CMD Appears at People's Summit in Washington D.C.

The Center for Media and Democracy's Executive Director Lisa Graves appeared at "The People's Summit," a public affairs event held in Washington, D.C. January 21 to discuss the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. The landmark ruling, which is one year old this month, was achieved on a divided 5-4 vote and overturned a century of previous court rulings that held that corporate political donations can, and should be regulated. The decision effectively equated money with speech, and protects corporate speech the same way the law protects individual speech. Other panelists discussing the impact of the law included Marge Baker, Executive Vice President for Policy and Program Planning for People for the American Way, Douglas Clopp, Deputy Director for Programs for Common Cause, and Craig Holman, Legislative Representative for Public Citizen's Congress Watch. The panel session, which was broadcast on CSPAN, was held to highlight the effects of money in politics and the rise of corporate power in our democracy. Video of the 1 hour, 17 minute panel discussion is available here.