Two years ago, the public spoke out against the Supreme Court’s decision to allow unlimited corporate spending in politics when consumers boycotted Minnesota-based Target Corporation and 3M for spending in that state’s elections. But now that it’s election season again, it appears these companies haven’t learned their lesson.
We recently asked Target and 3M to be leaders in corporate responsibility by opting out of political spending in 2012, but they refused. So Illinois PIRG is joining with its friends in the investment and reform communities to file shareholder resolutions calling on Target and 3M to refrain from spending in our elections.
Sign our citizen petition demanding that Target and 3M refrain from spending on elections.
Thanks to the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, corporations can spend unlimited money in elections to support their favorite candidates. But when corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money in elections, the voices of citizens are drowned out and politicians become accountable only to special interests.
Even before Citizens United, the average cost of winning a congressional seat had jumped nearly twenty-three fold since 1974, from $56,000 to 1.3 million,1 and the $66.9 million cost of the 1976 presidential election was dwarfed by 2008's $1.3 billion pricetag.2 If Citizens United stands unopposed, there is literally no limit. Candidates and lawmakers will have little choice but to pander to the interests of the highest bidders.
We've come up with a plan to curb this undue influence, and it begins with two companies that know how they compromised their shareholder value when they spent money on elections. Send a friendly reminder to Target and 3M:
We don't want limitless corporate money in politics.
Sincerely,
We recently asked Target and 3M to be leaders in corporate responsibility by opting out of political spending in 2012, but they refused. So Illinois PIRG is joining with its friends in the investment and reform communities to file shareholder resolutions calling on Target and 3M to refrain from spending in our elections.
Sign our citizen petition demanding that Target and 3M refrain from spending on elections.
Thanks to the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision, corporations can spend unlimited money in elections to support their favorite candidates. But when corporations can spend unlimited amounts of money in elections, the voices of citizens are drowned out and politicians become accountable only to special interests.
Even before Citizens United, the average cost of winning a congressional seat had jumped nearly twenty-three fold since 1974, from $56,000 to 1.3 million,1 and the $66.9 million cost of the 1976 presidential election was dwarfed by 2008's $1.3 billion pricetag.2 If Citizens United stands unopposed, there is literally no limit. Candidates and lawmakers will have little choice but to pander to the interests of the highest bidders.
We've come up with a plan to curb this undue influence, and it begins with two companies that know how they compromised their shareholder value when they spent money on elections. Send a friendly reminder to Target and 3M:
We don't want limitless corporate money in politics.
Sincerely,
Brian Imus
Illinois PIRG State Director
Illinois PIRG State Director
P.S. We want to flood their inboxes today. Can you pass this message on to your friends and family, and ask them to send a message to Target and 3M too?
1 Third World America, Arianna Huffington, 2010 (p. 130)
2 The Center for Responsive Politics, opensecrets.org.
2 The Center for Responsive Politics, opensecrets.org.
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