As state legislators and corporate lobbyists from around the country convened in Scottsdale Wednesday for an American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) meeting, Arizona residents impacted by ALEC policies raised their voices in opposition to the organization's corporate agenda.
Last year, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) attracted attention when reporters revealed Arizona's SB1070 anti-immigration law was pre-approved by ALEC corporations that stood to benefit from its passage. As ALEC's legislative and corporate members descend upon Arizona for meetings this week, a new report (pdf) shows that ALEC's influence in Arizona goes beyond SB1070 to include bills that suppress voting, attack worker's rights, privatize public education, and limit environmental protections.
Egyptians took to the polls with a massive turnout this week, and few reported problems in the first round of elections since the ouster of longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.
This week's initial parliamentary elections will collect votes in the main city centers, like Cairo and Alexandria, as part of what will be a four-month voting process. From these elections, Egypt's first democratically-elected parliament will be created, which will be tasked with crafting a new constitution for the nation and laying the groundwork for a presidential election in 2012. The elections are occurring after a series of violent clashes in Cairo's Tahrir Square with the interim military government. Protesters fear the military government is trying to manipulate the process to retain power. Some 40 people have been killed, and 2,000 injured.
The grassroots group United Wisconsin announced today that the effort to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has gathered 300,000 recall signatures in the first 12 days. Organizers have 48 more days to reach the minimum number of 540,208 certified signatures.
United Wisconsin reported that Wisconsinites signed the petitions at a rate of 1,040 signatures per hour. The group's press release featured numbers from counties that had voted for Walker in 2010. For instance, 10,033 residents from Columbia County signed recall petitions, over 45 percent of the total gubernatorial vote in 2010. Organizers also collected 4,713 signatures in rural Pierce County and 3,698 signatures in rural Oneida County.
This is a guest op-ed by Greg Colvin, a partner at the firm Adler & Colvin, originally published at OurFuture.org.
As the struggle in the streets intensifies, and Occupy Wall Street refuses to remain silent, it's good to know there are champions in Congress who have stepped up to the challenge of amending the US Constitution. It's called OCCUPIED: Outlawing Corporate Cash Undermining the Public Interest in our Elections and Democracy, here.
Today in Madison, Wisconsin, upwards of 30,000 demonstrators gathered to kick off a petition drive to recall Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and to protest policies that have had direct impacts on workers throughout the state.
Among the tens of thousands gathered were Sue and Tom Roberts from the Waukesha area, Walker's hometown. Sue is disabled, and the health insurance that Tom gets through his job as a custodian for the Waukesha School District covers them both -- for now. Tom has a one-year contract, and Sue says, "We're afraid he's going to lose his job because of my health problems."
As many as 30,000 people marched on the Wisconsin capitol Saturday for a rally commemorating the first weekend of the effort to recall the state's embattled Governor Scott Walker.
On the same day activists began collecting signatures to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, Republican legislators took steps that could allow the governor to reverse the state elections board on rules that would protect student voting and make it easier for recall proponents to circulate petitions. Democrats allege the move is a politically-motivated attack on the independence of the non-partisan board, made possible by an American Legislative Exchange Council-inspired law that ties the hands of state agencies and gives the governor unprecedented power.
This is a guest post on Citizens United by Greg Colvin, who is a partner at the firm Adler & Colvin. It was originally published on OurFuture.org.
We've seen the signs and heard the chants: "Abolish Corporate Personhood!"
I'm very sympathetic to the cause of reducing the power of big business corporations to control our government, our economy, our consumer culture, our society, and our lives. We can't have democracy without a major shift of power into the hands of the people.
But would an amendment to remove all rights of corporations from the US Constitution accomplish that? Would there be unintended consequences?
There are two problems with a constitutional amendment that abolishes corporate personhood. One, it does too much, and two, it does too little.
The effort to recall Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker begins today, and organizers and volunteers are readying their clipboards to begin collecting more than half a million signatures throughout the holiday season. But as volunteers celebrated the launch at midnight "recall-themed" pajama parties, the many challenges ahead were underscored by a deliberate, grinch-like cyber-attack on a key recall website.
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