End Citizens United = astroturf. Don't give them money.

[eridani]

End Citizens United is an astroturf group created by corporate Democrats to take advantage of the public's opposition to Citizens United, raise money off it, and make sure as little as possible is done.

Move to Amend has also put out an alert warning about these folks.

Had already verified most of this before I found this KOS diary. Their claims of "grassroots support" are unsubstantiated.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/02/1381925/-Fundraising-scam

Maybe my suspicions are incorrect, and this is a bona fide (though still unnecessary) effort that's just being attempted by somebody without a clue about how to properly organize a legitimate, transparent, accountable non-profit org."

Activism is good. Transparent, accountable activism. But it's amazing people will send money to something so anonymous. Unfortunately, it's not true that anyone claiming to 'Like' what we like is worthy of our money. Sometimes, it's being fraudulently siphoned off for personal benefit.

Given it's tag line of "Democrats Fighting Big Money" the slick appearance of their stuff, I'd say the DLC, New Dems, Third Way folks are behind it. It's purpose is to siphon off money, but probably not for personal use, simply to keep it from legitimate groups like Move to Amend and Free Speech for People.

Their Facebook page is interesting. It was full of Hillary and Obama but they've grudgingly started including Bernie.


From the comments of the Kos diary:

The Statement of Organization with the FEC "is signed by Brian Foucart, apparently a long-time Dem functionary."

Foucart is described as: " a longtime Democratic financial official whose jobs have included stints with the presidential campaigns of Al Gore and John Kerry" in this article linking him to the rather odious (but a great fundraiser!) a ConservaDem in Florida who is running (along with Alan Grayson) for Rubio's open Senate seat He used Allen West's reputation as a lunatic to rake in cash and beat him, but has disappointed the folks who donated.

Congress' youngest member forms leadership PAC

Foucart was also CFO and Assistant Treasurer of "Joe Lieberman for President, Inc."

If you are going to give money, donate to Move to Amend
http://movetoamend.org/

[jberryhill]

1. The KOS diary appears to be incorrect

There is nary a single real name on the website. Nada. No mention of who's in charge, who's on a board, who controls the bank account, nada.

The principals are listed here:

http://endcitizensunited.org/our-team/


Valerie Martin, Senior Advisor

Valerie Martin serves as a Senior Advisor to End Citizens United. With seven election cycles under her belt, Valerie is a veteran of competitive campaigns across the country. Prior to joining End Citizens United, Valerie created television advertisements for targeted campaigns and offered media training and strategic advice to candidates. Valerie’s fundraising background helped Democrats take the majority in the Senate in 2006 when U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill scored an upset victory in Missouri and helped elect U.S. Representative Allyson Schwartz in 2004 in Pennsylvania.

A native of San Diego, California and a graduate of the University of Dayton in Ohio, Valerie currently resides in Chicago.

Reed Adamson, Senior Advisor

Reed Adamson serves as a Senior Advisor and brings years experience in progressive politics, including serving as a Chief of Staff in Congress and managing some of the country’s most closely watched Congressional races, including Congressman Brad Schneider’s 2012 victory in Illinois.

Reed’s passion for campaign finance reform began over a decade ago while interning at Common Cause and later becoming an organizer for a campaign to protect Clean Elections, the public financing system in Arizona.
Richard Carbo, Communications Director

Richard joined End Citizens United in 2015 after previously serving as Communications Director for Congressman John Barrow during two competitive election cycles and Congressman Patrick Murphy. A Louisiana native, Richard also served as Press Secretary for U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu and Deputy Press Secretary for Governor Kathleen Blanco.

A graduate of Louisiana State University, Richard lives and breathes LSU and New Orleans Saints football.

Jessica Adair, Political Director

Prior to joining End Citizens United, Jessica worked in the non-profit sector, advocating for health care reform. Jessica has multiple cycles of campaign experience, including President Obama’s campaign in Colorado. She got her start in politics at the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce.

Jessica received her B.A. in Political Science from Rhodes College and her J.D. from Texas Tech University School of Law. She is a member of the Texas Bar Association. Born and raised near Fort Worth, Texas, Jessica follows Dallas Cowboys football with a nearly religious fervor.

I have no opinion on the relative merits of either this thing or Move to Amend.

As I've observed in the past, the amendment proposed by Move to Amend would, if in effect at the time, have allowed the government to prevail in the Pentagon Papers case, New York Times Co. v. United States, 403 U.S. 713 (1971), since, as a corporation, the New York Times Co. would not have a First Amendment right to publish anything, and freedom of the press would solely apply to natural persons who own one.

When I've raised this question in the past, the responses have been variations of a theme along the lines of "media companies are different", despite the absence of such difference stated in Move to Amend's proposal. The funny part of that answer is that "Citizen's United" is itself a media company, and the Citizen's United case dealt with whether or not they could produce a film critical of Hillary Clinton during an election year. The case was about whether opponents of Hillary Clinton could fund a company to make a film, and whether that constituted in-kind political contributions.

Amusingly, this End Citizens United appears to be a PAC, and not an activist effort, in keeping with the CV's of its apparent principals who appear to have primarily had experience working on political campaigns. Their endorsed candidates are:

http://endcitizensunited.org/end-citizens-united-endorsed-candidates/

Again, regardless of the relative merits of these organizations, it is clear that End Citizen's United is a PAC, about which quite a bit more is knowable than the OP or the KOS diary suggests. For example, they appear to be closing in on $1.5M raised:

https://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/lookup2.php?cycle=2014&strID=C00573261

From the FEC filings, their financials thus far are:


I. RECEIPTS $1,468,506

Itemized Individual Contributions $351,472
Unitemized Individual Contributions $1,117,034
Total Individual Contributions $1,468,506
Party Committees Contributions $0
Other Committees Contributions $0
TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS $1,468,506

Transfers from Affiliated Committees $0
Loans Received $0
Loan Repayments Received $0
Offsets to Operating Expenditures $0
Refunds $0
Other Receipts $0
Non-Federal Transfers $0
Levin Funds $0
Total Transfers $0
Total Federal Receipts $1,468,506
TOTAL RECEIPTS $1,468,506

II. DISBURSEMENTS $715,466

Allocated Operating Expenditures - Federal $0
Allocated Operating Expenditures - Non-Federal $0
Other Federal Operating Expenditures $608,985
TOTAL OPERATING EXPENDITURES $608,985
Transfers To Affiliated Committees $0
Contributions to Committees $35,100
Independent Expenditures $0
Coordinated Party Expenditures $0
Loans Made $0
Loan Repayments Made $0
Individual Refunds $71,381
Political Party Refunds $0
Other Committee Refunds $0
TOTAL CONTRIBUTION REFUNDS $71,381
Other Disbursements $0
Allocated Federal Election Activity - Federal Share $0
Allocated Federal Election Activity - Levin Share $0
Federal Election Activity - Federal Only $0
TOTAL FEDERAL ELECTION ACTIVITY $0
Total Federal Disbursements $715,466
TOTAL DISBURSEMENTS $715,466

III. CASH SUMMARY $753,040

Beginning Cash On Hand $0
Ending Cash On Hand $753,040
Net Contributions $1,397,125
Net Operating Expenditures $608,985
Debts/Loans Owed By $0
Debts/Loans Owed To $0

---------


Just out of curiosity, where do I find the financial reports for Move to Amend?

[Recursion]

2. "DLC, Third Way, New Dem" are approaching meaninglessness through overuse

There's not some Manichean divide between "good" and "evil" Democrats out there.

[Chan790]

8. I honestly believe there is. (A Manichean divide)

Though I don't necessarily blame them. There is a vast wing of the party which seems to have sprung out of reaction to the Reagan/Thatcher 1980s and whose MO seems to be whenever confronted by conservative values, triangulate rightward to attempt to co-opt their non-extremist flank. Now, that may have been a solid strategy at one time to keep us from being wiped from the map...but it's not any longer and people like the DLC refuse to put that tool back in the shed until it is needed again.

Instead, it remains their hammer for any problem that resembles a nail...and so we get a slow-walk to embracing Reaganism from people like the Clintons who nevertheless think they're actually still good Democrats.

[rac0712]

3. MSNBC: End Citizens United PAC wants to make its name a reality

[link:http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/end-citizens-united-pac-wants-make-its-name-reality|

MSNBC: End Citizens United PAC wants to make its name a reality

A new political action committee dedicated to campaign finance reform wants to be a big player in 2016, and it’s planning to funnel tens of millions of dollars to Democratic candidates running in competitive House and Senate races across the country.

The group, End Citizens United, which officially launched this month, has raised more than $2 million from small donors so far — and the group is on track to rake in a total of $25 million to $30 million for the entire entire cycle, said communications director Richard Carbo.

The group’s ultimate goal is to pass a constitutional amendment to reverse the Supreme Court’sCitizens United decision, which in 2010 gave rise to super PACs and unleashed a tidal wave of dark money into politics. So far, more than 325,000 people have signed End Citizens United’s petition demanding Congress pass such legislation. That number is likely to receive a boost, as the group has partnered with “Ready for Hillary” and will rent out its email list — which includes upwards of 4 million people — to reach out to potential liberal supporters.

This month, End Citizens United also announced its endorsement of 11 Democratic candidates, including former Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado.

While there have been other PACs that focus on campaign finance reform, Carbo said his group is different because “there was a hole in the conversation addressing the political side of it and actually getting people elected” who could change existing laws. That means backing candidates who are in favor of campaign finance reform, who will stand up against Citizens United — in addition to those who are under attack by the billionaire conservative Koch brothers and other related dark-money groups.

The group plans on setting up an independent expenditure arm sometime early next year to financially back the candidates through initiatives including television ads, direct mailers and polling.

While End Citizens United also hopes to help enact campaign finance reforms on the local and state level, its main objective of passing a constitutional amendment to overturn the 2010 Supreme Court decision is being met with some skepticism by campaign finance experts. A constitutional amendment, after all, must win consent from two-thirds of the Senate and the House, in addition to being ratified by three-fourths of states.

“It’s a really high bar to for a constitutional amendment,” said John Wonderlich, policy director at the Sunlight Foundation, a non-partisan group that advocates for government transparency. “It’s an uphill battle for people who choose that path.”

That’s putting it mildly. America hasn’t passed a single Constitutional amendment since 1992. And Washington has gotten exponentially more partisan since.

Rick Hasen, a campaign finance regulation expert and professor of law and political science at UC-Irvine School of Law, put it in more stark terms. “Let’s say the group raised $100 million — the chances that even that amount of money to get a constitutional amendment passed by electing some sympathetic members of Congress is a pipe dream.” He said a greater likelihood of getting the law changed is confirming a new Supreme Court justice — when the time comes — who could shift the balance of the court.

But, Hasen argued, groups like End Citizens United do serve a purpose in “continuing with the public awareness of the Supreme Court’s decision and it keeps political pressure on both the Supreme Court and other political actors to not make things worse.”

And Carbo argued that having access to $25 million to $30 million can mean a significant ad buy that could “really impact a House race.”

So why isn’t End Citizens United backing Republicans? “Even though many Republicans and Independent voters agree that undisclosed political spending is out of control, Republican leadership in Congress is standing squarely in the way of overturning this disastrous Supreme Court decision,” the group says on its website. “It has to stop. So we will do what we can to support candidates who are champions for meaningful campaign finance reform.”

The group boasts of receiving 136,000 donations so far and having vast grassroots support with an average donation of $14.86.

The D.C.-based PAC has just five staff members, including senior advisers Valerie Martin, who worked on Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill’s 2006 campaign, and Reed Adamson, who helped manage Illinois Rep. Brad Schneider’s 2012 victory.

[rac0712]

4. National Journal: New Campaign-Finance-Reform PAC to Boost Four More Democratic Senate Candidates

[link:http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/new-campaign-finance-reform-pac-to-boost-four-more-democratic-senate-candidates-20150825|

The group, End Citizens United, plans to spend $25 to $30 million next year.

By: Kimberly Railey | August 25, 2015

A new campaign-finance-reform PAC with big spending plans is endorsing four new Democratic Senate candidates, including one in battleground Florida’s contested Democratic primary.

End Citizens United PAC will support Rep. Patrick Murphy in the Florida Senate race, as well as Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick of Arizona, and Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii. The group is dedicated to electing Democratic candidates who support overturning Citizens United and other Supreme Court decisions that have loosened the reins on campaign spending.

The PAC’s decision in Florida—where Murphy is taking on Rep. Alan Grayson, a liberal firebrand whose progressive leanings have endeared him to small donors—is most interesting. After the Citizens United ruling, which removed restrictions on corporate spending in politics, Grayson called it the “most irresponsible decision by the Supreme Court since the Dred Scott decision.”

Richard Carbo, the communications director for End Citizens United PAC and a former Murphy staffer, noted that his group decided to endorse Murphy before Grayson jumped into the race last month (and before he was hired from Murphy’s office).

“We’re appreciative of [Grayson’s] efforts on this issue, but we’ve signaled that we’re ready to help Mr. Murphy do what he needs to do to be elected to the Senate,” said Carbo.

Campaign-finance-focused PACs have hit-or-miss records, both in terms of fundraising and actually winning elections, but End Citizens United has already raised $2 million online and plans to spend $25 to $30 million through an independent-expenditure arm that will launch next spring. The average donation size is about $15.

The group has access to Ready for Hillary’s large donor list and expects it to fuel fundraising. Carbo called the partnership with the PAC that laid groundwork for Hillary Clinton‘s presidential campaign a “strong validator for the mission of this organization.”

Whether End Citizens United PAC can actually get campaign-finance reform enacted is another question entirely, though.

Last cycle, Mayday PAC—a super PAC led by Harvard professor Lawrence Lessig that raised money to end super PACs—achieved little in the way of results despite spending $10 million.

Carbo maintained that End Citizens United PAC’s approach is different, saying, “We are engaging a large number of people all across the country on this issue who are passionate about overturning Citizens United.” The new group is getting an earlier start than Lessig’s effort, and more than 325,000 people have already signed its online petition calling for reform, further building its fundraising base.

[ismnotwasm]

5. Hi, please limit articles to a 4 paragraph maximum

And a link would be appreciated

[annajay]

6. These people are a nightmare

I have tried to send endless unsubscribe emails, put them in my spam blocker, and writing to ask them politely to quit bugging me and they keep sending multiple daily emails. At this point I think they have to be a front for something/someone else because their daily spamming is bordering on harassment. I get at least four emails a day from them.

They need a hacker visit from Anonymous.

[L0oniX]

7. Better yet ...donate to Benie Sanders.