Meet William Daley: The Quitter When It Counted

Obama heralds his new Chief of Staff as friend, fellow Chicagoan and patriot. (DKos) Tom P. has the standard lefty response with The Real Problem With Daley's Appointment while Digby gives us Bill Daley in his own words ~ Making The Case For Surrender:

I don't think this is just a matter of "center vs left" or populist vs neo-liberal however. This is about temperament and personal philosophy. This passage from
Jeffrey Toobin's book about the 2000 election recount (in which Daley served as Gore's campaign chairman) probably illustrates how Daley will be advising the president better than anything else could:

Even though the automatic recount had cut Bush's lead dramatically in the previous three days, Christopher and Daley offered little hope that the margin could be eliminated completely. "Look you got screwed," said Daley, "but people get screwed every day. They don't have a remedy. Black people get screwed all the time. They don't have aremedy. Sometimes there's no remedy. There's nothing you can do about it...

Lieberman did not share the advisers' reluctance to push forward on all fronts. This became a recurring theme of the post-election period. The Connecticut senator always sounded like a warrior --- in private settings. (Much to the frustration of the Hawks on Gore's team he sounded much different before the cameras.)

Gore too railed against the prophesies of hopelessness he was hearing from Daley. He drew a series of concentric circles on the butcher paper to illustrate what he saw as his responsibilities.Inside the smallest circles were Gore and Lieberman; their closest supporters were in the next circle, then Democrats generally, finally the country as a whole. Gore said his actions had to serve all those groups not just those closest to him. An immediate surrender would be a violation of his obligations to all those who supported him, he said ---- all the people in the circles...

In the end Gore thought they shouldn't make "any momentous decisions." But it was clear that Daley and Christopher felt any victory for Gore was impossible even though more people had gone to the polls there intending to vote for the Vice President than for Bush. Gore and Lieberman couldn't wage the battle alone, of course, and their two principle deputies were telling them, in effect, to give up.

This Saturday had begun with Bush and Gore locked in a closer contest than earlier in the week.Indeed, the Vice President had made gains over the past three days. But the day ended with James Baker leading the attack --- and Bill Daley and Warren Christopher making the case for surrender.

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Chris Coons Announces His Key Staff Hires

Update: Coons' Delaware Voice column yesterday~ Partisan paralysis in Washington must stop
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(presser)

Senator Coons Announces Key Staff Hires

WASHINGTON – Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) today announced the hiring of staff for several senior positions, including chief of staff, state director, senior policy advisor, and communications director.

“From day one, I’ve been committed to bringing together a team of extraordinarily capable individuals to help me serve the people of Delaware,” Senator Coons said. “It’s important to me to be surrounded by smart, creative, and innovative professionals whose talent is matched only by their commitment to service. They have my full trust, confidence, and support, and I am honored to work with them.”

Todd Webster, Chief of Staff: Todd is a veteran of Capitol Hill, presidential politics and national media. He served as communications director and chief spokesman for then-Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle and in the same role for U.S. Senator Patty Murray. A frequent commentator on MSNBC, Webster consulted on the campaigns of Senator Tom Harkin, Senator Robert Byrd and the DSCC, and was deputy communications director on the Gore-Lieberman campaign in 2000. He received his M.A. from The George Washington University and his B.A. from Bowdoin College. Todd will work primarily in Senator Coons’ Washington office.

Rick Gregory, State Director: Rick served as the chief administrative officer and acting public safety director for New Castle County since September 2009, after three years as the county’s chief of police, managing more than 360 sworn officers. He had previously served for 22 years with the Florida Highway Patrol, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and being responsible for field operations in the southern and eastern parts of the state, as well as emergency management and homeland security. Rick received a B.S. from Barry University and is a graduate of the FBI Academy. Rick will work primarily in Senator Coons’ Wilmington office.

Christy Gleason, Senior Policy Advisor: Before running the successful Coons for Delaware senate campaign, Christy served as the deputy chief administrative officer for New Castle County. She was previously the communications director to the New Castle County Executive, chief of staff to three New Jersey state legislators, and executive director of the Camden County (NJ) Democratic Committee. A member of the Truman National Security Project, Christy received her J.D. from St. John’s University School of Law and her B.A. from American University. Christy will work in Senator Coons’ Wilmington and Washington offices.

Ian Koski, Communications Director: Ian comes to the office after six years as a new media strategist working with candidates and organizations, including Senator Coons’ 2010 senate campaign, Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, Governor Martin O’Malley, Mayor Vincent Gray, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the U.S. Olympic Committee, the League of Women Voters, and the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Committee. Ian received his M.A. from The George Washington University and his B.A. from Villanova University. Ian will work primarily in Senator Coons’ Washington office.

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146th General Assembly - House Announces Pre-Filed Bills

(presser)
FOIA, Gang activity and Lobbyist Bills
among legislation filed
House pre-file includes seven bills in advance of January 11 session start

DOVER – Legislation increasing penalties for gang participation, restricting legislators’ ability to become lobbyists and setting a deadline for government entities and other public bodies to respond to a Freedom of Information request were among the seven bills filed Thursday in the House of Representatives.

The 146th General Assembly doesn’t officially convene until Tuesday, January 11, but House Speaker Rep. Robert F. Gilligan called for the traditional pre-session pre-file to give representatives an opportunity to introduce legislation before the start of session.

Spurred by a series of articles last month in the Delaware State News about gang-related activity in Dover, Rep. E. Bradford “Brad” Bennett introduced House Bill 6, which would increase the penalty for gang participation from a class F felony to a class E felony. According to Delaware’s sentencing laws, a class F felony carries a maximum prison sentence of three years, while a person convicted of a class E felony could spend a maximum of five years in prison.

“The articles put a spotlight on a problem that has been just under the surface for years. In my district alone, five neighborhoods have seen gang infiltration,” said Rep. Bennett, D-Dover South. “Dover’s police chief has said something must be done immediately to address increasing gang-related violence. “This bill will hopefully serve as a first step in protecting our communities by showing that we are serious about addressing gangs. But this can’t be our only efforts. We must educate and do outreach to make young people more aware of the dangers gangs present.”

In the State News articles, Dover Police Chief Jim Hosfelt said there have been six gang-related homicides in the capital city in the past three years. Police estimate there are at least 16 different gangs active in Dover, with more than 100 active in those gangs, according to the articles. According to current state law, anyone who “actively participates in any criminal street gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity” is guilty of illegal gang participation.

HB 6 has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee.

Legislators also reintroduced some bills on Thursday that were not enacted during the 145th General Assembly.

Rep. John A. Kowalko, D-Newark South, filed legislation that would close the “revolving door” that allows lawmakers and other high-level government officials to leave their posts and immediately start lobbying former colleagues. Violating the proposed law would be an unclassified misdemeanor. If enacted, the bill would apply to any legislator serving after its effective date of January 10, 2012.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, more than 30 states have some form of restriction on former legislators. At least 16 states have a one-year restriction for legislators, while at least six states have a two-year waiting period. Surrounding states New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia all have one-year restrictions.

Rep. Kowalko said HB 4 would maintain public confidence in the decisions made while officials serve in their positions and eliminate any misconceptions about their actions while in office. A one-year restriction, he said, would not infringe on outgoing lawmakers’ ability to make a living. About 10 former Delaware lawmakers are registered lobbyists in the state.

“In recent years, we have seen several legislators leave the ranks of the General Assembly and almost immediately start lobbying people they worked alongside for years,” Rep. Kowalko said. “While I’m not casting aspersions on any of these people, there is a public perception that legislators can use lobbying as a golden parachute. This bill will eliminate that perception and help maintain confidence in the decisions we make while in office.”

HB 4 has been assigned to the House Administration Committee.

Rep. Kowalko also re-filed another bill that did not pass both chambers during the previous session. The measure, House Bill 3, would prohibit public and charter schools from serving or making food available that has artificial trans fatty acids (trans fats) of more than 0.5 grams per serving to students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Trans fats are fats found in foods such as vegetable shortening, some margarines, crackers, candies, baked goods, snack foods, fried foods and many processed foods. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, there is a direct, proven relationship between diets high in trans-fat content and “bad” cholesterol levels, which means there is an increased risk of coronary heart disease.

HB 3 has been assigned to the House Education Committee.

Rep. Bennett also filed legislation that would set a deadline for government entities and other public bodies to respond to a Freedom of Information request. Currently, state law does not include any time limit for public bodies to respond to or fulfill FOIA requests.

The measure is similar to legislation from the previous session, with a couple of changes. Under House Bill 5, any FOIA request for a public record must be granted within 15 business days from the receipt of the request. However, the public entity can extend that deadline if the request is for “voluminous records, requires legal advice” or if the record is in storage. In those situations, the agency or entity must inform the person making the request within 15 business days of the need for additional time.

Rep. Bennett said he extended the deadline – it was 10 business days in the previous measure – after hearing some concerns raised last session. HB 5, he said, would help make public information readily accessible to any person who files a FOIA request and make government more transparent.

HB 5 has been assigned to the House Administration Committee.

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Attorney General's Office Releases Its Questions For The Proposed Blue Cross Blue Shield - Highmark Consolidation

(Newark Post) Attorney General seeks information on the Highmark, Delaware Blues transaction

The Attorney General’s review to-date has raised what the released termed as serious questions concerning this transaction. The Attorney General’s office requested from BCBS and Highmark detailed information about how the transaction was considered and how the assets of BCBS would be affected by the transaction. Specifically, the letter requests BCBS and Highmark to:
1. Produce all documents relating to BCBS’s cash reserves and how Highmark intends to use those reserves.
2. Identify and describe any affiliation-related employment restructuring plans, including any intention of Highmark to eliminate any jobs currently held by BCBS employees in Delaware or to outsource those jobs overseas or to another state.
3. Explain the contention of BCBS that it is too small as a standalone entity to function in the current health insurance market and produce all documents relating to this contention.
4. Document whether and how the expected cost savings resulting from the “economies of scale” realized in the affiliation will be passed on to BCBS or Highmark customers.
5. Produce all documents relating to the due diligence conducted by Highmark or BCBS in connection with the proposed affiliation, including minutes of meetings of their Boards of Directors where the proposed affiliation was considered.
6. Identify members of the BCBS board of directors who voted on whether to enter into the affiliation with Highmark and identify and describe all compensation or other incentives provided or promised to BCBS officers, directors, or employees as a result of the affiliation.
7. Identify all potential affiliation partners considered by BCBS and describe the process utilized by BCBS to consider any potential affiliation.
8. Provide detailed information about the Line of Credit that Highmark intends to provide to BCBS in connection with the affiliation and explain why, given its significant cash reserves, BCBS needs a line of credit to implement the proposed affiliation with Highmark.
9. Explain Highmark and BCBS’s intentions or plans to maintain BCBS’s not-for-profit purpose after implementing the proposed affiliation.
10. Explain whether and how a decision by Highmark to convert to for-profit status would potentially trigger a disaffiliation, and identify and describe all provisions in the Affiliation Agreement and other documents relating to BCBS’s ability to obtain its license back from Highmark in such an event.

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The Race For NCC Council President Finally Gets A Forum - Sheldon And Kovach Face Off Set For 6PM Jan. 11th In Hockessin

Update: Andye Elkins-Daley via Tom Kovach for County Council President - Tune in to 1150 WDEL on Wed 1/5/11 from 3-4PM. Tom's guests of the Flarity Brothers (good R vs D pair). Listen on-line www.wdel.com #netde They will be talking about the upcoming New Castle County Council President special election.
And a reminder that Allan Loudell is hosting a debate between the candidates next Monday night at 6PM on WDEL.
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(presser)

NCC Special Election Debate

With the Special Election fast approaching for NCC Council President on Jan 13th, there have been no opportunities to get the two major party nominees to face one another in a public forum.

Today, we received confirmation that both Tim Sheldon (D) and Tom Kovach (R) will attend the special election forum co-sponsored by the Greater Hockessin Area Development Assoc. (GHADA) and the Civic League for New Castle County (CLNCC) in conjunction with the Community News.

The forum will take place:

Tuesday evening, January 11th,
From 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM
The Hockessin Fire Company's Memorial Hall
Lancaster Pike (Rte 40) in downtown Hockessin.

Please get the word out to as many people as you can, as this is the ONLY public, live debate that will occur before the election. There will be a interview of both candidates by the Community News this week which will be published in this week's edition of the Community News. There will also be some talk radio coverage, but nothing where both candidates will appear together in front of a "live" audience.

Best regards,
Mark Blake, GHADA, President & Land Use ChairmanGreater Hockessin Area Development Association
markwblake@aol.com

~*~

Do you have any questions for the candidates? I would like to know whether either candidate will increase transparency and accountability by promising to streamline County Council meetings over the internet like Sussex County and the State House of Representatives, Christiana and Red Clay School Boards already are doing.

Also: Where do you think employment reductions can be made in County Government and, wherein, what services can be reduced or transferred to another Government entity outside of County Government?

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Absent Organized Labor, Who Will Fight For The Average American Working Family?

(NYT) Steven Greenhouse reports ~ Strained States Turning to Laws to Curb Labor Unions

Many of the state officials pushing for union-related changes say they want to restore some balance, arguing that unions have become too powerful, skewing political campaigns with their large war chests and throwing state budgets off kilter with their expensive pension plans. But labor leaders view these efforts as political retaliation by Republicans upset that unions recently spent more than $200 million to defeat Republican candidates.

“I see this as payback for the role we played in the 2010 elections,” said Gerald W. McEntee, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the main union of state employees. Mr. McEntee said in October that his union was spending more than $90 million on the campaign, largely to help Democrats. “Now there’s a bulls-eye on our back, and they’re out to inflict pain,” he said. In an internal memorandum, the A.F.L.-C.I.O. warned that in 16 states, Republican lawmakers would seek to starve public sector unions of money by requiring each government worker to “opt in” before that person’s dues money could be used for political activities. “In the long run, if these measures deprive unions of resources, it will cut them off at their knees. They’ll melt away,” said Charles E. Wilson, a law professor at Ohio State University.

Of all the new governors, John Kasich, Republican of Ohio, appears to be planning the most comprehensive assault against unions. He is proposing to take away the right of 14,000 state-financed child care and home care workers to unionize. He also wants to ban strikes by teachers, much the way some states bar strikes by the police and firefighters. “If they want to strike, they should be fired,” Mr. Kasich said in a speech. “They’ve got good jobs, they’ve got high pay, they get good benefits, a great retirement. What are they striking for?”

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New Medicare Benefits Forums For Seniors Set For Wilmington And Georgetown This Week

(Middletown Transcript) reports ~ Sen. Carper to host information forum on new Medicare benefits

Wilmington, Del. — Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.) will host an information forum on the new Medicare benefits available to Delaware seniors as a result of the Affordable Care Act Monday, Jan. 3, from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Arsht Hall at the University of Delaware's Wilmington Campus and Tuesday, Jan. 4, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the CHEER Center in Georgetown.

...Because of the Affordable Care Act, all 140,000 Medicare enrollees in Delaware will now be eligible to receive preventive services, like mammograms and cognitive screenings, to test for health conditions like Alzheimer's disease, heart disease and diabetes, and an annual wellness visit without co-payments, coinsurance or deductibles. Seniors who are in the doughnut hole will get a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs and a 7-percent discount on generic drugs. Every year after that, the discount will increase until the doughnut hole is closed for Medicare participants in 2020.

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Jud Bennett Writes: Glen Urquhart Hosts 1450 WILM Radio Show This Week

Glen Hosts 1450 WILM Radio Show
Hi Everyone, Here's a very exciting opportunity to participate in Delaware's ongoing quest for conservative vision. I'll be guest hosting the John Watson show on WILM radio the entire first week of January (the 3rd-7th). Please join me every morning from 9:00 - 11:30 am on WILM Talk Radio. We will discuss many of the issues that concern Delawareans. Please look below to see the list of guests joining us. Our aim is to examine issues like the deficit/debt crisis threatening everything from Jobs to Social Security to National Security. Many assert that if we don't rein in spending, the pain will be very sobering. And the majority of us will feel far more pain than the political elites calling the shots. Join us in this discussion. Share your thoughts. Hear the voice and vision of those in the trenches. You can listen at 1450 on the AM dial, or on the internet at www.WILM.com.WILM listeners and I are very interested in what you might have to share so call in to 302-395-WILM (9456).

An exciting line up of leaders and policy experts are scheduled for next week. A partial list includes:
Monday: Tom Kovach, Former State Representative and Candidate for New Castle County Council President; Andrew Biggs, Resident Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
Tuesday: US Congressman Frank Wolf; Dave Stevenson, Chairman of the Center for Energy Competitiveness for the Caesar Rodney Institute
Wednesday: Governor Pete duPont
Thursday: Representative Greg Lavelle, Minority Leader, DE House of Representatives
Friday: Kevin Williamson, Deputy Editor of National Review, with expertise of regulatory failures.

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1/1/11: The Pundits Look Ahead To Two Americas - Global Big Money And Privatization Vs The Average Working Family

Update: (DKos) bobswern writes ~ The 2011 Economy: A Slippery Slope & A River Of Inequality

In 2009, former International Monetary Fund (IMF) Chief Economist and M.I.T. professor Simon Johnson wrote (quite presciently) of "The Quiet Coup," and our resulting, "Two-Track Economy." This past Thursday, in the NY Times Economix blog, he sounded another warning that, in 2011, "Fresh Crises Loom in Europe and the U.S." Taken in context with the latest opinions from the editors over at the New York Times, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, and an op-ed in Sunday's Times by Nicholas Kristof, the path to our success is quite clear. Unfortunately, the likelihood of our country following that path is not.

Also see: (FDL) Dismantling the Greater Good and (NYT) Public Workers Facing Outrage as Budget Crises Grow and (WNJ) System rewards investment that takes away jobs

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Intro by Mark Karlin, Editor, BuzzFlash at Truthout ~

As we enter 2011, it is worth nothing that sometimes the more things change, the more they stay the same. As Thom Hartmann detailed - and was the first author to do so in a prescient, must-read book called "Unequal Protection: The Rise of Corporations and the Theft of Human Rights" - it was a twisted, entangled legal battle in the late 1800s - involving the Robber Barons of the railroad industry - that was the first step to lead to the egregiously pro-corporate Supreme Court ruling in 2010 known as "Citizens United."

Thanks to a mysterious, post-Civil War Supreme Court deliberation, the railroad titans didn't receive a verdict based on the 14th Amendment rights of personhood, but they claimed to anyway. They won the war by using a strategically placed "headnote" on the ruling, even though the court judgment was not based on the issue of corporations having the same rights as people. In short, the headnote gave corporations the ability to jawbone their way into the benefits of "natural personhood" wherever they could.

As one review of "Unequal Protection" observes: America has lost the legal structures that allowed for people to control corporate behavior. As a result, the largest transnational corporations fill a role today that has historically been filled by kings. They control most of the world's wealth and exert power over the lives of most of the world's citizens. Their CEOs are unapproachable and live lives of nearly unimaginable wealth and luxury.

Hartmann talked with BuzzFlash in 2005 about "Unequal Protection" and the implications of corporate personhood, which became legally enshrined by the Roberts' court in 2010: History tells us that when corporate power is unrestrained, and corporations grow so large that the largest among them come to control and then stifle the marketplace, the result is the corruption of democracy followed by economic collapse. We saw it in the serial tax-cuts and deregulation of the Harding, Coolidge and Hoover administrations, which led directly to the Great Depression. And we're seeing it writ large today, with the same consequences. Democracy is under assault and America is becoming impoverished.

Yes, the more things change, the more they stay the same - or get worse. Haven't the Robber Barons been replaced by the Wall Street high-rolling gamblers and global corporations? Was the American Revolution fought so that the corporations could reign over democracy as monarchs? Installments of Thom Hartmann's Newest Book "Rebooting the American Dream" Read the Article at Truthout

The New Voodoo by Paul Krugman

How did Republican leaders reconcile their purported deep concern about budget deficits with their advocacy of large tax cuts? Was it that old voodoo economics — the belief, refuted by study after study, that tax cuts pay for themselves — making a comeback? No, it was something new and worse. To be sure, there were renewed claims that tax cuts lead to higher revenue. But 2010 marked the emergence of a new, even more profound level of magical thinking: the belief that deficits created by tax cuts just don’t matter. For example, Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona — who had denounced President Obama for running deficits — declared that “you should never have to offset the cost of a deliberate decision to reduce tax rates on Americans.”

It’s an easy position to ridicule. After all, if you never have to offset the cost of tax cuts, why not just eliminate taxes altogether? But the joke’s on us because while this kind of magical thinking may not yet be the law of the land, it’s about to become part of the rules governing legislation in the House of Representatives. As the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities points out, the incoming House majority plans to make changes in the “pay-as-you-go” rules — rules that are supposed to enforce responsible budgeting — that effectively implement Mr. Kyl’s principle. Spending increases will have to be offset, but revenue losses from tax cuts won’t. Oh, and revenue increases, even if they come from the elimination of tax loopholes, won’t count either: any spending increase must be offset by spending cuts elsewhere; it can’t be paid for with additional taxes. So if taxes don’t matter, does the incoming majority have a realistic plan to cut spending? Of course not.

Private markets make up the core of Obamanomics By Ezra Klein

Isolate the eight key economic decisions of the Obama presidency: The intervention in the financial sector, the intervention in the auto sector, the intervention in the housing sector, the stimulus package, the health-care bill, financial regulation, and the tax deal. The financial and auto interventions, it should be noted, were begun under George W. Bush but carried out and expanded under Obama. In each case, the Obama administration sought to support or improve private markets. It refused to leave the market to sort itself out, as some on the right would have preferred, and resisted entreaties to take it over, as some on the left advocated. Where there was a market that they considered functional-but-frozen, they worked to unfreeze it.

New Year's Prediction (II): The US Economy in 2011 by: Robert Reich

What will happen to the US economy in 2011? If you're referring to profits of big corporations and Wall Street, next year is likely to be a good one. But if you're referring to average American workers, far from good. The two American economies — the Big Money economy and the Average Working Family economy — will continue to diverge. Corporate profits will continue to rise, as will the stock market. But typical wages will go nowhere, joblessness will remain high, the ranks of the long-term unemployed will continue to rise, the housing recovery will remain stalled, and consumer confidence will sag.

The big disconnect between corporate profits and jobs is likely to continue because America's big businesses are depending less and less on U.S. sales and U.S. workers. Their big profits are coming from two sources: (1) growing sales in China, India, and other fast-growing countries, and (2) slimmed-down US payrolls.

Why America's Two Economies Continue to Drift Apart ~ America's two economies are getting wider apart. The Big Money economy is booming. According to a new Commerce Department report, third-quarter profits of American businesses rose at an annual record-breaking $1.659 trillion - besting even the boom year of 2006 (in nominal dollars). Profits have soared for seven consecutive quarters now, matching or beating their fastest pace in history. Executive pay is linked to profits, so top pay is soaring as well. Higher profits are also translating into the nice gains in the stock market, which is a boon to everyone with lots of financial assets. And Wall Street is back. Bonuses on the Street are expected to rise about 5 percent this year, according to a survey by compensation consultants Johnson Associates Inc. But nothing is trickling down to the Average Worker economy."

Plus, Tom Tomorrow and more from Mark Karlin - several factors are converging that will further erode our shrinking working class. These ominous trends include:

• Increased offshoring of production jobs to low-cost-labor nations, facilitated by "free trade agreements"
• Growing financial investment abroad by beneficiaries of "bonus" tax giveaways to the
  super-wealthy
• Accelerating dependence on natural resources from other nations to meet current energy and high-technology needs
• Accumulation of hundreds of billions of dollars in cash surpluses by corporations to increase dividend payments, stock value and executive salaries and bonuses
• Growing consumer spending is no longer an indicator of a likely increase in domestic manufacturing, because so many of the goods purchased by Americans are made overseas
• Rampaging "meme" of reducing the federal deficit and implementing austerity programs will further erode the production sector of the economy.

And 2010 "Person" of the Year: The US Supreme Court by Bob Burnett, Huffington Post:

"There was one 2010 event that, in terms of its long-term impact, loomed above the others, the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court Decision.... We've entered a new phase of American history, the Corporatist period where multinational corporations have unbridled political influence. This movement started before the Citizens United decision, but the Roberts' Supreme Court has accelerated the pace and thereby profoundly weakened our democracy."

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