ProsperityAgenda.US

Global Economic War Pits U.S. Militarism Against the World's Working People

cadriscoll — Wed, 25 May 2011 02:07:39 +0000

Many have proclaimed the imminent demise of the dollar as an international reserve currency, and the IMF, UN, China, Russia, Libya, Venezuela, and Iran are leading efforts to replace the dollar with alternative regional and global currencies;

Meanwhile, enormous demonstrations by public workers and their allies in the labor movement against draconian wage cuts and union-busting efforts are sweeping the globe;

And, a new U.S.-European hot war on Libya and cold wars against Venezuela, Pakistan, China, Russia, Iran and many others have emerged as a result.

Prosperity Agenda Joins With Anonymous to Oppose Expansion of NASDAQ Board

KZeese — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 18:05:48 +0000

On April 1, Prosperity Agenda joined with Anonymous Operation Want and World Citizens for Truth and Freedom in filing Public Comments against the expansion of the NASDAQ board of directors to add another representative of the Wallenberg banking family of Sweden.

This was opposed because the Wallenberg Family already controls 3 of th 15 seats on the board and the companies they control have a history of criminal and civil law violations, as detailed in the filing.

The full filing is below.

April 1, 2011

Elizabeth M. Murphy, Secretary
Securities and Exchange Commission

Prosperity Agenda Joins With Anonymous to Oppose Expansion of NASDAQ Board

KZeese — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 18:05:08 +0000

The full filing is below.

April 1, 2011

Elizabeth M. Murphy, Secretary
Securities and Exchange Commission

Sounds of Resistance are Growing Join Americans Fed Up With Big Finance

KZeese — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:53:45 +0000

Americans Across the Country are Joining the Culture of Resistance – You Are Needed!

By Kevin Zeese

Are you tired of big banks making record profits, paying giant executive salaries and bonuses and then cooking the books so they avoid paying taxes? We are. And, we are responding. Join us.

On the Anniversary of ObamaCare Tell Congress We Need Real Reform

KZeese — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:11:52 +0000

Today is the anniversary of the Obama Health Law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, a fact-based review of its impact should make this a very unhappy birthday. What has happened in the first year of ObamaCare?

- Premiums have continued to rise at rapid rates.

- Insurance coverage has shrunk for those who have insurance.

- More than 1,000 waivers by the Obama administration allow mini-med plans, which provide limited and inadequate insurance, to continue.

- The U.S. is moving toward a new norm: “unaffordable underinsurance.”

On the Anniversary of ObamaCare Tell Congress We Need Real Reform

KZeese — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 16:11:49 +0000

- Premiums have continued to rise at rapid rates.

- Insurance coverage has shrunk for those who have insurance.

- More than 1,000 waivers by the Obama administration allow mini-med plans, which provide limited and inadequate insurance, to continue.

- The U.S. is moving toward a new norm: “unaffordable underinsurance.”

One Year Anniversary: The Incredible Shrinking Obama Health Care Law

KZeese — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 17:57:07 +0000

The Health Care Crisis Grows While the 2010 Health Reform Shrinks

By Kevin Zeese

At its one year anniversary the Obama health care law is shrinking while the health care crisis grows. Americans who lack any health coverage still exceeds 50 million, over 45,000 deaths occur annually due to lack of health insurance, and 40 million Americans, including over 10 million children, are underinsured.

As the Race to the Bottom Picks Up Speed, Are Americans Finally Fed-Up?

KZeese — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:40:40 +0000

Austerity Budgets are the Norm in State and Federal Budgets Across the Country: While the Rich Get Richer, Everyone Else Suffers

By Kevin Zeese

The race to the bottom has picked up its pace. As state and federal governments face budget deficits, they are cutting critical programs with austerity budgets that will weaken education, health care, essential services and the economy.

Say NO To Obama's Security Budget: Support Peoples Necessities

KZeese — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:16:22 +0000

President Obama has put forward his budget to Congress. He seeks to cut $1 trillion in spending over the next ten years. Unfortunately, rather than focusing on the biggest item in the discretionary budget, security funding – including the military, domestic security and intelligence which makes up 66% of federal discretionary spending – he is cutting essential programs for Americans.

Unethical Behavior by Justice Thomas, We File Bar Complaints

KZeese — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:13:35 +0000

Thomas Should Have Recused Himself From Citizen's United Due to Blatant Conflict of Interest

Chamber of Commerce Comes After Us With Cyber Dirty Tricks Campaign

KZeese — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 13:09:28 +0000

The Chamber of Commerce through its law firm Hunton and Williams has been working with private security contractors to come after StopTheChamber.com, a project I serve as spokesperson to, with a cyber-dirty tricks campaign.

The Security Budget vs. the Necessities of Americans

KZeese — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:39:47 +0000

By Kevin Zeese

President Obama and the Congress have taken 66% of discretionary spending in the federal budget off the table – the Security Budget – while proposing a freeze to the rest of the budget and deep cuts to some programs that provide necessities for the American people. His budget crystalizes a choice that U.S. presidents have been making since President Eisenhower warned of the military-industrial complex – investment in the military vs. investment in the civilian economy.

Obama Puts Forward A Big Business Agenda

KZeese — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 21:16:31 +0000

By Kevin Zeese

The unrelenting narrative from the corporate media – that Obama must mend fences with American business – is disconnected from the reality of Obama’s policies and appointments. It is inconsistent with the rise in the stock market, the record profits and the hordes of cash big business are sitting on.

A Milestone Year

KZeese — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 22:54:31 +0000

The power of concentrated corporate capital was on display in Washington last week, as it has been all year. The incoming Chair of the Congressional committee responsible for banking regulation, Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) says “my view is that Washington and the regulators are there to serve the banks.” And, President Obama sat down with the CEOs of 20 large corporations to talk about how he could help Big Business increase their already record profits. And, in the Supreme Court, 13 of 16 business cases were ruled in favor of business interests.

Corporate capital dominates our government and prevents the changes urgently needed in so many crisis issues for the nation and the world.

In the last year, Prosperity Agenda worked on many of these critical issues including the impact of corporate power on elections, providing health care to all Americans, restructuring finance regulation to prevent another economic collapse and reigning in spending on weapons and war. In all of these areas we had some impact, but in 2011 and beyond, much more will be needed.

Shifting power from concentrated corporate interests to the people is no easy task. It has taken years of work by those interests to gain the power that they have. It will take years of work to weaken the corporate stranglehold. The growing crises remind us of the urgency of our work and the need for a commitment to sustain and increase our efforts.

In preparing this letter I looked back at a memo written by Lewis Powell two months before he was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Nixon. The memo was written in 1971 at a time when the business community felt it was rapidly losing power and that the capitalist system was under severe attack. Powell, a lawyer for the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, described as “the fundamental premise” of his paper that “business and the enterprise system are in deep trouble, and the hour is late.” They saw attacks coming in the colleges, in the media, on the streets, in bookstores and from politicians. Everywhere they looked they were under attack and on the verge of total defeat – the end of free markets and crony capitalism.

The purpose of the Powell memo, written to the head of the Chamber of Commerce, was to lay out a plan to restore and build corporate power. Powell laid out a plan that is instructive for those of us who want to shift power from concentrated capital to the people, who want to see a democratized economy in which people have greater control of their economic lives and are more represented in both the economy and government.

Powell’s plan was a long-term one built primarily on education and organization. In response to a “broadly based and consistently pursued” attack on corporate power, Powell wrote “independent and uncoordinated activity by individual corporations, as important as this is, will not be sufficient. Strength lies in organization, in careful long-range planning and implementation, in consistency of action over an indefinite period of years, in the scale of financing available only through joint effort, and in the political power available only through united action and national organizations.” He urged action in universities, with speaker’s bureaus, in publishing, influencing the media and working in the courts, as well as in electoral politics.

We also have a long term plan to educate, organize and unite our efforts:

1. We’ve used education in writing, media and video. We strive for but do not rely on the corporate media, which is also part of the problem, to cover our work. We also recognize that too often they are part of the problem. We make our own media and work with the independent media.

2. We’ve reached out to allied organizations and allied movements in order to help develop consistent and coordinated actions. And we’ve asked you to take actions in unison so our voices are multiplied.

3. We’ve used the courts and instruments of government to challenge the illegal actions of the Chamber of Commerce and Karl Rove’s American Crossroads seeking investigation and prosecution of their abuses in the 2010 elections. We’ve done the same when we seek corporate responsibility for companies like Massey Energy and their CEO Don Blankenship when 29 miners were killed in West Virginia.

While education and organization are critical ingredients to bringing change, this is a slow process and many of the issues the nation faces are urgent. This is why we also pursue acts of protest and resistance. We did this in the health care debate and most recently in the anti-war movement. Resistance has always been an ingredient for bringing change whether it was people sitting in at segregated lunch counters, or blacks sitting in the white section of the bus, or Cindy Sheehan camping outside of George Bush’s ranch. In the next year we will see a growing culture of resistance in the United States.

Other acts of resistance are seen around the release of documents by WikiLeaks. The reaction demonstrated corporations and the government working together to block the American people from knowing what is being done in our name. VISA, Mastercard, PayPal, Amazon and various financial institutions stopped processing funds for WikiLeaks at the request of the government. But we now know what the government is doing in our name and must take action to stop it. Knowing the truth and not acting is complicity. More and more Americans are acting. We see resistance in the more than 1,000 mirror sites of WikiLeaks, in the more than 100,000 people who downloaded the WikiLeaks "insurance policy" and were prepared to release documents if Julian Assange were harmed. It is seen in Americans organizing for their right to know, and to reaffirm Freedom of the Press. We are organizing under the banner WikiLeaksIsDemocracy.org, with a petition signed by notables and now by thousands. Join us and urge others to as well.

There is a growing movement for real paradigm shifting change. It is a slow process that is accelerating and 2011 promises to be a milestone year. Thank you for your support over the last year, please contribute now so we can continue our work. Click here to donate.

I look forward to working with you in the future and hope you will share your ideas about how we can bring the type of change needed with me.

Kevin Zeese
Executive Director
Prosperity Agenda

Another victory: Massey Energy CEO resigns

KZeese — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 15:34:11 +0000

Some good news central to our campaign for corporate accountability, the CEO of Massey Energy, Don Blankenship, is resigning. This is another victory for Prosperity Agenda and the coalition of organizations we work with.

Last April, after the accident that killed 29 miners in West Virginia, we were the first organization to urge the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute Blankenship and other Massey Coal executives for their gross negligence that led to the deaths. In the letter that I signed on behalf of a coalition we reviewed the long history of mine safety violations and abuse and told Attorney General Holder "that absent a criminal investigation, Mr. Blankenship will continue his criminal conduct and more people will be killed."

As I wrote in a column, published widely on the Internet:

"Were it not for the deliberate actions of Don Blankenship and Massey Energy the deaths of 29 miners in West Virginia would not have occurred. These deaths were foreseeable, even predicted, and this is not the first time Massey has caused the deaths of miners.

This was not the first time Blankenship's company had killed miners for profit. Massey Energy had been fined millions of dollars for violations of mine safety and had already settled one case where miners were killed with criminal and civil fines totaling more than $4 million - the largest fine ever in coal history. As I result we urged that it was time to stop coddling corporate criminals like Blankenship and hold them accountable for their actions.

The article got the attention of Massey Energy officials and one of the publications that published my article received a letter from a high powered DC lawyer, the same lawyer that represented Karl Rove when he was being investigated in the Valerie Plame case, and threatened them. I'm pleased to report that no publication pulled the article in the face of their threats.

We continued to keep the pressure on and other organizations joined in, a movement was developing. We joined with others and attended a large protest in Richmond at the annual board meeting of Massey Energy. See videos of the event here, here and here. We highlighted the growing movement for accountability and criminal prosecution and were rewarded when state and federal officials announced criminal and civil investigations. We reported on those investigations here.

And, now as the year draws to an end, we are pleased to report that Don Blankenship is resigning. The problems of Massey Energy are growing and the company may be sold or merge with another company. And, the criminal and civil probes are continuing.

The last few days have shown us that citizens can make a difference if they are organized and refuse to compromise. We saw the Deficit Commission recommendations go down to defeat last week and now we see Blankenship forced to resign. All these battles continue, but we are having an impact, we are making a difference.

I know times are tough, they are tough for us as well, but if you can make an end of the year contribution it would make a tremendous difference in allowing us to continue our work. To donate now, click here.

Whether you donate or not, thank you for caring about the direction of the country and joining in our actions. Your participation is really appreciated.

Sincerely,

Kevin Zeese
Executive Director

Take action: Deficit Commission Defeated, Now Tell Congress Do The Right Thing

Deficit Commission Defeated, Now Tell Congress Do The Right Thing

admin — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 15:52:07 +0000

By Kevin Zeese, Executive Director

Victory! Thanks to the efforts of many of you and allied organizations, the Obama Deficit Commission Plan fell short. It needed 14 votes to force the Congress to vote on it and only gained 11. This is great news as the Commission planned to deal with the deficit on the backs of poor, working and middle class while not challenging those who have profited as a result of policies that favor the wealthy.

While ridding the nation of a bad deficit reduction plan was good news, the bad news is the economy is continuing to falter, with unemployment rising to 9.8% and inadequate signs of an economic recovery. In fact, as the Washington Post describes the jobs report as "ugly" saying: "The economy created 39,000 jobs in November -- about 160,000 fewer than it'd need to begin cutting into unemployment, and about 100,000 less than it'd need to just keep up with population growth."

The need for economic stimulus and jobs creation is so evident that even the usually deficit concerned Federal Reserve is urging stimulus and not deficit reduction. As economist Dean Baker points out, job creation is the first priority, writing: "If the unemployment rate were at its pre-recession level of 4.5 percent, we would have, at most, a modest deficit." This economic collapse was caused by the housing bubble bursting. Sadly, that continues with rising foreclosures continuing to weaken the housing market.

Please write President Obama and your representatives in Congress today and tell them that the real way to deal with the deficit is to re-ignite the economy:

1. Focus on creating jobs through infrastructure spending, supporting state and local governments and transitioning to a new clean energy economy that creates green jobs, efficient jobs-producing mass transit and a carbon-free, nuclear-free energy economy.

2. Stabilize the housing market by requiring banks to rewrite mortgages at lower interest rates and based on the real economic value of homes.

3. Face up to health care costs. The U.S. is spending more than twice as much as other countries per person on health care, expanding and improving Medicare so it is available to all Americans is the only real reform that will control costs and provide health care to all.

4. Cut the military budget dramatically. Weapons and war now make up more than half of federal discretionary spending. For years the U.S. has spent as much as the rest of the world combined on the military. It is time to end the current wars and close many of the more than 700 bases the U.S. has overseas. A sustainable economic policy is not possible so long as the military dominates the budget.

5. Tax wealth instruments – stocks, bonds and derivatives – with a micro tax of less than 1% which will raise more money than the income tax on the first $100,000 in income on all Americans.

6. Re-institute the tax rate on wealthy Americans, the top 2% of income earners in the U.S. population to save $70 billion a year.

This is a path that will stimulate the economy, get the U.S. out of the recession and control deficit spending. These are the first steps to the paradigm shifts that are needed to shift power from concentrated corporate interests to the people. Please write your elected officials today and demand real action on the economy and deficit.

11/30 CALL TO TAX WEALTH NOT WORK

KZeese — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 20:11:00 +0000

National Congressional Call in Day #202-225-3121

By Kevin Zeese, Executive Director

The Obama Deficit Commission has come out with recommendations that will continue to weaken the middle and working class as well as the poor while enriching the economic elites. For the last decade the top 1% has profited from policies that favor them, their income and wealth have grown while the wealth of most Americans has shrunk and incomes have, at best, remained stagnate and for many declined. In fact, during the economic expansion from 2002-2007 the top 1% captured two-thirds of income growth. Now, the top 1% has 70% of the wealth of the nation.

We are joining with a coalition of groups on a congressional call in day focused on the Deficit Commission. The national call-in day is on Tuesday, November 30th. The goals are to challenge the Deficit Commission's draft recommendations on cutting Social Security and Medicare and urging them to find other areas where they can raise money and reduce the deficit. We urge you to circulate this email below to your friends and allies to urge them to join the National Call-In Day on Tuesday, November 30th.

Call 202-225-3121 to call your legislators. Urge them to reject the draft recommendations and reduce the deficit by taxing those who profited over the last decade and by cutting the largest discretionary program, the military. Further, they need to strengthen Social Security and Medicare. Click here to share this message and confirm your participation.

When I testified before the Deficit Commission I urged them to tax those who have profited over the last decade of economic policies that favored the wealthiest Americans. See Those Who Profited From Deficit Spending Should Be Focus of Fiscal Commission. For example, while we pay taxes when we purchase the necessities of life, those who buy stocks, bonds and derivatives pay no tax when they purchase these wealth instruments. A tiny tax on these purchases would raise as much as the income tax on all those earning under $100,000. This is one example of many of how government could tax wealth more and workers less.

As to Social Security and Medicare, these are our two most important and successful social programs. These programs do not add to the deficit. They are paid for by independent taxes on employees and employers. They should not even be considered by the deficit commission. As I said in my testimony:

Before considering cuts to Social Security and Medicare, the country's most important social programs that every American will rely on for their health and well being, this Commission should focus on where wealth is concentrated as well as cuts in discretionary spending. To do so means confronting the true sources of U.S. debt: two wars on borrowed money, uncontrolled military spending, hundreds of billions in corporate welfare, tax cuts for the wealthiest and corporations as well as deregulation of banks that led to the financial collapse that destroyed vast wealth and required massive bailouts.

The funneling of wealth to the top has been due to tax payer subsidies, tax breaks and corporate welfare to concentrated corporate interests and tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. This is a major source of the national debt. From 2001-2008, tax cuts for the wealthy cost the U.S. Treasury $700 billion, all adding to the national debt. This Commission should be looking to those who have profited from government policies – policies that have been a major source of fiscal problems you are facing – as a source for bringing the federal budget under control.

The Commission, stacked with conservative deficit hawks, did as we expected, focused on the middle class more than on the economic elite. Please join us on this national call in day, November 30th and tell Congress to tax wealth, not the middle and working class.

Thanks for your support throughout the year. Click here to donate now.

War spending undermines the economy, more than we knew. It is time for an anti-war era of cuts to the military budget.

KZeese — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 20:30:21 +0000

After World War I ended there was a re-consideration of the decision to enter that war. This led to cuts in military spending, reductions in the size of the military, and an era of anti-war opposition. The war was costly with horrific injuries to soldiers and seemed to serve no national interest. Even in victory, the war was questioned.

Now the U.S. is engaged in multiple wars – Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and now, it seems, Yemen is next. For what purpose? At what cost? What can we do to make sure these wars are followed by an era of opposition to war and shrinking military budgets?

Today's wars will not end in clear victory, unlike World War I. That alone gives us an advantage over the anti-war advocates of the last century.

In addition, these wars are more costly. Recently two leading economists put out a report estimating the cost of the Iraq War. They measured not only the cost of fighting in Iraq, but the real costs, especially the cost of treating returning vets. Their estimate: the war could cost the United States up to $6 trillion dollars. This is an astounding figure that is 100 times more than the Bush administration's initial estimate of up to $60 billion. Click here to read an article they wrote about the cost of the Iraq War.

The authors, Joseph Stiglitz, a former Chief Economist for the World Bank and the winner of the Nobel Prize for economics in 2001; and Linda J. Bilmes, a professor at Harvard University, point out that war spending helped undermine the economy. The borrowed dollars for war could have produced many more jobs and economic activity at home if those dollars had been spent on more economy-boosting programs. And, they point out how the wars continue to be a drag on the economy, making it more difficult for the government to take appropriate action. They write:

"Increased indebtedness meant that the government had far less room to maneuver than it otherwise would have had. More specifically, worries about the (war-inflated) debt and deficit constrained the size of the stimulus, and they continue to hamper our ability to respond to the recession. With the unemployment rate remaining stubbornly high, the country needs a second stimulus. But mounting government debt means support for this is low. The result is that the recession will be longer, output lower, unemployment higher and deficits larger than they would have been absent the war."

The economy was the driving force in the midterm elections. If the weak economy continues, it will be the leading issue in 2012 as well. Please join me in warning the White House and elected officials in Congress that continued war spending jeopardizes the economy and their political careers. It is time for tax dollars to be focused on rebuilding the economy at home. We need to stop borrowing money to fight wars abroad. Please join Voters For Peace writing the president and members of Congress.

Thank you for your support throughout the year. I know the frustration of seeing these senseless wars continuing and even expanding. It is no easy task to end a war, but I'm convinced that Americans will see these wars as major blunders and politicians will have to change their view if they want to remain in office – if we work together to make sure all Americans see the folly of war.

Sincerely,

Kevin Zeese
Executive Director
Voters For Peace

P.S. This is a great time to make an end of the year donation. The economy is still in the doldrums so I know how difficult it is to donate, but it is equally difficult on our side to continue our work without financial support. So, if you can donate, please do so today by clicking here now.

Front lines of the biggest election scandal since Watergate

KZeese — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 17:34:51 +0000

Dear Friend,

We took a major step on Thursday. We asked the Department of Justice to begin a criminal investigation of non-profits being used to take unlimited, anonymous donations in an attempt to influence the vote.

I am not a big fan of the government investigating non-profits so it was unusual for me to take the step we took today. Not only did we ask that the organizations be investigated but also that those who created the groups, raised money for them and donated money to them be investigated as well. If press reports are accurate, their actions seem to be a conspiracy to violate federal election laws as well as tax laws. You can read a copy of the letter to DOJ here.

In a complaint we filed yesterday with the FEC, we made the case that these non-profits are violating federal election laws because they have failed to register as political committees despite their record spending on political advertisements. And they are violating the tax laws because they are misusing their non-profit status for electioneering. You can read the complaint by clicking here.

I tend to agree with DNC Chair Tim Kaine that this may be the biggest election scandal since Watergate (and if you who know me, saying I agree with either party, including the Democrats, is unusual). Concentrated corporate power is using front group non-profits to collect massive, anonymous election contributions and thereby evade federal election law which requires disclosure of donors. This is a significant threat to American elections.

The only way to stop this is through the Department of Justice. We are seeing a crime being committed right before our eyes yet the only party that can stop it is silent. Our letter to DOJ gives the road map and jurisdiction for criminal action against these "threat to democracy" groups.

And, the other part of the story that has not gotten a lot of coverage is these anonymously funded advertisements are often false and misleading. In fact, television stations are going so far as to pull advertisements being submitted by Karl Rove and the Chamber of Commerce off the air.

We need your help in keeping the pressure on. Please write your representatives in Congress and the Department of Justice urging a criminal investigation. Click here to take action today.

Second, donate to our efforts. We need financial support to continue our efforts at challenging corporate power in U.S. democracy.

Thank you for taking action. We are making a difference.

Sincerely,

Kevin Zeese
Executive Director

Fighting Corporate Power In Elections

KZeese — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 22:21:18 +0000

10/14/2010 UPDATE: COMPLAINT TO DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

I have some exciting updates to our effort to challenge corporate power in U.S. democracy.

We started our efforts to highlight corporate funding of elections before the summer. In recent weeks much of the mainstream media has caught on as have other advocacy groups. Today and tomorrow we escalate our efforts.

Today, along with Public Citizen, Protect Our Elections and American Crossroads Watch, Prosperity Agenda filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission. You can see the complaint here.

The complaint alleges that big business interests are using non-profit front groups to hide their donations in an effort to dominate the elections anonymously. They do not want voters to know they are working for private profit and not for the public good. This is a misuse of the tax law and violates federal elections laws. As you can see there is strong case law on our side as the actions of American Crossroads GPS are way over the legal line.

Prosperity Agenda is a non-partisan organization, personally I am not registered with either the Democratic or Republican parties, but we do recognize that concentrated corporate power is the central issue creating dysfunction in government. Concentrated corporate power prevented a real solution to the health care crisis in America because the insurance, pharmaceutical and for-profit hospitals would not allow real reform – a single payer system that expanded and improved Medicare for All. We recognize that the failure to face up to the financial crisis and put in the kinds of strong reforms that are needed was because Wall Street, the big banks and the Federal Reserve had to approve all the so-called reforms before they were enacted. We see the same thing when it comes to jobs, energy, the environment and militarism – on issue after issue, status quo corporate interests prevent America from facing up to urgent problems.

So, it is important that concentrated corporate power not be able to flout election laws to hide their personal financial interests and pretend to be non-profits working for the public good.

The FEC complaint is the first step. Tomorrow, we will go to the Department of Justice which also has jurisdiction to enforce federal election laws and ask them to immediately begin a criminal investigation of American Crossroads and similar non-profits that are shielding the identity of corporate power in elections. We are seeking criminal investigations of Karl Rove, Ed Gillespie and others who started these front groups, run them and raise money for them. And, we are urging that the donors also be investigated because if they colluded knowing that this was an effort to avoid election law reporting requirements then they are also criminally responsible. Justice should require these groups to preserve all documents so that a criminal investigation is not hindered by destruction of evidence. And, we are asking the Justice Department to immediately stop this democracy crime in progress by seeking to enjoin their operations.

We need your help! Please write your representatives in Congress and the Department of Justice urging a criminal investigation. Click here to take action today.

Second, donate to our efforts. We need financial support to continue our efforts at challenging corporate power in U.S. democracy.

Thank you for taking action. We are making a difference.

– Kevin Zeese, Executive Director