Benjy Sarlin
Ousted from the Senate in 2010, Russ Feingold, may have fewer Democratic friends to count on if he chooses to enter the race to replace retiring Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI). The progressive icon eviscerated his former colleagues in an e-mail for his advocacy group Progressive United on Tuesday, accusing two prominent Democrats of enabling "corruption" by opposing new transparency measures on political donations.
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The names included House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO). In addition, the email targeted Sens. Mitch McConnell, (R-KY), Rob Portman (R-OH), Joe Lieberman (I-CT), and Rep. Darrell Issa, (R-CA).
Feingold accused the group of backing "corporate interests in Congress" by opposing an executive order
under discussion in the White House that would require government contractors to reveal their political donations.
"If we make contributions public, we can hold legislators and contractors accountable. We can shine the bright light of transparency on the whole practice of awarding government contracts, so the American people can truly see what is going on,"he wrote. "Let's start by holding the defenders of corruption accountable to their constituents right now."
moreBusiness groups
are clamoring for President Obama to take down his draft executive order, and making claims about how it'll chill their free speech rights. What's the hullaboo all about, you ask? You see, ever since Citizens United, corporations now have free reign to subvert our democratic process through unlimited amounts of money and they don't like it when the pesky commoners get in the way of that.
When President Obama released his draft executive order that would require businesses that contract with the federal government to disclose their political contributions, they shrieked and panicked. These big business interests are hoppin' mad that a Democratic President would make an executive order like this, and
they've got their corporate lackeys in Congress doing their dirty work:
In a letter sent Monday to Obama, groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Petroleum Institute, the National Retail Federation, the National Association of Manufacturers and others said that they oppose the draft order since it would inject politics into the federal contracting process. In addition, they said the draft order would chill their free speech rights.
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The letter comes as the draft order has fallen under heavy criticism last week from several Republicans as well as a few Democrats.
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), chairman of the House Small Business Committee, held a joint hearing last week that blasted the administration on the draft order. House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) also told reporters he opposed the draft order while Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) signed onto a letter with senators expressing concerns about it.
President Obama is facing tremendous pressure from these business groups and from some people in his own party in Congress for this draft executive order. We need to support him on this issue given this is the only way we can get around a gridlocked Congress to hold these corporations accountable in how they influence our elections. Can you help out by demonstrating your support by going to the White House Facebook page here?
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