Saturday, March 31, 2012

Super PAC's v Voter Suppression


I’m sure Karl Rove and David and Charles Koch (pronounced “Coke”) have their attorneys writing their Appeal, against the ruling tonight in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, as I type.
In Van Hollen v Federal Election Commission the court ruled against the F.E.C rules that restricted campaign donor disclosure to only donations that were earmarked on electioneering communications.
What this means is there is no more hiding the money trail.

Voter suppression is a huge issue that goes deeper than fraud at the polls. It is targeted voter manipulation. Voter Suppression via Voter Communication/ Electioneering Communication is ran by the Super PAC’s to sway, confuse, or bamboozle the voters in targeted areas into believing they don’t need to vote for one reason or another, deflecting them from the polls. Some people have received flyers in the mail saying that the vote was on a different day, some received robo calls saying their candidate was a sure win so they didn’t need to go and vote, and some were told various different things to deter their trip to the polls. It isn’t simply communicating ones electoral wishes; it is deceitful manipulation of targeted areas, and more plainly speaking, the areas with higher populations of non english speaking, lower intelligence, and seniors. It’s cheap and many people buy into it, thinking the calls or flyers are “official” or at least can be believed.

The liberals always try to increase the voter turnout. On the contrary, the conservatives try to suppress it. In 2011, a study at NYU Brennan Center, tracked new legislation, in 14 Republican dominated states, requiring stricter standards for voter registration. They estimated that approximately 5 million voters will find it harder to register to vote this year due to the new and stricter standards.

This legislation is connected to the super PAC’s funders. In over 30 cases the State lawmakers received their “voter communication” legislation from the American Legislative Exchange Council. The Council receives large funding from Koch Industries who pledged 60 million to defeat Obama and implant McCain in the last election.
The Koch Brothers are two of the four children of Fred C. Koch, who developed a new method of refining heavy oil into gasoline. They inherited their wealth; they didn’t earn it. The brothers own the 2nd largest privately owned company in the United States. The annual revenues for Koch Industries are estimated at about 100 billion dollars. They are huge on privatizing everything from education to prison systems. They are also a part of the Mackinac Foundation. They are behind much legislation to break the unions, to privatize, and to destroy collective bargaining rights. The Koch Brothers have been repeatedly fined for illegal dumping, showing no respect for the laws to protect the land and people from their land and water chemical pollutants. There is a huge list of products that are owned by the Koch Brothers, including, but not limited to, Bounty Paper Towels.

The American Energy Alliance and Americans for Prosperity, both nonprofit, are linked to the Koch Brothers, so is Freedom Works. Both Freedom Works and Americans for Prosperity are linked to the Tea Party. Crossroads GPS, also nonprofit, is linked to Karl Rove. The American Energy Alliance, American’s for Prosperity, and Crossroads GPS has run millions of electioneering communications against Obama and other Democratic Senators without any disclosure.
Until tonight, there was no disclosure, therefore, no accountability for the illegal actions brought forth by big money through their “special” Super PAC’s.

Judge Amy Berman Jackson stated tonight in her ruling, “there is no question that the regulation promulgated by the FEC directly contravenes the congressional goal of increasing transparency and disclosure in electioneering communication…In sum, the Court finds that the Congress spoke plainly, that Congress did not delegate authority to the FEC to narrow the disclosure requirement through agency rulemaking, and that a change in the reach of the statute brought about by a Supreme Court ruling did not render plain language, which is broad enough to cover the new circumstances, to be ambiguous….The agency cannot unilaterally decide to take on a quintessentially legislative function; if sound policy suggests that the statute needs tailoring in the wake of WRTL or Citizens United, it is up to Congress to do it.”
A big Thanks to U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson for taking a stand against the Super PAC’s and the money machine behind it. Though we all know her words may be over turned in the U.S Appeals Court, still she took a stand for the people.

Till the next time….10/4,

Pam

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