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News Release | WISPIRG | Democracy

First-of-its-kind “Refrain From Political Spending” Resolution to Be Voted on at Bank of America Shareholder Meeting Wednesday

On Wednesday, May 9, shareholders at Bank of America will vote “yay” or “nay” on a first-of-its-kind “refrain from political spending” resolution. Resolutions addressing political spending are among the most popular in the 2012 shareholder season, many dealing with the disclosure of such spending. This is the first shareholder season for this groundbreaking resolution which was introduced by socially responsible investment firms Trillium Asset Management at Bank of America and 3M Corporation and by Green Century Capital Management at Target Corporation.

Who Owns Big Oil? We do!

Monday, April 23, 2012
By | Bruce Speight
State Director

The American Petroleum Institute has a new public image campaign- www.whoownsbigoil.org The purpose of this website, presumably, is to convince us that if we raise taxes on hugely profitable corporations we will only be hurting ourselves. Why? Because we are all shareholders of those corporations and when they are taxed we suffer.

Making Super PACs Illegal

Thursday, March 22, 2012
By | Bruce Speight
State Director

There are some very important steps that every level of government – from your city council to the White House - should take right now to mitigate the impact of super PACs before the 2012 election.

Report | WISPIRG Foundation, Demos | Democracy

Auctioning Democracy

Results of Dēmos and U.S. PIRG Education Fund analysis of Federal Election Commission data on Super PACs from their advent in 2010 through the end of 2011.

Media Hit | Democracy, Tax

WI Public Radio: PROPOSED LAW AIMS TO CONTROL CORPORATE SPENDING ON POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS

A new WISPIRG report focuses on thirty wealthy corporations that spent $2 billion lobbying for a wide range of legislation, yet paid little if any corporate taxes. WISPIRG spokesman Bruce Speight says in most cases they paid no taxes, "Twenty-nine of the 30 so deftly exploited the tax loopholes in our tax code that they boasted negative tax rates meaning they are getting money back from our government."

Report | WISPIRG Foundation | Democracy, Tax

Representation Without Taxation

Marking the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United vs. FEC case – which opened the floodgates to corporate spending on elections – this report takes a hard look at the lobbying activities of profitable Fortune 500 companies that exploit loopholes and work to distort the tax code to avoid billions of dollars in taxes.

News Release | WISPIRG | Democracy, Tax

Thirty Fortune 500 Companies Paid More to Lobby Congress than they Did in Federal Income Taxes

With the second anniversary approaching of the Supreme Court’s decision in the Citizens United case – which opened the floodgates to corporate spending on elections – WISPIRG and Citizens for Tax Justice reveal 30 corporations that spent more to lobby Congress than they did in taxes.

News Release | WISPIRG | Democracy

Senate Must Not Block Disclosure of Special Interest Campaign Contributions

Statement of WISPIRG’s Johanna Lathrop on today’s cloture vote on the DISCLOSE Act (S. 3628) legislation that responds to the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizen’s United vs. FEC earlier this year,  which allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of campaign money to support or oppose candidates.

News Release | WISPIRG | Democracy

The DISCLOSE Act is a Critical First Step to Prevent a Corporate Takeover of Democracy

Thursday saw the introduction of the long-awaited Schumer-Van Hollen legislative reaction to the Supreme Court’s disastrous ruling in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission.

News Release | WISPIRG | Democracy

Citizens United Solution Unveiled

Today Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Chris Van Hollen introduced a series of strong reforms in response to the Supreme Court’s disastrous ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

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