U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
Last night, the Communications Workers of America (CWA) held a conference call featuring Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, about efforts to pass a Constitutional amendment overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United and McCutcheon decisions which have flooded our elections with “dark money.” Also on the call were Rob Weissman of Public Citizen, Marge Baker, who is Executive Vice President of People for the American Way, Larry Cohen, the President of CWA, and Bob Master, CWA’s District 1 (Northeast) Political Director.
According to Rob Weissman, a Constitutional amendment (S.J.Res. 19 introduced by Sen. Tom Udall), is moving through the U.S. Senate to “get big money out of politics.” Weissman said that, as a result of the Citizens United decision, there is now a flood of outside money into elections through Karl Rove, the Koch Brothers and others. According to Weissman, the Supreme Court’s subsequent McCutcheon deicion was “equally ludicrous,” taking away limits on the total amount that individuals can contribute to campaigns. Weissman said that S.J.Res. 19 passed the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee yesterday, will go to the full Senate Judiciary Committee on or about July 10, and then hopefully to the full Senate for a vote by September. Weissman then said that the amendment gives citizens and states control over election financing. According to Weissman, the amendment needs a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House, and then would need to be ratified by three-fourths of the states.
Marge Baker said that, currently, 45 Senators support S.J.Res. 19. According to Baker, during the next two Congressional recesses (July 4 holiday and the month of August), many organizing efforts and “patriotic events” will be undertaken to drum up support for the amendment and counteract calls that the opposition is making to Senators. Baker said that a website, moneyout-votersin.org, has been set up to help this effort. On July 10, according to Baker, there will be a national call-in day to help achieve a majority Senate Judiciary Committee vote.
Then the star of the call, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, got on. Reid said he was “repulsed by the Supreme Court’s decision on Citizens United and cases they’ve done since then.” Reid said that the Koch Brothers just held a secret meeting in Dana Point, CA, consisting of “two guys trying to buy the world.” At this meeting, according to Reid, the “Kochs decided to spend another $300 million this election cycle.” “The Koch Brothers,” according to Reid, “are insidious.” They have “fake groups” such as veterans groups, seniors groups and environmental groups, with “different names.” The Koch Brothers have also captured the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and have secret organizations, according to Reid. Reid said that’s why he supports the Udall/Bennett Constitutional amendment that curbs unlimited campaign spending. According to Reid, the amendment reigns in the massive spending of superPACs and makes political races transparent and fair, reflecting the will of all voters, not just billionaires.
Reid said he would move S.J.Res. 19 to the Senate floor when it gets out of the Judiciary Committee. According to Reid, the bill will not likely get the required 67 votes on its first go-round, but it will put Senators on the spot as to their votes. Reid said that Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell indicated several years ago that he would vote to reign in superPACs.
Photo by Senate Democrats, used under Creative Commons license. http://is.gd/jWAbvg
