— National Journal, 10/2013
Dear Ralph,
Citizens United was one of the Supreme Court cases that gave birth to Super PACs. It let special interest groups take unlimited money from undisclosed donors and spend it to influence elections.
Conservative and Tea Party groups took full advantage of the ruling — spending more than $860 million in the last election to sway voters. And now theMcCutcheon case could open the door to even more outside spending in our democratic process.
The McCutcheon case could remove the limit on how much total money an individual can donate to candidates and PACs in the course of one election cycle. That means special interests can donate the maximum to as many candidates or committees they see fit — expanding the influence of large sums of money in our elections.
We may not hear from the Supreme Court until the summer. But we don’t have to wait to call on Congress to take action.
Congress must take action to take back the reins on our campaign finance system. Let them know you stand against Citizens United, and support safeguards against corruptive, unlimited, undisclosed contributions in our elections.