SIGN NOW: Congress must pass the DISCLOSE Act and overturn Citizens United >>
John, breaking news: an ultra-conservative businessman just made possibly the largest political donation ever – giving $1.6 BILLION to lock in far-right public policy priorities.
That’s right: one man was able to exploit multiple loopholes to hand unprecedented resources to a group run by a notorious conservative strategist Leonard Leo – who has spent his career packing courts with judges who hold extreme positions against voting rights, reproductive freedom, climate action, and more. [1]
The journalists who uncovered this information showed how convoluted a path the money took – with the donor routing it through shares of a company that were later sold overseas.
And if the money makes its way into our elections – by political operatives exploiting loopholes and weak oversight – it will be that much harder to trace. If you agree that NO ONE should have an outsized say in our democracy due to the size of their wallet and that spending should be transparent, I’m asking you to take an important action today.
Sign the Petition: Congress needs to pass the DISCLOSE Act immediately to shine a light on money in our political process – and also work to overturn the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United decision to fight back against this country’s Big Money problem.
Mega-donor Barre Seid’s $1.6 billion contribution is likely the largest EVER made in politics. [2] The fact that a single billionaire can buy such outsized political power just goes to show how dangerous the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling really was.
How? This decision opened the Big Money floodgates, allowing groups like Leo’s to more directly influence our elections while still taking in unlimited cash from powerful mega-donors – often in secret.
John, that is NOT how our democracy is supposed to work. We the People should call the shots when it comes to the issues that impact our everyday lives – not a shadowy network of wealthy special interests.
And passing the DISCLOSE Act would be a huge step towards transparency and accountability – by modernizing disclosure laws and ending political loopholes that give corporations and special interest groups the ability to hide their campaign-related spending.
But frankly, if we want our representatives to respond to this growing Big Money crisis – we need to speak out now.
Sign if you agree: Congress should pass the DISCLOSE Act – and also work to overturn Citizens United – immediately, because everyone has a right to know who is trying to influence our elections.
We cannot let self-interested billionaires like Seid, the Kochs, and others speak for us in our democracy. Each and every one of us deserves a meaningful voice – our democracy depends on it.
I hope you’ll speak out today,
Sarah Trindell, Senior Digital Campaigner
and the team at Common Cause
1) https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/22/us/politics/republican-dark-money.html
2) https://www.propublica.org/article/dark-money-leonard-leo-barre-seid
