By Jason Easley, Politics USA – July 24, 2012 http://www.politicususa.com/bernie-sanders-exposes-26-billionaires-buying-2012-election.html In his new report, America For Sale: A Report on Billionaires Buying the 2012 Election, Sen. Bernie Sanders named names and called out the billionaires who using Citizens United to buy our democracy. In front of a Senate panel today, Sen. Bernie Sanders outed the 26 billionaires who are members of 23 billionaire families that are using Citizens United to buy elections. Sen. Sanders estimated that these 26 billionaires are the tip of the iceberg. “My guess is that number is really much greater because many of these contributions are made in secret. In other words, not content to own our economy, the 1 percent want to own our government as well.” Sanders explained how the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision put the government up for sale, “What the Supreme Court did in Citizens United is to say to these same billionaires and the corporations they control: ‘You own and control the economy, you own Wall Street, you own the coal companies, you own the oil companies. Now, for a very small percentage of your wealth, we’re going to give you the opportunity to own the United States government.’” Sen. Sanders also did the last thing the billionaires wanted. He called them out by name. According to the report, America for Sale: A Report on Billionaires Buying the 2012 Election, here are the 26 billionaires who are trying to buy your government: 1. Sheldon Adelson, owner of the Las Vegas Sands Casino, is worth nearly $25 billion, making him the 14th wealthiest person in the world and the 7th richest person in America. While median family income plummeted by nearly 40% from 2007-2010, Mr. Adelson has experienced a nearly eightfold increase in his wealth over the past three years (from $3.4 billion to $24.9 billion). Forbes recently reported that Adelson is willing to spend a “limitless” amount of money or more than $100 million to help defeat President Obama in November. 2,3,4. The Kochs (David, Charles, and William) are worth a combined $103 billion, according to Forbes. They have pledged to spend about $400 million during the 2012 election season. The Kochs own more wealth than the bottom 41.7 percent of American households or more than 49 million Americans. 5. Jim Walton is worth $23.7 billion. He has donated $300,000 to super PACs in 2012. 6. Harold Simmons is worth $9 billion. He has donated $15.2 million to super PACs this year. 7. Peter Thiel is worth $1.5 billion. He has donated $6.7 million to Super PACs this year. 8. Jerrold Perenchio is worth $2.3 billion. He has donated $2.6 million to super PACs this year. 9. Kenneth Griffin is worth $3 billion and he has given $2.08 million to super PACs in 2012. 10. James Simons is worth $10.7 billion and he has given $1.5 million to super Pacs this year. 11. Julian Robertson is worth $2.5 billion and he has given $1.25 million to super PACs this year. 12. Robert Rowling is worth $4.8 billion and he has given $1.1 million to super PACs. 13. John Paulson, the hedge fund manager who made his fortune betting that the sub-prime mortgage market would collapse, is worth $12.5 billion. He has donated $1 million to super PACs. 14,15. Richard and J.W. Marriott are worth a combined $3.1 billion and they have donated $2 million to super PACs this year. 16. James Davis is worth $1.9 billion and he has given $1 million to super PACs this year. 17. Harold Hamm is worth $11 billion and he has given $985,000 to super PACs this year. 18. Kenny Trout is worth more than $1.2 billion and he has given $900,000 to super PACs this year. 19. Louis Bacon is worth $1.4 billion and he has given $500,000 to super PACs this year. 20. Bruce Kovner is worth $4.5 billion and he has given $500,000 to super PACs this year. 21. Warren Stephens is worth $2.7 billion and he has given $500,000 to super PACs this year. 22. David Tepper is worth $5.1 billion and he has given $375,000 to super PACs this year. 23. Samuel Zell is worth $4.9 billion and he has given $270,000 to super PACs this year. 24. Leslie Wexner is worth $4.3 billion and he has given $250,000 to super PACs this year. 25. Charles Schwab is worth $3.5 billion and he has given $250,000 to super PACs this year. 26. Kelcy Warren is worth $2.3 billion and he has given $250,000 to super PACs this year. The thing that these billionaires love most about Citizens United it is that it allows them to operate in total darkness. The American people couldn’t fight back because the billionaires were giving their money anonymously. This same cloak of invisibility is what made ALEC so effective for years. The conservative billionaire cabal works best in private, behind closed doors, far away from curious eyes. With his report today, Sen. Sanders has made it more difficult for thieves of liberty to keep operating in the night. We now have a list of names and we know what they are trying to do to our government. Sen. Sanders is one of the few federally elected officials who has the courage to talk about these people in public. Most of the members of the House and Senate are too afraid to speak of, much less take on, the billionaires. Even those decent members of Congress who might speak out against them have been terrified into silence by threats of multimillion dollar negative ad buys that will run against the incumbent back home. Bernie Sanders is displaying a brand of political courage that is sorely lacking in American politics today, and he needs you to stand with him to protect our liberties, our freedoms, and to battle to return the government back to the American people.
Bernie Sanders Exposes the 26 Billionaires Who are Buying the 2012 Election
Thanks for the post John, I googled "citizens united" and found a link to a website Citizens United
Found this on their who are we page.
Citizens United is an organization dedicated to restoring our government to citizens' control. Through a combination of education, advocacy, and grass roots organization, Citizens United seeks to reassert the traditional American values of limited government, freedom of enterprise, strong families, and national sovereignty and security. Citizens United's goal is to restore the founding fathers' vision of a free nation, guided by the honesty, common sense, and good will of its citizens
This on the face of it appears to indicate they are for a return of Government for the people and by the people, also it features the mask and the occupy movement. Have I linked to something these billionaires are behind or have they also created a so called Citizens United charter to ad confusion?
Would appreciate comments and thoughts
that is being referred to Ian, is the name given to a recent supreme court decision which upheld the illusion that corporations are "persons" and that money = free speech.
This might help to clarify things, Ian:
http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&b=5435601
Frequently Asked Questions
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
The Supreme Court ruled on a much-anticipated case that opened the floodgates of corporate money into our political system. The court overturned well-established judicial precedents that upheld restrictions on unlimited corporate and union spending expressly advocating the election or defeat of candidates.
What is Citizens United?
During the 2008 election, a conservative non-profit organization named "Citizens United" produced Hillary: The Movie, a documentary critical of then-Sen. Hillary Clinton. Because of the political nature of the movie and the fact that Citizens United intended to purchase airtime on a video on-demand service on cable television, the movie was deemed an "electioneering communication" by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and was therefore subject to the rules governing the production of political ads, including limitations on who may fund them. Citizens United sued in federal court to overturn the decision, lost and appealed to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court held two hearings on the case and its ruling ultimately went far beyond what the plaintiffs had sought. The 5-4 decision permits corporations, unions and other special interests to spend as much as they like to advocate the election or defeat of political candidates. Laws that bar those interests from contributing directly to candidates remain in place but the ruling lifted controls on political giving that had been in place for decades.
Why does this matter?
Corporations already wield tremendous influence in our political system by virtue of the billions of dollars they spend on campaign contributions and lobbying every year, even in a system with limits on political giving. In 2009, the health care industry spent more than $263 million on lobbyists. Since the Supreme Court ruled that any limitation on corporate contributions – which were in place since 1907 when Congress passed the Tillman Act – are unconstitutional, corporations and unions have begun to crowd out the general public and will start to become the principal source of money for any candidate who hopes to win a seat in Congress.
Corporations would have so much money to donate to candidates that they can use it to drown out the voices of individual citizens. Reforms dealing with climate change or skyrocketing health care costs will only be possible if they somehow benefit the huge corporations that are bankrolling elections. More likely, companies will continue to oppose these and other populist measures in favor of legislation addressing their specific corporate interests.
How does this affect Common Cause's efforts to pass public financing reforms on the state and national levels?
The ruling has no effect on the constitutionality of public financing programs already in place in Maine, Connecticut, Arizona and other states. Indeed, Citizens United highlights the need to implement something similar to the “clean elections” laws in those states at the federal level.
In April, the U.S. Senate is expected to consider the Fair Elections Now Act, legislation that would create a voluntary system of small donations and limited public funding for congressional candidates. This citizen-funded election model would put all contributions on an equal playing field—corporate, union, PAC and your donations. Candidates opting into this system could accept contributions of no more than $100 and only from individual donors. In the current, money-driven political system, members of Congress and candidates spend countless hours each day raising money from the same lobbyists and special interests they're supposed to oversee in Washington. The Fair Elections system would reduce members of Congress reliance on these special interest donors and encourage them to give more attention to their constituents.
What can I do?
Please contact your member of Congress and ask them to keep big money out of politics by co-sponsoring the Fair Elections Now Act. We need your voice to end the pay-to-play political system in Washington. To find out more information go to www.commoncause.org/FairElectionsNowAct.
I could do with a refresher course on how to read. Was all in the first paragraph of John's post..
Just to make double sure, the Citizens United are all about getting peoples voice back into the Election system, and off this platform our dear "Billionaire Babes" are about to buy Elections like never before.
WOW!!!!!!!!.............................
Change still comes from the inside though, keep the faith.