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New Maplight Voter Guide Helps Voters Tackle Ballot Measures

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New Maplight Voter Guide Helps Voters Tackle Ballot Measures REVEALING MONEY’S INFLUENCE ON POLITICS ISSUE 14 / SUMMER 2012 Flash!Flash! A NEWSLETTER FROM New MapLight Voter Guide helps voters tackle ballot measures MapLight is excited to launch the first site reveals that of our online Voter Guides, designed tobacco companies Prop. 28 Prop. 29 to radically reduce voters’ difficulty and their allies in gaining clear and complete infor- contributed $47 Term Limits Cigarette Tax mation on ballot measures. Complete million to defeat with summaries, impact analyses, Proposition 29 — funding information, news articles, outraising support- and more, plus daily updates reflecting ing groups 4:1. Our breaking developments, these online findings have been guides provide a one-stop information spread by CNN, the resource that empowers voters New York Times, the to navigate competing campaign Wall Street Journal, YES NO YES NO messages and cast votes that reflect CBS news, and many $2,258,333 $834,880 $12,259,880 $46,831,466 their best interests. others. MapLight is With support from the James Irvine also partnering with across the country. Our guide for Foundation, our pilot guide—available NALEO and the Greenlining Institute to California ballot measures can be in English and Spanish—will cover all ensure this resource benefits the wide found at http://maplight.org/voter. diversity of California’s electorate. of the statewide California ballot Interested in creating a guide to ballot measures. And it’s already shining a With funding from the Kaphan measures for your own state or city? light on the interests vying to influ- Foundation, MapLight will be expanding Write to us at [email protected]. ence citizens’ votes. For instance, the our Voter Guide to states and cities MapLight partners with Tableau to help citizens visualize influence In a collaboration with Tableau Software, MapLight has created interactive visualizations that make monetary influence easier to see and share. “Who Owns Your State’s Members of Congress?” displays logos of the top contributing company or organi- zation to each state’s sitting sena- tors and representatives, making it possible to see which groups are seeking influence across the country. Clicking a logo shows the top five contributing groups to all members of Congress from that state. Out of thousands of Tableau “vizzes,” “Who Owns Your State?” was the #70 most viewed in the first quarter of 2012; among the top 100, it ranked as the #24 most interacted-with and the #27 most viewed in the category of politics and government. To view it yourself, go to http://maplt.org/ xW7aWp. cont. on page 2 Flash! A NEWSLETTER FROM MapLight OUR ORGANIZATION cont. from page 1 BOARD MapLight partners Doug Edwards, Co-Chair Steven Addis with Tableau to Melanie Sloan, Co-Chair Lawrence Lessig help citizens ADVISORY BOARD visualize influence Ben H. Bagdikian Brant Houston Jaleh Bisharat Thomas R. Miller Clicking on a pie chart Paul Braund Ted Nace in our “State of Influ- Edward J. “Ted” Costa Craig Newmark ence: The Origins of Christian Crumlish Jeni Sall Super PAC Money” viz Greg Gretsch reveals contributions STAFF to super PACs from Daniel Newman, President individual cities in that Jeffrey ErnstFriedman, Research Director state. A drop-down Pamela Heisey, Communications Director menu allows candi- DeAnna Dalton, Advancement Director date comparisons and Mike Krejci, Technology Director maps the geographic Emilie Middlesworth, Data Analyst distribution of indi- Kent Richards, Web Developer Jay Costa, Program Manager vidual contributions to Darby Beck, Program Coordinator candidate-supporting Tierra Allen, Development Assistant super PACs. Check it Chad Outler, Intern Coordinator out at http://maplt.org/ INTERNS IzCbbn. Zach Bogoshian Stephen Hobbs Laura Curlin Andrew Luu Jack Dobbyn Levon Minassian Victor Gaviola Nick Raffin Chris Gorin Alice Wang California legislators: Pass the DISCLOSE Act In 2010, spending on California ballot ads on TV, radio, print, mailers, and • Websites with further disclosure, measures topped $235 million—and websites to identify the following: including a link to the Secretary came largely from interests with dubi- • The names and logos of the three of State’s website. ous monikers like “California Jobs largest funders—clearly displayed This bill would be a huge win for Initiative” or “Stop Hidden Taxes.” in the ads themselves. democracy in California, allowing MapLight proudly endorses the Califor- • The three largest actual contrib- citizens to give proper weight to nia DISCLOSE Act (A.B. 1648), which will the different messages they hear bring these shadowy funders to light. tors, regardless of how many groups or committees their donations have and make informed decisions at Among its key transparency provisions, passed through. the ballot box. To lend your voice this legislation would require political in support, please visit http://bit.ly/ qOXnAD. “Goodnight Democracy” spreads a Citizens United wake-up call MapLight’s very own Jay Costa has “Goodnight Democracy” is a project penned a satire based on the children’s of Rootstrikers, a grassroots organiza- classic “Goodnight Moon” that warns tion led by MapLight board member against the increased political spending Lawrence Lessig that fights the cor- unleashed by Citizens United. “Good- rupting influence of money in politics: night Democracy” laments that cor- the root of America’s problems. The porations can now purchase “political book is available to download, share, ads with unlimited dollars/And drown and remix from http://www.good- out speech of those whose checkbooks nightdemocracy.com/. are smaller” and ends with a two-page breakdown of the undemocratic effects of the Supreme Court’s decision. PAGE 2 PROFILE DONALD GOLDMACHER party system in this country, and the donations to the pockets of legislators two parties like it that way. They don’t both at the state and national level and really want insurgent political parties the resulting legislation. challenging them. So it’s very diffi- What the public needs to understand cult for third parties to emerge in this is that, not only are these corporations country and to gain traction. donating to legislators, but they also What do you hope people get out of provide lobbyists who write up the laws your film? that these legislators then introduce We want people to be outraged, and into either state houses or Congress. they are. And we have a whole clos- So what it means is that our democracy ing section of the movie in which we has been hijacked. MapLight is doing a begin to show how people need to great job of shining a light on this new get off the couch and stop pointing dynamic in what’s supposed to be our and clicking and get active. We show people-centered democracy of, by, and a national policy prescription, like for the people. It’s no longer that. It’s by public financing of elections, but we and for the corporations. What light does your new film, “Heist: also talk about things people can do in We hope that our film makes the kind Who Stole the American Dream?,” their local communities and by them- of noise in people’s heads that will snap shed on the topic of money in politics? selves, like moving your money into a them out of denial so that they will seek “Heist” takes a long view of what’s credit union. That’s the biggest way to out organizations like MapLight who are happened to America and the Ameri- starve the financial institutions and doing the people’s work. can economy over the last 40 years, say, “You can’t play with our money What must happen to realize substan- and it shows that there’s been an on Wall Street.” tive change in the role that money plays orchestrated takeover of the govern- In your opinion, what’s the most in the political process? ment by corporate interests, beginning exciting thing that’s happening in People need to think deeply about how with a confidential memo known as the realm of money and politics they are making their political contribu- the Powell Memo written by a soon- right now? tions and how insistent they are with to-be Supreme Court justice [Lewis One of these things is the Move to people they are providing money to that Franklin Powell, Jr.] who was a Amend movement, which is to amend they make public financing of elections corporate attorney representing the constitution declaring that their central focus for the next couple tobacco companies at the time. And corporations are not people and are years. Because if they don’t do that, it shows that, over a period of time, not allowed to buy their way into they’re wasting their time, their money, corporations did in fact take over. power. That’s terribly, terribly impor- and we will lose the entire democratic What do you find most challenging tant if we’re going to take back our structure that the founding fathers about corporations’ influence on democracy. had in mind. In addition, the Citizens government? What would you want other people United decision must be overturned by The real challenge is two-fold: number to know about MapLight and your a constitutional amendment, so that one, we have to get money out of poli- experiences with the organization? corporate money can no longer corrupt our country. tics, meaning we have to have public I’ve been a contributor to MapLight Donald Goldmacher is a longtime filmmaker, financing of elections, which is very, since its beginning. I’ve done that very difficult to have legislated given labor advocate, activist, and community because Dan Newman has made it psychiatrist with decades of experience the current structure of Congress and very clear with his work that it is documenting and participating in social change.
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