 Dear Friend,
This January in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Supreme Court expanded the power of corporations to influence politics, challenging the integrity of our democratic process. Since the decision, I have been working to demand that corporations are more accountable and transparent with their political spending. As part of that effort, my office is organizing the public to call on all corporations, from health care companies to oil companies, to disclose their political spending.
Sign The Petition: Bring Sunlight To Corporate Political Spending
Take for example the financial industry. This year, with crucial financial reforms being debated in Congress, the financial industry has already spent over $120 million on lobbying and has made close to $30 million in political contributions in this election cycle.
And now, as a result of the Supreme Court decision, companies like J.P. Morgan, Charles Schwab, and others in the financial industry can spend even more through trade associations like the Chamber of Commerce with virtual anonymity . In turn, those trade associations can spend enormous amounts on direct advocacy ads, without disclosing the companies that fund them.
The time to act is now. This past week, we've been gathering signatures on a petition calling on banks to fully disclose their political spending. On Friday, we will visit Goldman Sachs on the day of their annual meeting and we will call on the company to adopt full disclosure of political spending by making public their contributions to trade associations.
In the days following, we will continue to publicly call on companies, both in the financial sector and outside of it, asking them to embrace transparency and disclose their political contributions, campaign spending, and contributions to trade associations.
I urge you to join us in our fight to protect and preserve our democracy. Please sign our online petition today, forward this email to your friends and become part of our campaign .
Thank you,
Bill de Blasio
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