[CRNMC] Another direction in which to go

[Sandra Marshall]

I like the anti corruption idea Charles.  I sounds clear and simple.  I for
one, don't yet understand the county charter and the need for one, and the
connection between charter and local bank.  I'll do some reading.

See you tomorrow,
Sandy

On Tue, Dec 2, 2014 at 9:40 AM, Charles Cresson Wood <ccwood at ix.netcom.com>
wrote:

> Hello community rights friends,
>
> Another direction that CRNMC could pursue at this point in time is an
> “anti-corruption act” (ACA). This exciting recent development – manifest in
> a law just passed in Tallahassee, Florida – was brought my attention by
> Michael St. John. The intention of these laws is to get corporate money out
> of politics. These laws prevent lobbyists, PACs, or any other
> representative acting on behalf of corporations from donating any money to
> politicians. These acts also mandate full transparency, ending secret
> money. This for example means that “bundlers,” those who combine money from
> various sources and then make a donation to a political campaign, must
> disclose all sources of the money. Limits are also placed on the amount
> that can be donated to politicians seeking to get reelected.
>
> These laws have been reviewed for Constitutionality, and at least so far,
> they appear to be Constitutional (so far as I can tell, no court cases
> yet). A model act that we could use was drafted by former Federal Election
> Commission chairman Trevor Potter, working in conjunction with democracy
> reform leaders and constitutional attorneys from across the political
> spectrum. The act enjoys support from both progressives and conservatives.
> This might be a “mom and apple pie” (just about everybody wants it)
> unifying way to bring together many different segments of our county.
>
> Given all the current public anger about the economy (how the Federal
> government refuses to prosecute big banks for mortgage fraud, hands over
> our tax dollars to bail out Wall Street firms that took outrageous risks,
> provides very little help for the growing number of homeless, etc.), we
> could probably capitalize on this anger to get a Mendocino County ACA
> passed. If we seek to dethrone the corporations, taking away their ability
> to influence politicians via money is a good place to start. If politicians
> are less beholden to corporations, in the future we should see fewer laws
> intended to favor corporations.
>
> This ACA law was very popular when it came time to vote. Some 67% of the
> voters in Tallahassee voted YES on the law (isn’t that our magic Measure S
> number?).
>
> Four-minute video:
> https://represent.us/action/tallahassee/
>
> About the model law:
> http://anticorruptionact.org/
>
> /s/ Charles
>
>
>
>
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