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| Felon Jack Abramoff with Former U.S. President George W. Bush Jack's on Represent us Board of Advisers |
“End government corruption.” Absolutely! The sooner the
better, but with unsullied activists, advisers, leaders
Excerpt, minor edit, brief comment by
Carolyn Bennett
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hile the ideas and stated concerns of this group or movement self-labeled “Represent dot us” seem well and good, what I found particularly telling was the makeup of its board
of advisers. The members are limited essentially to the two entrenched, sullied U.S. political
parties. Advisers' work histories are the “same ole” attachments to technology, finance,
investment, entrenched government office holders, past and present, some are even
felons. And of the 21 advisers, only two are women.
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| More foxes? |
Thus begging a similar question I have asked often about the “Take back America” folks ─ “Who really is the ‘us’?”
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| Entrenched Corrupt Bipartisan |
Their stated ideas
Across the United States of America, citizens are
disappointed in their government. While the nation grapples with historical
debt, a recession, energy dependence, inflation, terrorism, and unaffordable wars
─ U.S. politicians are asleep at the wheel.
The system is broken.
Government is corrupted by money.
America needs Members of Congress engaged in solving the
nation’s problems, out raising money for re-election.
The country is run by lobbyists - fighting on behalf of sundry
industries, companies, professional clubs, unions: Big Oil, Big Pharma (pharmaceuticals),
defense/military materiel/contracting, labor, lawyers, insurance, Big Ag (food
corporations), and the like.
Though the United States may never rid its elective office
and elections’ processes of lobbyists and big financial donors, Americans
generally agree that citizens should come first.
Government in the United States is corrupt.
We need to fix it.
We have a plan.
We need everybody’s help.
Thus ─ the “American Anti-Corruption Act”
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HAT it does
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| Executive BranchFor sale |
Shines a light on dark money groups and their secret donors
Outlaws members of Congress from taking donations from the
entities they regulate
Closes the revolving door between Congress and K Street so
that politicians (and their staffs) are not trading their power in exchange for
cushy jobs when they leave office
Fosters small-donor contributions through citizen-funded
elections (Shut out all the corrupting money, enable clean money; … it costs
money to run for public office)
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| Legislative Branch For sale |
Stops Super PACs and dark money groups from coordinating with
campaigns
Expands the definition of lobbying to include all types of
influence peddlers
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| Judicial Branch For sale |
“American Anti-Corruption Act”
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HY it works
It goes beyond piecemeal reforms: as comprehensive
legislation of historic proportions, it completely reshapes the current system
to eliminate undue influence of money
Millions of people are ready to rally behind the same
proposal, including all of the issue groups being beaten by big money lobbyists
This movement is neither progressive nor conservative. It is
American. From Occupy to the Tea Party, Democrats to Republicans to
Independents; more than 80 percent of Americans (indentified as liberal,
independent and conservative) want to get money out
Not asking politicians to fix the problem, the movement forces
their hand ─ this only way to force the fox (politicians) out of the henhouse
or clamp a lock on it (the cache of campaign corruption): oppose the movement, lose
seat in office.
Sources and notes
“Represent Us, Not the Money ─ Support the Act”
“Represent.Us is a fresh campaign to support the American
Anti-Corruption Act: a law that would overhaul campaign finance; impose strict
lobbying and conflict of interest laws; and end secret political money. We are
mobilizing millions of Americans — conservatives and progressives, young and
old, every issue group fighting K Street, online and offline — to join this
campaign.”
“Represent dot us Reshape American Politics”
“Represent.Us is not just building a movement in
support of the American Anti-Corruption Act; we are going to use our collective
power to stand against those who stand for corruption. If it becomes law, the
Act will completely reshape American politics and policy-making and give people
a voice.”
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| All men and women are created equal Who is the "us"? |
hile the ideas and stated concerns of this group or movement,
“Represent dot us,” seem well and good, what I found particularly telling was the makeup of its board
of advisers: the members are limited essentially to the two entrenched U.S. political
parties; their work histories are the “same ole” attachments to technology, finance,
investment, entrenched government office holders past and present; some are even
felons; and of the 21 advisers, only two are women.
Represent dot us Board of Advisers
- Trevor Potter: Former Chairman, Federal Election Commission: Mr. Potter served as General Counsel to John McCain 2008 and 2000 presidential campaigns. He also served as Deputy General Counsel to the George H.W. Bush 1988 campaign. He is the founding President and General Counsel of the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington, D.C.- based nonprofit that focuses on campaign finance issues in the courts and before the FEC. Mr. Potter now represents Stephen Colbert and his SuperPAC and 501C-4. He advises Mr. Colbert on campaign finance issues on The Colbert Report.
- Theodore Roosevelt IV: Investment Banker: Theodore Roosevelt IV is a prominent Republican conservationist, the great-grandson of former President Roosevelt; and serves on boards of the Alliance for Climate Protection, the Wilderness Society, the American Museum of Natural History (Trustee), and the World Resources Institute. He is the chair of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change.
- Lawrence Lessig: Harvard Law School Professor: Professor Lawrence Lessig is the director of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics at Harvard University as well as a professor of law at Harvard Law School. He is founder of Rootstrikers, an organization dedicated to ending corruption in government; and sits on advisory boards of the Sunlight Foundation and Americans Elect.
- Richard Painter: Former Ethics Advisor to former President George W. Bush: Professor Richard Painter is a Professor of corporate law at the University of Minnesota. He served as the chief ethics lawyer for George W. Bush and has also been active in law reform efforts aimed at deterring securities fraud and improving ethics of corporate managers and lawyers.
- Cecelia Frontero: Occupy Wall Street: Cecelia Frontero is an active participant in the Occupy Wall Street movement with a focus on ending the undue influence of special interests in politics. She is an accomplished actor with credits that include numerous theater, television and audio book productions and recordings.
- Buddy Roemer productions: Former Governor of Louisiana: Buddy Roemer (R-LA) is a former four-term U.S. Congressman and one-term Governor of Louisiana. He is the CEO and President of Business First Bank and a former GOP candidate for U.S. President.
- Tom Whitmore: DC Tea Party Patriots: Tom Whitmore is the head of the D.C. Tea Party Patriots; a retired C.E.O. of three small businesses now working to create an environment that encourages new activists to step up and become involved in the electoral process.
- Hadi Partovi: Investor: Hadi Partovi is an entrepreneur and angel investor. As an entrepreneur, he was on the founding teams of Tellme and iLike. As an angel investor and startup advisor, Hadi’s portfolio includes Facebook, Zappos, Dropbox, OPOWER, Flixster, Bluekai, and many others. The Harvard graduate is a strategic advisor to numerous startups including Facebook, Dropbox, OPOWER, and Bluekai. Hadi Partovi serves on the board of TASER International and is also an active angel investor with a wide range of investments.
- Jack Cogan: Jack Cogan is a former chairman and managing partner of Hale and Dorr (now Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP) and a former chairman of that firm’s Corporate Department. Cogan remains active in the financial services industry as non-executive chairman of Pioneer Investment Management USA, Inc., and as president of the Pioneer Family of Mutual Funds (USA). He is a vice president and Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a life-trustee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and chairman emeritus of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Cogan previously served as trustee of Boston Medical Center and was a chairman of University Hospital (Boston).
- Douglas E. Schoen: Democratic
Campaign Consultant: Douglas E. Schoen is an influential campaign
consultant with a client list that includes Bill Clinton, Michael
Bloomberg, Evan Bayh, and AT&T. He was a founding partner and
principle strategist for Penn, Schoen & Berland, and is widely
recognized as one of the co-inventors of overnight polling. Credentialed
by Harvard Law School and Oxford University, Schoen has authored numerous
books and is a regular contributor to the Washington Post, the Wall Street
Journal, and FOX News.
- Todd Dipaola: Co-founder of Vantage Media and its CFO and VP for Strategy. During his tenure, Vantage became #31 in the Inc 500 list. In addition to angel investing and new online ventures, he serves on several public interest boards. He is credentialed by UC Berkeley and the Goldman School.
- Mark McKinnon: GOP Strategist: Mark McKinnon has been helping to solve complex strategic challenges for causes, companies and candidates, including George W. Bush, John McCain, Ann Richards, Charlie Wilson, Lance Armstrong and Bono. McKinnon has helped engineer five winning presidential primary and general elections. He co-founder of No Labels, a non-profit organization dedicated to bipartisanship, civil discourse and problem solving in politics, and is co-chair of Arts+Labs. He serves on the boards of the Lance Armstrong Foundation and Change Congress.
- Dennis M. Kelleher: Better Markets: Dennis M. Kelleher is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Better Markets, Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that promotes the public interest in the U.S. and global financial markets. He has held several senior staff positions in the United States Senate, most recently as the Chief Counsel and Senior Leadership Advisor to the Chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee.
- Jack Abramoff: Former Lobbyist: Jack Abramoff is a former Washington super-lobbyist who became a master of exploiting the lobbying system, and later served three years for breaking lobbying laws. Abramoff authored Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth about Corruption from America s Most Notorious Lobbyist and continues to make media appearances to ‘educate’ citizens on the corrupt practices in government.
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| Brandeis University graduate Jack Abramoff |
[Profiting from his crime]
Further
notes not cited by “represent.us”: Brandeis University graduate Jack
Abramoff is a convicted felon who was involved “The Jack Abramoff Indian
lobbying scandal,” “a United States political scandal relating to the work
performed by political lobbyists Jack Abramoff, Ralph E. Reed, Jr., Grover
Norquist and Michael Scanlon on Indian casino gambling interests for an
estimated $85 million in fees. Abramoff and Scanlon grossly overbilled their
clients, secretly splitting the multimillion-dollar profits. In one case, they
were secretly orchestrating lobbying against their own clients in order to
force them to pay for lobbying services. In the course of the scheme, the
lobbyists were accused of illegally giving gifts and making campaign donations
to legislators in return for votes or support of legislation. Representative
Bob Ney (R-OH) and two aides to Tom DeLay (R-TX) have been directly implicated;
other politicians have various ties. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Abramoff_Indian_lobbying_scandal
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| Fox in Henhouse |
- Nick Penniman: Fund for the Republic: Nick Penniman is the executive director of Fund for the Republic, a catalyst fund bringing new resources to efforts that confront the undue influence of moneyed interests over U.S. politics. Before working with Fund for the Republic, Penniman was Executive Director of the Huffington Post Investigative Fund; and was a publisher or editor of several good-government magazines and newspapers and blogs on the issue of money in politics.
- David Levine: American Sustainable Business Council: David Levine is co-founder and CEO of the American Sustainable Business Council (ASBC), a growing coalition of business networks and businesses committed to advancing a new vision, framework and policies that support a vibrant, equitable and sustainable economy. Founded in 2009, ASBC and its organizational members represent more than 150,000 businesses and more than 300,000 individual entrepreneurs, owners, executives, investors and business professionals across the United States.
- Susan McCue: Progressive Strategist: Susan McCue is a political strategist and President of Message Global LLC, a strategic public affairs firm founded to advance progressive campaigns, global non-profit advocacy, grassroots activism and corporate social responsibility. McCue served as the Chief of Staff for U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. She later became founding President and CEO of The ONE Campaign and elevated ONE into a national force. GQ Magazine named her one of the 50 most powerful people in Washington. Washingtonian Magazine named her one of the 100 most powerful women in Washington.
- Albert Wenger: Partner, Union Square Ventures: Albert Wenger is a partner at Union Square Ventures, a venture capital firm that specializes in internet/tech ventures. He is also founder or founder of five companies and has managed a broad range of technology projects.
- Ethan Beard: Until recently Ethan Beard was Director of the Facebook Developer Network. Before that he was Director of Business Development at Facebook and led the team responsible for creating and managing strategic partnerships. Ethan joined Facebook from Google, where he was Director of Social Media and Director of New Business Development. Prior to Google, he spent several years as Director of Business Development for MTV Online. He is credentialed in Economics by the Wharton School of Business and in business by New York University.
- Joe Greenstein: Co-founder and CEO, Flixster: He is co-founder and CEO of Flixster. Previously he was part of a startup team and head of product management at Edusoft, bought by Houghton-Mifflin in 2003. He is credentialed in computer science by the University of Pennsylvania and in economics by the Wharton School.
- Jonathan Haidt: Professor, NYU: Professor Haidt is a social psychologist whose research examines the foundations of morality. His most recent book and New York Times bestseller is The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are divided by Politics and Religion. The book helps explain the American culture war between left and right. Professor Haidt is credentialed (Philosophy) by Yale and (Psychology) the University of Pennsylvania. http://represent.us/about/
Bryant’s American Anti-Corruption Act: Bryant wants support
for a new law co-authored by Democrats and Republicans, designed to fix our
political system and end corruption.
American Anti-Corruption Act; info@represent.us
855.585.8100 x29, P.O.
Box 60008, Florence, MA 01062 http://unitedrepublic.actionkit.com/event/cosponsor/8889/
http://represent.us/
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Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
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