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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

WI Grassroots Group: McCutcheon Decision “Legalized Bribery”

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Thursday, April 3, 2014   

MADISON, Wis. – The U.S. Supreme Court has struck down aggregate limits on individual contributions to federal candidates, political parties and political action committees, saying existing limits are a violation of free speech.

Lisa Subeck, executive director of the grassroots political group United Wisconsin, calls the court's 5-to-4 decision a complete violation of the public trust.

And she says it takes the nation another step closer to, as she puts it, legalizing bribery in politics.

"Citizens believe one citizen, one individual, one vote,” Subeck stresses. “And essentially, what a decision like McCutcheon, particularly coupled with the Citizens United decision of 2010 does is, it gives an unlimited amount of power to those with the most money to purchase it."

The Citizens United decision, which in essence said corporations are people, is supported by those who believe that political contributions are a form of free speech.

Subeck maintains that now the only way to prevent wealthy donors from having even more power as a result of these decisions is to repeal the Citizens United ruling.

According to Subeck, there is a growing bipartisan grassroots movement committed to overturning the Citizens United ruling.

"Citizens across this state, across this nation are looking for meaningful campaign finance reform,” she says. “Clearly, the first step is a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, that declares that not only are corporations not to be treated as people, but money is not the same as speech."

Subeck points out campaign finance limits provide a crucial safeguard against corruption in the political system.

She says Wednesday's Supreme Court ruling makes it more difficult for the public to trust that decision-makers are not simply for sale to the highest bidder.





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