying to screw me…i don't care what John Roberts says, corporations ,etc are not individuals and the ACLU 100% wrong on this one.. total disclosure is the price they should pay..

The biggies are exempt. That's the point. Only the little guy is exposed, alone, dissenting.

The bill only 'outs' parties or orgs. that have fewer than 500,000 members.

————-quote—-”They add that the DISCLOSE Act contains exceptions for large, mainstream groups with more than 500,000 members, which would not have to provide some details when buying political advertising. The ACLU contends such exceptions pose a threat to smaller, more controversial groups, which may see their right to political speech run over by the disclosure requirements.

ACLU: Bill aimed at toppling Citizens United decision would ……

I found your entry interesting do I’ve added a Trackback to it on my weblog :)…

There is a much simpler solution that works other places; it's called conflict of interest. What we should do is to require, by law, that any elected or appointed official recluse themselves from voting upon anything which they can be perceived to have a conflict of interest in. For example, if BP or NEA or NRA or the Sierra Club, has supported an official in any significant way (e.g. more than $100) or the official has a current or future vested interest (Cheney's Haliburton stock) than that official must recluse him/herself from any action affecting the perceived conflict of interest. Penalties must be steep and paid for with the personal funds of the offending official; these penalties should include reimbursement of the cost of undoing the damage.
Taking this route would eliminate any potential “freedom of speech” issues as there would be no limit to campaign contributions or political ads, just the limit the ability upon what an official can vote on. There are rules similar to this in the House, Senate, Judicial branch, corporations, etc. We need to strengthen them and make sure those that break them are held personally responsible.
Note: this is sure to raise hell among Conservatives and Liberals as it will affect both equally.

The ACLU is wrong on this according to their own argument. The ACLU said:

“Demanding disclosure for such a small amount of money violates Americans’ right to privacy, and will have a chilling effect on free speech in our elections. Regulation like this can become a serious problem for supporters of controversial issues where anonymity is not just a matter of preference or convenience. The harassment and attacks on members of the civil rights movement show that anonymity can in fact be a matter personal safety.”

The problem is, whenever you or I give ANY amount to ANY political campaign, we have to provide our name & address – and it all shows up on the Internet, complete with interactive maps. Talk about personal safety!!

So if the ACLU wants to protect the safety of individual supporters of controversial issues, they should first change the existing campaign laws that put all of us at risk.

This bill is attacking the effect, not the cause. Pass a law differentiating 'natural' from 'corporate' persons and the problem goes away.

Hey ACLU, to underline the fact that MONEY IS NOT SPEECH, I'M NOT GOING TO GIVE YOU ANY MORE MONEY.

The ACLU said that the legislation would have a 'chilling effect' on free speech, because this issue revolves around the disclosure of the identity of small donors to political advertising. With controversial issues, small time donors may want to donate anonymously. If they can't they might withhold their donation, causing donation revenue to fall, causing controversial issues to be quelled because there is no advertising money.

In the mean time, large corporations are now persons. And you direct your anger at the ACLU?

I agree, but it's more complex than that. Suppose you work for DoD and you want to donate to an anti-torture campaign…

Well maybe all of that could be done via a proxy anyway… and then still everything's anonymous. Anyways, it seems complex.

Down with opacity!…

How about this form of free speech through elective democracy…
Don't vote for anybody that does not provide full and complete disclosure of their campaign contributions.

[...] See the article here: ACLU: Bill aimed at toppling Citizens United decision would … [...]

This might help solve some disclosure problems:

Require a mandatory standardized national application process for all elected public representatives before having their name placed on any public voting ballot that should include;

All applicants applying for election to any office of public representation would be required to publicly disclose their medical, educational, military, tax, investment holdings, criminal arrest records and employment history before their name could be placed on any ballot.

All applicants would be required to meet the same psychological stability and physical fitness requirements that nuclear missile silo launch crew personnel are required to meet before being allowed near missile launch control panels.

All applicants would be required to reveal the names and residential addresses of all domestic and foreign campaign donors.

All applicants would be screened for sexual predatory/pedophile preferences and traits.

All applicants would be screened for fanatical religious, racist or cult beliefs.

Upon being elected all public representatives would be required to;

All elected representatives would be banned from all communications with any lobbyists, con-men, known liars, thieves, perverts, religious fanatics, bankers, corporation CEO's, hookers and criminals, either directly or indirectly.

All elected representatives would be required to read in entirety…and pass a test on the content of each bill, with a grade of B+ or higher, before they can cast a vote for any legislation.

All elected representatives would be required to pass urine and breathalyzer tests before each vote they cast for any legislation and be subject to random substance abuse testing at all other times.

All elected representatives would be required to live in public housing while in Washington DC and public housing in their own districts when there, for the first year of their term.

All elected representatives would be required to take public transportation and pay for all travel needs, local, national and international.

All elected representatives would be required to pay for the most expensive and least effective health insurance plan with the highest co-payments available when they enter office.

All elected representatives would be paid based on meeting quarterly performance requirement goals.

All elected representatives would be exempt from obtaining any taxpayer supported pension plan while holding office…etc., etc., etc.

…Sort of sounds like what the rest of us have to go through when we apply for a job or what we have to endure to keep the jobs we have.

This might help solve some disclosure problems:

Require a mandatory standardized national application process for all elected public representatives before having their name placed on any public voting ballot that should include;

All applicants applying for election to any office of public representation would be required to publicly disclose their medical, educational, military, tax, investment holdings, criminal arrest records and employment history before their name could be placed on any ballot.

All applicants would be required to meet the same psychological stability and physical fitness requirements that nuclear missile silo launch crew personnel are required to meet before being allowed near missile launch control panels.

All applicants would be required to reveal the names and residential addresses of all domestic and foreign campaign donors.

All applicants would be screened for sexual predatory/pedophile preferences and traits.

All applicants would be screened for fanatical religious, racist or cult beliefs.

Upon being elected all public representatives would be required to;

All elected representatives would be banned from all communications with any lobbyists, con-men, known liars, thieves, perverts, religious fanatics, bankers, corporation CEO's, hookers and criminals, either directly or indirectly.

All elected representatives would be required to read in entirety…and pass a test on the content of each bill, with a grade of B+ or higher, before they can cast a vote for any legislation.

All elected representatives would be required to pass urine and breathalyzer tests before each vote they cast for any legislation and be subject to random substance abuse testing at all other times.

All elected representatives would be required to live in public housing while in Washington DC and public housing in their own districts when there, for the first year of their term.

All elected representatives would be required to take public transportation and pay for all travel needs, local, national and international.

All elected representatives would be required to pay for the most expensive and least effective health insurance plan with the highest co-payments available when they enter office.

All elected representatives would be paid based on meeting quarterly performance requirement goals.

All elected representatives would be exempt from obtaining any taxpayer supported pension plan while holding office…etc., etc., etc.

…Sort of sounds like what the rest of us have to go through when we apply for a job or what we have to endure to keep the jobs we have.

To put a sharp point on it, iIt's good to restate the classic definition of “Conflict of Interest”, to wit:

If an independent outside observer cannot tell whether, or not, a person's personal ties are influencing their public behavior, that is a conflict of interest. There are no other kinds.

That definition has been so mutilated in the past decades, in an effort to hide personal bias and escape persecution and prosecution, that it is hardly recognizable by a large portion of the electorate. One repeatedly hears such terms as “perceived COI”, “real COI”, “actual COI etc, but these all presume that the definition given no longer counts and that some quid pro quo must be uncovered before there is a COI. When it comes to public officials (elected, appointed, or civil servant), that's nonsense.

While it may be true, that in a civil or criminal court, that latter would be necessary to prove wrong doing, that is to lower our standards for such public officials to that of the criminal bar for the least acceptable person on the street – all they can get away with without breaking a specific law. That is far too low a bar for public officials sworn to uphold the purpose of their office and advance the public good.

Funny how they back corporate intrusions into our elective process, yet fail to support cannabis freedom. I always thought the ACLU stood for the little guy, but I guess they have morphed too. Funny how righty hates the ACLU, but now will kiss their asses.

Awesome. Then it would truly be public SERVICE again, with the correct motivation, and they'd be happy to leave when their first term is up. But you forgot one thing: the lie detector test. They must swear they are acting on behalf of their constituents and the Constitution.

This country could use a little accountability…

It's bad enough that politicians can lie and call it free speech, let's put some ground rules in place so we know which corporations are buying which politicians…

The Devil is in the details. And as long as the Plutes are allowed to write the legislation and hand it over to the Puppets to pass, this bullshit will continue.

Actually all activity outside of voting would be “lobbying.”

Any extra influence any individual tries to exert over Democracy besides casting his or her vote for those he or she wishes to represent him is Political Action.

People used to hate Political Action Committees.

But now, they are all the rage.

The most patriotic thing to do is nothing.

Vote, pay your taxes and do nothing else but tend your own garden.

That would be the Founder's Intent.

Pass legislation that makes it clear that corporations are NOT people/individuals and do not have the rights of individuals. At the very least, hold them accountable for truth in “advertising” their interests in elections.

That all activity outside of voting would be “lobbying” is a pretty nebulous statement. Having sex with my own wife could fall under that description.

My intention is simply the individual political action of not voting for a candidate for a specific reason that serves as the absence of lobbying which involves an interaction with a candidate.

DISCLOSE act is actually a way to nullify the political effects of organizations like We Are Change, Campaign for Liberty, and others in order to ensure large interests maintain control. The whole bill is 113 pages I believe, available at opencongress.com

just query DISCLOSE act in the search field and read it.

Unfortunately, since the Supreme Court ruled earlier laws to this effect unConstitutional, a simple Act of Congress (law) won't work. It'd be dead on arrival. Requiring disclosure is the way to go, and some of the limits (like the $600) could be changed without getting at the real issue.

What I wonder is, if Corporations are people*, why can they give more than $2100 (or whatever the individual limit is)? I know this applies to spending, and not on direct contributions, but why not count the corporation as ONE person? Or, alternately, make each corporation respond to each of its share-holders when backing a given candidate?

* “Slavery is the legal fiction that a person is property. A corporation is a legal fiction that property is a person.” (I wish I could remember who said that, so I could cite the source.)

Ed Drone

[...] http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0726/aclu-bill-aimed-toppling-citizens-united-decision-compromise-free-s... convey_source = "English"; Bookmark It Punk! Hide Sites [...]

Thanks for the info, Turnip. I went to the ACLU Web site to confirm your observations. But, I could not locate the information you shared. Do you have a link?

I haven't fact checked yet. Since there is no real quote function here, I made my own above, and was quoting the article on this page by RS.

[...] ACLU: Bill aimed at toppling Citizens United decision would ‘compromise free speech [...]

Thanks, Turnip for getting back to me. I did reread the article and agree that based on the quotes attributable to the ACLU, (I haven't read the entire Bill yet) that they are right in opposing the legislation.

If the facts are that only large organizations with more than 500,000 members are exempted then small Progressive activist organizations like America Change, and others that campaign against oppressive legislation, corporate influence on government, social injustice, civil rights violations, criminal injustice and anti-multiculturalism and bigotry can be targeted and shut down.

Moreover, if donors who contribute as little as $600.00 in those small organizations can be identified and characterized as threats to our “democracy” then given the history of political reprisal, character assassination and even physical harm inflicted on Americans who dare to take a stand against governmental wrong doing then nearly everyone I know personally would be endangered if this law, in its current form, was passed.

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