The corporate front group the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) has come under increasing fire for secretly passing off corporate-written legislation to state legislatures. Yesterday, the medical device company Medtronic announced that it chose not to renew its membership in ALEC in 2010. Medtronic joins companies including Scantron, which announced earlier this week it was leaving ALEC, as well
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Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) is one of Congress’s most loyal allies of Big Money. Earlier this year, he championed the “anti-piracy” legislation that would give the government huge internet censorship powers on behalf powerful entertainment and media corporations. As a result, Smith faced a primary challenge from a former local Sherrif, Richard Mack. Mack is
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Big Money corrupts our political system with its campaign contributions, public relations campaigns, insider access, and other means of drowning out the voices of ordinary people.The media is supposed to be our democracy’s guardian against this onslaught of money. But last week Fox Business abdicated its responsibility to cut through the lies of Big Money. It featured
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There are few corporations that have worked as hard over the years to cultivate a family-friendly image as The Walt Disney Company. Disney operates a television channel, theme park, releases movies, manufactures toys, and in general tries to court American families with its advertising and public relations campaigns. But being pro-family isn’t just about releasing
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EdWeek reports that presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney has named the members of his K-12 Education Committee for his campaign: Serving as Rommey’s K-12 committee co-chairs will be Nina S. Rees, a former assistant deputy secretary for innovation and improvement at the U.S. Department of Education and currently the senior vice president for strategic
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Brian Moran, the chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party, has been taking heat over the fact that he also serves as a lobbyist for the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities (APSCU), a trade group representing for-profit colleges. APSCU is engaged in an ongoing battle against President Obama’s efforts to hold its member schools accountable
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Yesterday morning, Newark mayor Cory Booker made headlines when he defended private equity firms and Bain Capital’s behavior against criticisms by the Obama campaign: BOOKER: I have to just say from a very personal level, I’m not about to sit here and indict private equity. To me, we’re getting to a ridiculous point in America.
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Last week, Sens. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) submitted an amicus brief ” urging the U.S. Supreme Court to let stand Montana’s century-old ban on corporate money in political campaigns despite the court’s Citizens United ruling two years ago declaring unconstitutional a similar federal law sponsored by McCain.” The challenge to Montana’s ban on corporate
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