The Earth's climate is shifting synchronously with the political climate. There are many who support the effort to remove dirty money from politics. The irony is, many of these endeavors request monetary support to, well, end certain monetary support. Our Democratic system has been so corrupted that the people's voice is rarely heard unless the people's wallet is also open.
After publishing a recent article about the campaign contributions of multinational banks compared to the voice of the people, it became clear that EndCitizensUnited.org required more investigation.
To successfully remove the corrupting money from politics, we are encouraged to spend money on politics. Another irony of life, yet not to be dismissed. MoveToAmend.org is a grassroots effort that has led the organizational charge against Citizens United since 2009. They list how the donated funds are spent, displayed in an easy to read pie chart and have a clear mission. Overturn the Supreme Court ruling which gave corporations personhood.
EndCitizensUnited.org is different, their website is focused on candidates they are endorsing. Sounds familiar, right?
MoveToAmend.org has warned their supporters about EndCitizensUnited.org in many different ways. MTA.org has an easy to read pie chart that divulges how their donations are spent, while ECU.org has a 4,200 page document filed with the Federal Elections Commission on their website. Just below this 4,200 page document is the statement, “Our donors are investors in a movement to take back our democracy, so we’ll be always be transparent and open.” (ECU's typo included). Transparent to whom, lawyers?
EndCitizensUnited.org claims, “Our greatest strength is the power of grassroots activists”. The latest 10 news briefs on their website, dating back to August, 2015, do not list a single grassroots event. Each of these ten articles mentions candidates ECU.org is endorsing.
One must go back to July 29th, 2015 to find a grassroots event on ECU.org. It was in Maine for Yes on Question 1. ECU.org claims to have raised $6,867.18 for the ballot initiative to clean up elections in Maine. ECU has raised over two million dollars according to ECU's Simone Pathe on August 13th, 2015. Pathe's news brief continues, “The group is hoping to grow its ranks when it begins renting Ready for Hillary’s email list this week. That 'partnership,' Communications Director Richard Carbo told CQ Roll Call on Tuesday, 'highlights our legitimacy.'”
Why is EndCitizensUnited.org partnering with Clinton, when Sanders and Lessig are both strong advocates for the movement to remove money from politics?
ECU's Kimberly Railey on August 25th, 2015 writes, “Last cycle, Mayday PAC—a super PAC led by Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig that raised money to end super PACs—achieved little in the way of results despite spending $10 million.” The Mayday PAC is taking the same approach as the End Citizens United PAC. Primarily endorsing candidates.
The irony of donating clean money to end dirty money takes another turn as a “clean” Super PAC is created to end other dirty Super PAC's.
This is not irony, it is satire.
11:38 AM PT: Kimberly Railey of EndCitizensUnited.org states, on October 4th, 2015, "To date, End Citizens United PAC has donated about $250,000 to Democratic candidates out of the roughly $3.8 million it has raised—thanks to the use of the voluminous email list developed by Ready for Hillary. The organization’s aim is to elect Democrats who favor overturning Citizens United and other Supreme Court decisions that have fueled more money in politics."
I did not accurately report this spending in my article and that ECU.org is actively supporting "Democrats in key races", as stated on their homepage:
http://endcitizensunited.org/...
Perhaps, this is a story that needs more time to truly develop.
Fri Nov 06, 2015 at 7:59 AM PT: A quote used in this article, from the ECU.org website, by Simone Pathe on August 13th, 2015 is no longer there. The new similar quote states, "At the presidential level, the group’s use of Ready for Hillary’s contact list does not imply an endorsement of Clinton."
The quote that was formerly on the ECU.org website through the Newsroom Section was, "Roll Call: Campaign Finance Reform PAC Wants to Be a Player in 2016" was, “The group is hoping to grow its ranks when it begins renting Ready for Hillary’s email list this week. That 'partnership,' Communications Director Richard Carbo told CQ Roll Call on Tuesday, 'highlights our legitimacy.'”
The Internet Archive Wayback Machine does list this page, so any changes to this page cannot be verified:
http://endcitizensunited.org/...