Corporate takeover of elections can be stopped with clean elections.

This from the Montgomery County Democratic Party:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

January 29, 2010

Rep. Kevin Brady fails to support Fair Elections Now Act

Even after the recent Supreme Court decision, Brady still doesn’t advocate a level playing field for elections.

THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS – A recent decision by the U.S. Supreme Court has increased the urgent need to enact federal legislation to curb the corporate influence that exists in elections for public office. One such bill, the Fair Elections Now Act (H.R. 1826) was introduced in 2009 and has 128 co-sponsors in the U.S. House of Representatives, including six members of the Texas congressional delegation. Unfortunately, U.S. Representative Kevin Brady (R – The Woodlands) is not one of them.

“The recent court decision is an example of egregious judicial activism.  It opens the door for corporate takeover of our government, undermining the voices of ordinary citizens. Congress should act swiftly to restore our democracy and it is regrettable that Rep. Brady has failed to support the Fair Elections Now Act, which would do just that,” said Adrienne Cadik, chair of the Montgomery County Democratic Party.  

“This bill, which is supported by the non-partisan Texas League of Women Voters, would set up a publicly financed system of elections that would lower the cost of elections, minimize the influence of special interests, allow challengers to compete with career incumbents, and overall create a level playing field,” said Cadik.

Brady, who has been in Congress since 1996, raised over $930,000 from political action committees in the 2006 and 2008 election cycles alone, according to www.opensecrets.org.

Elected officials from all parts of the political spectrum, from President Obama to Senator John McCain, have expressed their disdain for the Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. In his dissenting opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote, “the Court's opinion is thus a rejection of the common sense of the American people, who have recognized a need to prevent corporations from undermining self government since the founding, and who have fought against the distinctive corrupting potential of corporate electioneering since the days of Theodore Roosevelt.”

We call on Rep. Brady put the interests of the constituents of this congressional district ahead of all else and support H.R. 1826.

###