Sen. Al Franken Announces Bill to Keep Foreign Interests Out of Elections
In the past week, I've heard of other Senate and House versions of a bill forbidding campaign contributions from foreign-owned companies (and in one case, companies that have even one foreign stockholder).
This one's from Sen. Al Franken, announced today:
"Since 1974, federal law has banned foreign companies from giving or spending in American elections. Nothing in our current laws, however, explicitly prohibits foreign companies from creating American subsidiaries or getting control of American companies and using them to flood the airwaves in support of their preferred candidates. Citizens United gives companies unlimited power to do that - and does not distinguish between American companies and companies that are owned or controlled by foreign interests.
"I was pleased to hear the President recognize the need for this bill in his address last night," said Sen. Franken. "I think we can all agree that foreign interests have no place in American elections."
The "American Elections Act of 2010" was developed in coordination with Professor David Schultz of Hamline University School of Business in Minnesota.
"The Supreme Court decision in Citizens United was an attack on democracy and fair elections," said Professor Schultz. "It undid laws seeking to regulate corporations across the country and in Minnesota that go back over 60 years. As a result of it corporate money will flood into Minnesota, threatening the basic integrity of our elections and the power of citizens to control their own government. Senator Franken's bill is an important first step in addressing Citizens United and preventing money from further destroying our elections in Minnesota."
Another anti-rape amendment from Al Franken.
Carry on.
"The greatest tyranny is censoring information in order to be better able to control people." - Cristina Saralegui
to see if Hugo Chavez would buy all the TV time just to piss off republicans.
Republicans are liars and simply cannot be trusted.
How can "basic integrity" be threatened when it doesn't exist?
Citizens United to Impeach John Roberts
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http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/25830
By: marcos Friday January 22, 2010 11:40 am
Impeach John Roberts. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts promised to "call balls and strikes" from the bench, "not to pitch or bat." With the Citizens United case, the Roberts court changed the game from baseball to rollerball.
I have no agenda, but I do have a commitment. If I am confirmed, I will confront every case with an open mind. I will fully and fairly analyze the legal arguments that are presented. I will be open to the considered views of my colleagues on the bench. And I will decide every case based on the record, according to the rule of law, without fear or favor, to the best of my ability. And I will remember that it’s my job to call balls and strikes and not to pitch or bat.
With the Supreme Court plucking this ruling out of thin air, John Roberts is revealed as having lied under oath to the Senate. Not only should he be impeached, but should be subject to criminal prosecution for lying to the Senate prior to his confirmation to the Supreme Court.
****
Look what happen in Missouri.....
http://www.perkel.com/pbl/married/signed/impe...
The Missouri Supreme Court...The case for impeachment.
This time they crossed the line.
Two hundred and forty year ago our forefathers stood up to the King of England and formed a democracy, a government that existed for the sole purpose of serving the people.
The government was divided up into 4 branches, the executive, the legislature, the judiciary, and the people.
The judicial branch of government exists for the single purpose of providing for justice and nothing else.
When judiciary fails to perform its duty as required by the constitution it is the duty of the executive and the legislature, and "ultimately the people to rise up and take control" and to restore the judiciary to a position that is subservient to the people through the powers of impeachment.
The impeachment of the entire high court should not be taken lightly, however, there comes a point where the people's need for just and honest courts demands that strong positions be taken to ensure the integrity of the judiciary.
We have now arrived at that point.
None
The United States of America is/"was" a constitutional republic not a democracy. Rome was a democracy and it failed like the USA will if you don't pull you head out of your @.. Not trying to be a dick but that fact should not be forgotten. It's a shame that even the Republicans don't seem to remember this fact either. Most likely because they have no concept of the constitution anymore. I.E. the Patriot ACT, Corporate sponsored presidents and senators, RIAA, & pretty much anything Bush did and Oboma continues to support. There are no more checks and balances because no one respects the constitution & how our government was setup. The only time these checks and balances are called upon is when someone has money on the line. There will have to be revolution in order to get back our government. Until then it is in the hands of the rich, pure and simple fact! We made it acceptable when we became a nation of divided idiot consumers. Without unity we will continue to not have any say in our government what so ever. I contact senators and reps all the time and get automated responses. They don't want to listen to any type of reason, its just their own agenda 100% of the time.
In closing, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God (Give or take the God part), indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Why doesn't someone introduce a bill that challenges every unconstitutional principle the SC has granted to corporations instead of focusing only on forbidding foreign-owned corporations from contributing to politicians' campaigns? What about ALL corporate contributions to politicians' campaigns?
We could "help" the Supreme Court by providing grounds for such legislation that is different than what they used to make this terrible decision.
After so much criticism from everybody, the SC isn't likely to declare other legislation unconstitutional if it were based on other constitutional principles not used by Alito and his cronies this go-round.
You hit the nail on the head. And I am a "native" in the State of Arizona.....where our two stupid senators (both needing to spell their first name differently so they don't get confused).....have been saying this for years. BS and Jive from these two Alpha-Hotels. Both of these jerks are FOR the things they are AGAINST. More than their first name confuses these morons.
Seems like when an action or policy makes citizens mad , they throw in something that does not stop the corrupted actions , but to pacify their voters..
The elected officials including the democrats now are getting arrogant in the corrupted policies they are passing..
Look at Obama and the democrats,, they are now going to give these Corporations all they want... Like the oil and energy companies, Obama is going to ok the off shore drilling , burning oil at full steam , and building nuclear plants which we now have no place to store the radiation from them... Also , I guess they believe all Americans have forgotten Three Miles Island..
Is this why Maryland's censor rate is so high.. My wife has a Aunt which stated that there were mutated animals born after that event..
I keep saying the same d... thing , I believe we have been electing republicans or corporate candidates as democrats in the past years and now they have taken control of the democratic party..
None
Some stuff you can't make up!
There goes Al doing it again. Coming up with a completely common sense bill that the Repbutards are going to have to vote for unless they want to look ignorant again (yes again like the anti-rape vote) as usual. Not bad for a former comedian huh Repudlickins? This makes me laugh. Good goin Al.
Banning foreign corps. from electioneering in the U.S. doesn't get at any of the main problems facing us re: elections....i.e.,
Our elections are already almost completely meaningless. Big biz money dominates all elections. Candidates are almost entirely hirelings of the corps and have no interest at all in helping their fellow citizens by passing meaningful laws. The media coverage of almost every issue before us today (unemployment, wars, depression, debt, global warming, etc.) skirts around the edges and NEVER gets to the heart or truth of any of the matters before the voters.
As long as we keep getting fake news or irrelevant news we'll remain ignorant....convinced that some guy winning in MA who posed nude for Cosmo and believing some bozo yammering that Obama wasn't born in the U.S...or that those are pressing problems before us. We'll never hear the ugly truth or be able to do anything about it.
Joan of Oak
unless i'm reading this wrong this bill would stop all public corporations. i doubt there are any public corporations with no foreign stock holders. this bill wouldn't stop walmart or any other private companies but it would stop most of the ones that are a major concern. unless i'm way off base here if this bill were to pass we'd be better off now than we were before citizens united.
a link to the actual bill? I've looked and can't find it.
What I have seen would only stop corps. that have a foreign controlling interest, majority of foreign nationals on the board of directors for the US branch, receive most of there funding from foreign corps/nationals/gov., etc.
So foreign ownership of stock would be fine as long as it wasn't a controlling interest.
HELL NO!!!
LimpBalls
so franken is saying one of the following two things:
1. the president was lying when he said the SC decision opens the floodgates for foreign money. congress CAN pass a bill that forbids that in accordance with the SC decision.
2. franken wants to introduce an unconstitutional bill, as decided by the SC.
which one is it?
What we need is... New
Sat, 01/30/2010 - 14:44 — Pete2069
Citizens United to Impeach John Roberts
*****************************************
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/25830
By: marcos Friday January 22, 2010 11:40 am
Impeach John Roberts. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts promised to "call balls and strikes" from the bench, "not to pitch or bat." With the Citizens United case, the Roberts court changed the game from baseball to rollerball.
I have no agenda, but I do have a commitment. If I am confirmed, I will confront every case with an open mind. I will fully and fairly analyze the legal arguments that are presented. I will be open to the considered views of my colleagues on the bench. And I will decide every case based on the record, according to the rule of law, without fear or favor, to the best of my ability. And I will remember that it’s my job to call balls and strikes and not to pitch or bat.
With the Supreme Court plucking this ruling out of thin air, John Roberts is revealed as having lied under oath to the Senate. Not only should he be impeached, but should be subject to criminal prosecution for lying to the Senate prior to his confirmation to the Supreme Court.
None
This needs to be done, but it may be easier said than done.
So much of what manufacturing remains in the country, is Americans working for companies like Toyota. Southland Corporation (7-11) is also owned by them.
The odds are your car has a chassis made in Mexico, engine components in Japan, electronics in Germany, but because the corporation is owned by an American company, it's slapped with a Made in America label.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
You forgot Chevron (owned by Venezuela), BP (British Petroleum), Circle-K (a Canadian company), Shell (Royal Dutch Shell), Budweiser (InBev a Brazilian/Dutch company), T-Mobile (Deutsche Telekom) and a host of others.
Election 2012: Be Educated! Be Active! Vote!
www.PhoenixJustice.com
I was only scratching the surface.
But my understanding is that the Brits and the Germans own more of our corporations than the Japanese. They're just more subtle about it, with less public announcements.
And your list seems to support that.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
is NOT owned by Venezuela...I believe you are thinking of Citgo.
After Bush/Cheney's killing of our soldiers and destroying our economy.. look who received the oil contracts in Iraq...
A joint venture between the UK's Shell and Malaysia's Petronas oil companies has won the right to develop Iraq's giant Majnoon oil field
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8407274.stm
You know d... well with all the oil contracts , military contracts , Prescription Drug companies , banking companies ( along with Our bailout money) , manufacturing plants which are Britain is receiving from us , that the American corporations have ties to them and other foreign countries...
None
Which the blood and sweat of American workers has created , they have turn their back on us with the held of the U.S. government to the very country in which we fought a war to be free of...
you would believe some of the same fight and sprit would have trickled down to us from our forefather's genes..
None
The sticker, by law, should tell you the foreign content. If you don't want any foreign content there won't be anything available.
Would not even enforce the statement he made (along with many more) that he would try to enforce the statement of BUY USA>>
I guess the republican party which Obama has to let create our legislation and to call it bi-partisan,, told Obama to stop talking that type of language it would hurt the business partners overseas like Japan , China and Britain..
What country is the republicans really loyal to???
http://donklephant.com/2008/12/17/republicans...
Republicans Backed Subsidies For Foreign Car Manufacturers
Southern Senators are crying foul at the auto rescue package, but they had no problem giving foreign automakers billions in subsidies to come set up shop in their states.
To hear Southern Republicans tell the story, the financial burdens facing Detroit’s automakers are self-made troubles to be settled by the laws of Adam-Smith capitalism. [...]
Yet this argument — that the government has no business interfering in free markets — ignores an increasingly frequent tradition among Southern states, which have fronted billions in local taxpayer dollars in the past two decades to attract foreign auto plants. Those incentives, arriving in the form of tax breaks, training for new employees and even land, have enticed BMW to South Carolina, Mercedes to Alabama and Nissan to Tennessee.
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http://www.slate.com/id/2206525/pagenum/all/
The central Kentucky town of Georgetown, just north of Lexington, used to be known for the state's two main exports: bourbon and horses. Legend holds that in 1789, somewhere nearby, Elijah Craig, a Baptist minister, distilled the first batch of bourbon in charred oak casks. Thoroughbreds graze and trot across fenced fields of trim bluegrass on the horse farms that ring much of the city. But in the past 20 years, a different type of horsepower—the kind generated by Camrys, Avalons, and Solaras—has transformed Georgetown from a quiet country town into a booming suburb and export engine. In 1986, Toyota—lured in part by nearly $150 million in tax breaks and other incentives—built a massive manufacturing plant here.
And in the years since, the bucolic landscape has been transformed. The 1,300-acre plant in which Toyota has invested $5.3 billion produces a car roughly every minute. Georgetown's population has doubled. In fields where farmers once grew tobacco and raised cattle, McMansions, apartment complexes, and condominiums have sprouted. A 150,000-square-foot upscale retail center is rising near the Toyota plant, the better to serve its 7,000 employees. "There is no doubt the state's investment in Toyota has repaid itself many times over," says state Sen. Damon Thayer, a Republican who represents Georgetown in the Kentucky General Assembly.
To be sure, the Georgetown plant isn't immune from the problems that have brought America's domestic manufacturers in Detroit to the brink of disaster. It recently furloughed 250 temporary employees and has throttled back production. But Brian Howard, 42, a team leader in painting operations and a 20-year veteran of the plant, is pleased with the way things are going. He enjoys high wages and cheap health insurance—$74 per month for his family. "They've told us for years that they've planned for a rainy day," he said. "Well, it's here and we're still doing well compared to the Big Three."
None
I was kind of thinking that was the whole point in the first place. There is no doubt that a sizable percentage of transnational corporations that we perceive as "American" are actually owned in big percentages by foreign entities. Somebody ought to do something to draw attention to that...wait...oh! Thanks Al!
countries should be added in there also. No more ATC or AIPAC would be nice
ATC and AIPAC Sibel Edmonds calls “sister organizations,” partners in crime. My first reaction to the Court’s decision was that there would be a backlash from AIPAC, as they’d further have to share their dominance of our government and elections with other de facto foreign interests. So here comes Zionist Al with a “progressive” bill that’ll check that problem.
seen corps. with a controlling interest or a majority of its funding by a foreign gov. will be banned as well. But I don't think that would effect AIPAC because they don't do advertising, they mainly lobby which is allowed under current law(even before the USSC decision). If they want to make a law banning foreign lobbying I'd be fine with that.
why not pass a constitutional amendment declaring that the rights enumerated in the Constitution only pertain to humans?
to do anything but hold out their paws for $$$ is unrealistic, even for something that should be a no-brainer, unfortunately.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
the founding fathers were thinking anything other than that? Good point.
Fox News is owned by foreigner Rupert Murdoch.
what his "reporters" do with their time. RM is the case-in-point of what the SCOTUS can do to this country.
Rupert Murdoch is a US citizen. Unless you want to ban naturalized citizens from participating in politics......
for malfeasance, incompetence, and conspiracy ahainst the constitution and the American people.
That might be actually possible.
Accusing them of treason is unlikely to work.
But before impeachment I think there should be an audit of the court, the offices of each justice, and on each individual justices personally to check for bribery or misuse of tax dollars. Since the House has the power of the purse strings and drawing up impeachment charges, I think auditing them would be in their power. There will be counter-charges of a witch-hunt, but since the Citizen's United case was about campaign-contributions (bribery), I think it's relevant. If it leads to a constitutional crisis, so be it.
We also need, I think, an amendment requiring either the unanimity of the court, or no less than 6 (a super-majority of the 9), so we have no more 5-4 decisions. And as each of the current justices retire, they're replaced by justices who will serve no more than 12 years.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
The Last Honest Senator.
(Of course, Bernie Sanders isn't so bad, either.)
Grayson's not so bad either
Grayson's a Rep., not a senator.
Considering how much we bomb or exploit foreign interests, I don't know if the above statement is true.
i really, really, really, REALLY hope that republicans vote against this. Why? Kiss their asses good bye as they are voted out of office. That'd be nice to see :)
These hard core f-ers are so dense that nothing will get through to them
Pass a law that says you have to be a citizen to spend money on media during an election. Someone who's not a citizen in the country caught spending money... goes to jail. A candidate caught taking money from a non-citizen summarily loses their seat, and may go to jail (depending on circumstances... big difference between fifty bucks from a guy in an immigrant neighbourhood vs. 500,000 from a firm...). Finally, citizens found laundering foreign money *definitely* go to jail.
The reason why this works... if you take money from a firm or a foreigner... your opponent will be combing your books looking for it after the election. It enforces itself.
Make 'em put their real name to the money they spend.
already against the law for foreign nationals to contribute to campaigns or have political advertising in the US. The current loophole is US corps that have a foreign controlling interest.
I cannot say the same for anyone in the GOP.
The campaign money could be fixed just by saying you cannot take money from outside your district. Plus you cannot donate money that was made outside the district that you are donating money for.
Those two rules would go a long way to fix this mess.
republicanism/conservatism is a mental illness!
if I live in one district and work in another I can't donate? It wasn't made in my district. Heck I've lived in one state and worked in another, does that mean I can't contribute to my local reps/trustees/senators/mayor etc.? Hell my brother in law has done quite a bit of work outside the country does that mean he can't contribute to any politician in the US?
Taking money from outside of your district I can pretty much go along with.
Although I do remember calls to contribute on this site for someone running against Joe Wilson. Should that be allowed? Considering they specifically asked for donations from across the country and not just from people in his district. There were people on this site stating that they contributed when the didn't live in his state.
Heck even Al allowed contributions from out of his district. Here is a link to his fund raising site. Which lists quite a few countries and they are allowed to contribute as long as they are citizens of the US not just Minnesota.
a bill to the Senate, it's something that's very much needed.
He's also funny as heck too.
"The greatest tyranny is censoring information in order to be better able to control people." - Cristina Saralegui
Al Franken may be a comedian, but he is one of the few senators who is not criminally stupid or laughable when it comes to substantive issues.
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
Its going to fun to watch Republicans try to squirm around this one.
the senators themselves don't always come right out and say it, but as with the other contractor bill, you can bet it will be a whine saying they were "forced" into voting for it.
Then the likes of Karl Rove goes on TV and makes it sound like Franken is trying to trip them up. Into voting for what is right.
What's not to love about Al. He would be great if the only thing he ever did was politely tell Lieberman to basically "put a cork in it". Now that was fantastic.
Why is it that only Franken seems to come up with the logical response to the stupid decision by SCOTUS? Seems like everyone should be writing a bill that essentially does the same thing. But we only see any action from the new guy. They could all learn something from him. Just like on the anti-rape bill (or whatever they called it). He came out with a logical, measured response instead of wailing and gnashing of teeth. He wrote a bill. Gee, isn't that what we sent them there for?
I wake up every Morning and thank God that we have Al Franken as our
US.Senator instead of Mr.Chicklets"aka"Norm Coleman.
Why not make it illegal for anyone other than a registered voter to make a campaign contribution? It can be argued that any person or entity that does not vote has no vested interest in the electoral process and should, therefore, be disqualified from contributing to its finances. No matter what the Supreme Court has done in granting personhood, no corporation can register to vote, and, barring an ultimate perversion of a system that is becoming increasingly perverted, no corporation ever will.
Sorry, I came late to the game here.
Has anyone mentioned whether or not "American" corporations, those that are registered in the Caymans or wherever but here, will be considered eligable to contribute. Might get a lot of the players out of our elections, or at the very least bring in some much needed tax revenues.
is there ANY large corporation left in America that does not have foreign investors?
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