CWA Town hall Call Takes on Money in Politics

How to get Big Money out of Politics was the focus of June’s telephone town hall call. Several thousand activists, from CWA and allies Public Citizen and People for the American Way, joined as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, CWA President Larry Cohen and leaders from key partners outlined a path forward to restore democracy and get big money out of politics.

Marge Baker, executive vice president for People for the American Way, and Rob Weissman, president of Public Citizen, President Cohen and CWA D1 Legislative-Political Director Bob Master discussed what’s happening now to restore the first amendment rights of ordinary people, by stopping the flood of money and corporate and Super PAC contributions that threaten to obliterate the power of the people’s vote.

Weissman said, “We’re seeing people get engaged and mobilized on this issue as they never have before, and all of us are building a big democracy movement. This work not only will affect what we can accomplish on this amendment but will enable us to take on corporate power in ways we haven’t done before to restore our democracy."

“As a result of this work, we’re going to win public financing in states around the country and eventually in Congress. And we’ll move forward on this amendment to restore the right of the Senate and states to regulate political spending.”

Baker said, “This is an historic moment. The Senate subcommittee voted to take back our Constitution, to take back our first amendment rights from the Supreme Court that totally mauled it in the Citizens United and McCutcheon cases. After the full committee votes, we will have a vote in the Senate and we’re working to make certain that a majority of the Senate supports it.

“It will be a long haul, so we have work to do. We have the July 4 recess and the August recess, and there are many things that can be done, including patriotic events, and it’s really important that our Senators hear from us.”

CWAers and allies made 5,000 calls to their Senators’ offices for the June 18 vote, pressing them to support this effort to restore the first amendment rights of ordinary Americans.

Cohen said building a democracy movement is the only way to take our country back from the richest of the 1 percent, like the Koch brothers, and the Chamber of Commerce.

“The Chamber of Commerce makes sure we won’t have Employee Free Choice, that we won’t have decent labor laws. Anything that working people want or need in the country, the Chamber of Commerce is on the other side.

“Some CWAers might say, ‘well, that’s true, but I’m in a contract fight, or we’ve just lost jobs. What is the connection?’ Big money in politics and the other blocks to real democracy are exactly why we’re losing our jobs and why we don’t have any decent labor laws in this country.

“We got into building a democracy movement with allies because there is no path to decent labor law or to bring back decent retirement security and pensions in this country. We need to make that path. The money in politics, the $7 billion spent in the last election is an absolute block to any of the things we care about.”

Learn more about events over the July 4 and August congressional recess at www.moneyout-votersin.org.

And make sure you’re on the next town hall call. Go to www.cwa-union.org/monthlycall for more information.