Limiting corporate political influence

Nothing threatens our democracy more than the increasing takeover of our political and legal processes by corporations, and nothing has accelerated this takeover more than this Supreme Court decision that allows unlimited corporate contributions to political campaigns without disclosure.

This petition is to recall Florida Gov. Rick Scott, and to get him out of The Florida Legislature. He is a fascist, who has lost this state thousands of jobs, cuts state pensions and has made cuts to the education system. He is a terrible man, and he doesn't deserve to be a Governor.

The Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court turned our country into an oligarchy. This decision must be overturned

Corporations have been using Constitutional protections designed for citizens to gain power in our elections and to make them unanswerable to citizens, workers or even the government. Only a Constitutional amendment can stop this.

This is about reversing Citizens United.

Ever since 1886, thanks to a headnote in a Supreme Court ruling--not the ruling itself--corporations have enjoyed the legal status of persons under the Constitution and therefore all the basic freedoms intended for living human beings, including freedom of speech. Since freedom of speech has been interpreted to mean the right to make donations to political campaigns, a "right" vastly amplified by the recent Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the result has been catastrophic to the democratic process. The intention of this petition is to trigger a Constitutional amendment that would roll back the power of corporations and reinstate authentic democracy: government by the people

CONTROVERSIAL ANTINUKE MEASURE CALLS FOR LEGISLATURE TO START EMINENT DOMAIN AGAINST WIDELY MISTRUSTED OWNER-CORPORATION OF AILING NUKE PLANT. WIDE VOTE MARGIN SHOWS PEOPLE READY TO TAKE THE GLOVES OFF The measure, approved 2387 to 1826 in Brattleboro last November, was submitted by the group EMDOVY (eminent domain over Vermont Yankee), proposes the state legislature study eminent domain in order to force the nuclear power plant near Brattleboro to close and fully pay its cleanup costs. For eminent domain the state must evaluate the plant, subtracting the cleanup as a liability from the value of the plant. With an honest evaluation of the cleanup, and the plant set for closing, the plant’s owners could even end up owing money to the state. As things stand now the owner of VY, Entergy Corporation, has written the only public assessment of the cleanup costs, and Governor Shumlin, who wants to "hold Entergy's' feet to the fire" on cleanup costs, will have no fire unless the legislature begins the study of eminent domain. The cleanup funds for similar plants were underestimated by five hundred million to one billion dollars each and the owners were allowed to pass these costs to the ratepayers. Bob Stannard, an antinuclear lobbyist in Montpelier, says “It is very clear that Vermont taxpayers will be on the hook if no citizen action is taken.” Recent court rulings, notably Kelo vs New London, CT, have upheld the application of eminent domain for economic benefit as opposed to general public utility, as is conventional in the taking of land for reservoirs, and roads, etc; and so this case could be taken as a precedent to protect the economy of Vermont from the threat of VY's immense cleanup costs. It may also develop into a useful tool for communities to use against abusive corporations. On September 8, 2010 the Superior Court in Newfane ruled that the Brattleboro selectboard had illegally removed the resolution from the town ballot. The Brattleboro board had recently failed to stop another citizen initiative and was resoundingly rebuked in a special election on that matter. The court's decision was not only an advance for the anti-nuclear cause, but according to EMDOVY attorney Paul Gillies the court’s specific interpretation of case law would reverse an undemocratic trend of Vermont selectboards blocking public initiatives. After the court decision the Brattleboro selectboard board relinquished its right to appeal the decision and agreed to put the measure on the ballot. At the same meeting EMDOVY spokesman Kurt Daims announced new legislation for the town to effectively to divest itself of the nearby power plant by purchasing electricity only from renewable sources like the widely available CVPS program Cow Power. With the wide margin approving the EMDOVY resolution, the Nuclear Divestment proposal had good momentum at the representative town meeting in March and was placed on the agenda for November as an ordinance. Together EMDOVY and Nuclear Divestment take the offensive against nuclear power. Contact Kurt Daims, Spokesman 802 257 4995 Sally Shaw, technical expert 413 863 4992 Paul Gillies, attorney for civil rights issues 802 223 1112 x 103

According to the L.A. Times of 5/26/11, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce spent $33 million last year on advertising to influence political races without disclosing its donors. Why should they have tax-exempt status? (They also have reportedly raised more than $80 million to spend for the same purpose in the 2012 election cycle.)

We all love chocolate, but unfortunately, many of our favorite treats are tainted by the ongoing use of child labor, forced labor and trafficking in the West African cocoa industry. Almost ten years since chocolate companies committed to ending this exploitation, these abuses continue. Many chocolate companies have taken steps to trace their cocoa purchasing and implement labor rights standards among their suppliers, but the Hershey Company lags behind its competitors. Hershey can be a leader in addressing labor abuses in its supply chain by starting to source Fair Trade Certified cocoa for its chocolate products. Tell Hershey to raise the bar for responsible cocoa sourcing!

Candidates for public office depend on large donations to pay for radio, TV & print ads to win elections. The more money they raise, the better their chances. In this way, issues they support or don't support are often influenced by wealthy corporations that—partly due to the Supreme Court's "Citizen's United" decision—can donate unlimited amounts of money to their campaigns. This amounts to a sort of legal political corruption. Signing this petition is a step toward returning our political process to a fair system as the authors of our constitution intended it to be. Also, political ads are often misleading and extremely annoying.

Educate some Virginians that Congressman Eric Cantor, Majority Loser needs to go away, and never be heard from again.