Colleagues:
Public Citizen has just released a report documenting the aftermath of the Citizens United decision on its one year anniversary --
Excerpted press release and link to the report follows:
A year has passed since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in
Citizens
United v. Federal Election Commission, and the damage is clear,
according to a new Public Citizen report.
The tally:
* Outside groups are making record expenditures (more than four times
as much spent in the 2010 midterm election cycle as in the last midterm
election cycle in 2006);
* Congressional staffs and lawmakers are intimidated by corporate
lobbyists like never before;
* Laws designed to protect the political system from the corrupting
influence of money have been rendered dead in 24 states; and
* Power has shifted in dozens of congressional seats in races won with
the help of undisclosed outside money.
The 76-page report, “12 Months After: The Effects of
Citizens
United on Elections and the Integrity of the Legislative Process,”
reveals a year’s worth of damage done by the court’s decision is available at:
http://www.citizen.org/12-months-after.