Resolution asking for Amendment to Overturn Citizens United passes NJ Senate!

by guest blogger Linda Baum

I am passing along this good news.  Now is the time to contact Speaker Oliver (973-395-1166, aswoliver@njleg.org) to ask her to put AR86 on the Assembly’s agenda for Oct. 18 and to call our Assemblypersons to ask them to support the resolution.  You can find contact information for your Assemblypersons at:  http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/districts/municipalities.asp

As always, thank you for your activism.

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Your persistance did it - SR47 PASSED!  This is the NJ Senate Resolution that calls on Congress to get money out of politics by overturning the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision with a Constitutional Amendment. SR47 will now go to Washington and represent NJ as the 8th state FOR an amendment-to-overturn.

Our NJ Coalition for the Overturn of Citizens United has grown and includes to date: The American Dream Movement of Cape May County, Food and Water Watch, Free Speech For People, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 877, New Jersey Common Cause, New Jersey American Federation of Teachers, New Jersey Communications Workers of America, New Jersey Citizen Action, MoveOn Councils (Mid-Jersey,Essex, Hudson), New Jersey Main Street Alliance, New Jersey Public Interest Research Group, New Jersey Sierra Club, New Jersey Work Environment Council, New Jersey Working Families Alliance, People for the American Way, Public Citizen, United Steelworkers District 4, Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of New Jersey.

This Coalition has presented 17,000 NJ petitions to our NJ legislators, yours included, and reached out to all their members. THIS IS PEOPLE POWER.

The sister resolution in the NJ Assembly (AR86) comes up for a floor vote soon - probably Thurs. Oct. 18th.

We need to call/email Speaker Sheila Oliver (Dist. 34, (973) 395-1166, aswoliver@njleg.org) to ask her to put AR86 on the agenda for Oct.18th. We need to contact our Assemblypersons (Republican and Democrat) and remind them all that the majority of small businesses, registered Republicans, Democrats, and Independents want money out of politics by Constitutional Amendment. We need to write letters-to-the-editor calling attention to SR47's passage and the pending passage of AR86.

Next, we will be passing all the local resolutions-to-overturn that are in progress around NJ and working to get all of our representatives in Congress on the record for the amendment process. Our snow ball is rolling down hill, gathering momentum and scale as it goes. Ask all the current candidates if they support this movement to give us government of, by and for the people; not of, by and for the money.

Thank you again for your staying power!

Susannah Newman

Coordinator NJ for the Overturn of Citizens United

snewman@brockport.edu

(609) 972-9192

Supreme Court justices ‘participated in political strategy sessions’ before Citizens United

Has the time finally come to appoint a special prosecutor to look into Supreme Court rulings of two justices, Scalia and Thomas for conflicts of interest and the selling of their decisions ?

After reading the following that was post over at Rawstory.com I am beginning to think so:

On the first anniversary of the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, which overturned nearly a century of restrictions on campaign spending, a progressive group has asked the Department of Justice to look into "conflicts of interest" two justices may have had when issuing the ruling.

In a petition to be sent to the department this week, Common Cause will argue that Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas should have recused themselves from the campaign finance decision because of their involvement with Koch Industries, a corporation run by two conservative activists who many say directly benefited from Citizens United.

“It appears both justices have participated in political strategy sessions, perhaps while the case was pending, with corporate leaders whose political aims were advanced by the decision,” the letter alleges, as quoted at Politico.

The group will urge the department to disqualify Scalia and Thomas from the ruling. If that were to happen, the Supreme Court could vacate the ruling, effectively returning the campaign finance restrictions that existed until 2010. But, as Common Cause itself admits, the odds are against it.

At the center of the group's claims is a document from Koch Industries unearthed last fall by ThinkProgress and the New York Times. In an invitation to a Palm Springs retreat to be held this month, Charles Koch boasted that previous events were attended by Scalia and Thomas.

Read more >>> Here

Protect The Vote On Election Day

If you are heading to the polls tomorrow, please be sure to take this number with you: 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683). This national, toll-free election protection hotline can help with any voting-related questions or problems you might encounter.

Before going to vote, please be sure to:

* Find out in advance where your polling place is. You can call 1-866-OUR-VOTE to find your polling place and confirm your registration, or look up your voting location here.
* Know what you need to bring to the polls. Check out our website for state-by-state voting information.
* Give yourself plenty of time to vote. Lines will likely be long in many places.

You can help Protect the Vote by passing the 1-866-OUR-VOTE hotline number on to everyone you know who will be voting tomorrow. The national election protection coalition, which Common Cause is proud to be part of, is committed to making sure every eligible voter is able to cast a ballot, and every ballot is counted accurately. If there are problems on Election Day, we want to be able to get to the bottom of them as fast as possible.

Also, Common Cause will hold an hour-long briefing call on Election Day at 5:30pm eastern time for all members and activists to talk about what we're hearing and seeing around the country. We'll have representatives from our national office on the line to talk about big-picture trends, and our staff who are on the ground in states like Ohio, Florida, Colorado and North Carolina to give reports from the field.

Please RSVP now, and we'll send you the toll-free dial-in information. We will take questions at the end of the call; however, please do not wait for this briefing call if you have a problem to report. Call the Election Protection hotline at 1-866-OUR-VOTE to relay any problems in your area.

Thanks for all you do,

Susannah Goodman
and the rest of the team at Common Cause

P.S. Here are a few more ways that you can help Protect the Vote tomorrow:

* TwitterVoteReport.com: Use your Twitter account, cell phone or any touch-tone phone to report on your voting experience. It's easy -- click here for more information about how to "Tweet Your Vote".
* MyFairElection.com: Rate your polling place and your experience of voting. Your rating and those of other voters will produce a real-time map of voting conditions throughout the country on November 4.
* Video the Vote: Shoot a video of your experience on Election Day and share it with the world. Some states have laws restricting when and where you can take pictures or video at voting sites – so be sure to check out the rules in your state before taking out your camera.