Citizens United to End Political Bribery (Working Group)

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Overview

Citizens United to End Political Bribery (CUEPB) is a Working Group pursuing the goal of getting corporate money out of politics.  We focus on realistic actions in Massachusetts, but also extend our efforts to nationwide politics.  This wiki page serves to collect information and discuss ideas before bringing proposals to Occupy Boston General Assembly.  Everything here should be considered a draft, unless conspicuously labeled otherwise.  To participate, come to one of our scheduled meetings or comment on the discussion tab for a page.  You can also edit a page, but we'd like to know who's involved, so please introduce yourself.

  • Contact us at citizensunited@occupyboston.org
  • Sign up to join our email list by clicking here. 
  • Visit our website here for a list of groups, events, and actions.

Main Events on January 20-21

On the January 20–21 anniversary of the Citizens United decision,  a wide coalition of groups will stand together for GETTING MONEY OUT OF POLITCS! Here is a list of events taking place on those dates

Friday January 20 | Occupy the Courts | Federal Courthouse | 12:45pm - 2pm

January 20 & 21 | Rally and Summit to Unite Citizens for Democracy | Boston

  • Click here for more information

Meetings:

January 11 - Planning for January 20/21 Rally and Summit for Uniting Citizens for Democracy

At BU Law School 765 Commonwealth Avenue, Room 920B.  Map.

Tentative Planning Meeting Agenda

6:00 - Community Gathering Please join us for refreshments and socializing in Room 920B

6:20 - Introduction Welcome to Occupy Boston and thank you for coming to this planning meeting for “The Rally and Summit to Unite Citizens for Democracy.” The goal of this event is to educate people and see if we can inspire them to find solutions to the very complex problem of corporate and special interest influence over a government that was created for the people. All of you have a specific expertise. The goal of this meeting is for us to brainstorm ideas and figure out how to work together on this event and make sure attendees leave feeling that they have participated in a productive and meaningful way.

6:30 - Break Out Groups Please use this time to break out with representatives from other neighboring organizations and answer the following questions. Try to do this with people you don’t already know. What goals do your organizations have for participating in this day? What do you want people to leave this event knowing? What do you want to teach them? What do you want people to do when they leave this event? How can your organization help people come up with a strategy for action?

7:00 - Report Backs Please have one person from your group report back the answers to these questions. These answers will be combined with feedback from our Community Gathering on January 2.

7:30 - Create a Schedule This time will be used to create classes and breakout discussion topics for the event. Please keep in mind that the same way we are polling this group for ideas. The final schedule should also allow for some flexibility, so that attendees can also feel part of the agenda and that their ideas are incorporated.

Tentative Rally Schedule

  • This is a preliminary schedule of events for the Friday.
    • 4:00 - 4:30 - Community Gathering Time
    • 4:30 - 4:50 - “We the People” Rep. Cory Atkins
    • 4:50 - 5:30 - Break-out discussions
    • 5:30 - 6:00 - Panel Discussion
    • 6:00 - 6:30 - Entertainment
    • 6:30 - 7:10 - Break-out Group Discussions
    • 7:10 - 7:40 - Break-out Group Presentations
    • 7:40 - 8:00 - Closing Address
  • This is a preliminary schedule of events for the Saturday.
    • 10:00 - 10:30 - Community Gathering
    • 10:30 - 11:15 - Lawrence Lessig Presentation
    • 11:15 - 12:00 - Break-out Group Discussions
    • 12:00 - 12:30 - Lunch
    • 12:30 - 1:00 - Break-out Group Discussions
    • 1:00 - 1:45 - Break-out Proposals
    • 1:45 - 2:30 - Break-out Proposals
    • 2:30 - 3:15 - Proposal Presentations
    • 3:15 - 4:00 - Grace Ross - Citizens Lobbying Training Workshop

 Please be prepared to discuss your goals for the Summit.

    • What are the goals for 20th/21st event (15 minutes)
      • Get media attention
      • Bring people together
      • Brainstorm our next action collective action
      • Develop a roadmap of issues and figure out who is addressing what and how.  Make sure we work together effectively
        • Constitutional Amendment for corporate personhood
        • Constitutional Amendment (or laws) for limiting money in politics
        • Public financing of elections
        • Closing the revolving door between politics and industy
        • Ending legalized bribery and lobbying corruption
        • ...
    • Discuss Media Strategy (15 minutes)
    • Discuss materials to have on hand (10 minutes)
    • Propose that Occupy Boston Citizens United group moderate both events (5 minutes)
    • Discuss plan for Friday | 4pm-8pm | St. Paul's Church (10 minutes)
      • See above event description for speakers list
    • Discuss plan for Saturday | 10am-4pm | location to be determined (20 minutes)
      • See above event description for speakers list
      • Lots of working groups (but what should they be?  What do we hope to get out of them?)
        • Brainstorming the next big action (something related to S772?)
        • Developing a roadmap for everything (no one action will fix our system)
        • Each element of advancing reform can have it's own group (ending corporate personhood, reducing money in electiions, closing revolving door, fixing lobbying system, etc.)

Minutes from Previous Meetings

Background Information:

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Opinion

  • The minority dissenting opinion quoted at this link gives arguments against the Supreme Court's majority opinion. After a summary, the opinion continues (not quoted here,) describing in detail the laws and rulings related to corporate personhood.
  • Under U.S. law, a corporation is a "corporate veil," protecting individuals inside a company from being prosecuted for the actions of the business. In 1886 the U.S. Supreme Court decided that corporations are entitled to many rights accorded to citizens, in its decision of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Rail Road Co.
  • In 1907 Congress passed the Tillman Act, prohibiting corporations from donating money directly to national political campaigns. This still holds, but in January 2010 the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 (in Citizens United v. FEC) that corporations can spend unlimited amounts on political advertisements as long as they don't directly coordinate that spending with an actual candidate.
  • The Citizens United v. FEC decision invalidated protections that had existed in Massachusetts General Law, according to a March, 2010 ruling of the Massachusetts Office of Campaign and Political Finance. Many bills are now being introduced in Massachusetts and at the federal level to counteract the wide effects of last year's Supreme Court decision by restricting corporate money from influencing politics.

Campaign Finance Legislation (passed and pending)

  • Click here for a list of legislation

Additional Resources




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