( – promoted by Jack McCullough)
At Town Meeting this week, Vermonters in nearly 60 towns spoke with a clear voice when they rejected the Supreme Court’s bizarre notion that a corporation is a person. Their vote comes as the spigot of money — opened wide by Citizens United — is flooding the presidential election landscape. Unchecked spending by Super PACs is giving Americans a disturbing preview of coming attractions if this horrible decision is not overturned.
The voices of Vermonters on Town Meeting Day gave a boost to the national movement to overturn Citizens United with an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. As we work towards that goal, I am taking two concrete steps to limit the influence of Super PACs before the November elections.
First, I am calling on President Obama to use his constitutional authority to fill the five openings on the six-member Federal Election Commission (FEC) during the next recess of the United States Senate. Partisan gridlock at the FEC and in the Senate has rendered the FEC feckless at a moment when their guidance and enforcement is needed most. The very agency that is supposed to be the elections cop on the beat is paralyzed as Super PACS run amok in an election landscape muddied by Citizens United.
Second, I am calling on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to investigate whether nonprofit 501(c)(4) organizations affiliated with Super PACs are in violation of federal law. Groups qualifying for nonprofit tax-exempt status are prohibited by law from engaging in substantial political activity. Simply put, the IRS should take appropriate action against any organization masquerading as a nonprofit at the expense of the taxpayer.
Vermont has a proud history of leading the nation on issues of profound national importance. By speaking up this week on Citizens United, our small state is again assuming a leadership role on another issue of historic significance. And our voice is again being heard.
That this:
Is intentional.
Let’s hope the President heeds your recommendation!
…about ACORN? Corporate Non-Profits. Next we’ll have Homeless CEOs (mansions building). You go get ’em, Peter. The time is now. Americans have put up with enough.
…and needs to be overturned somehow. But, even within its strictures, there’s a lot Vermont could do to improve oversight of political money. Its current laws and processes are inadequate and archaic. I’m working on a series of diaries about this subject; stay tuned, as they say.