Democracy Is For People

Tell Congress to Stand Up to Corporate Influence

The Supreme Court's perverse ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission gave corporations the "right" to spend unlimited money to influence elections.

Powerful multinational corporations already exerted disproportionate influence in Washington. Citizens United makes this problem much, much worse.

Here are the policies that will help disentangle the corporate tentacles from our government.

1. Shareholder Protection
Corporate America shouldn’t be able to use the public's retirement savings or other investments as a political war chest. When you own stock in a corporation, you own the corporation – and you should have a say in how it spends your money. The Shareholder Protection Act (H.R. 2517, S. 1360) would let shareholders, not CEOs, decide whether and how corporations spend money to influence elections.

2. Disclosure of Political Spending
Transparency will enable the public to hold activist corporations accountable. The Securities and Exchange Commission should require publicly traded companies to disclose their political spending, and President Obama should issue his executive order requiring disclosure of election spending by government contractors.

3. Public Financing of Elections
The Fair Elections Now Act (H.R. 1404, S. 750) would enable candidates to run competitive campaigns on small contributions matched by public funds, leaving them no excuse to chase after campaign cash from lobbyists and wealthy special interests.

4. Constitutional Amendment
Ultimately, we need a constitutional amendment to tell the Supreme Court that corporate spending is not the same thing as free speech by real people.

Copyright © 2013 Public Citizen. All rights reserved. This Web site is shared by Public Citizen Inc. and Public Citizen Foundation.
Learn More about the distinction between these two components of Public Citizen.


Public Citizen, Inc. and Public Citizen Foundation

Together, two separate corporate entities called Public Citizen, Inc. and Public Citizen Foundation, Inc., form Public Citizen. Both entities are part of the same overall organization, and this Web site refers to the two organizations collectively as Public Citizen.

Although the work of the two components overlaps, some activities are done by one component and not the other. The primary distinction is with respect to lobbying activity. Public Citizen, Inc., an IRS § 501(c)(4) entity, lobbies Congress to advance Public Citizen’s mission of protecting public health and safety, advancing government transparency, and urging corporate accountability. Public Citizen Foundation, however, is an IRS § 501(c)(3) organization. Accordingly, its ability to engage in lobbying is limited by federal law, but it may receive donations that are tax-deductible by the contributor. Public Citizen Inc. does most of the lobbying activity discussed on the Public Citizen Web site. Public Citizen Foundation performs most of the litigation and education activities discussed on the Web site.

You may make a contribution to Public Citizen, Inc., Public Citizen Foundation, or both. Contributions to both organizations are used to support our public interest work. However, each Public Citizen component will use only the funds contributed directly to it to carry out the activities it conducts as part of Public Citizen’s mission. Only gifts to the Foundation are tax-deductible. Individuals who want to join Public Citizen should make a contribution to Public Citizen, Inc., which will not be tax deductible.

To become a member of Public Citizen, click here.
To become a member and make an additional tax-deductible donation to Public Citizen Foundation, click here.