Between The Lines - Marge Baker: Proposed Constitutional Amendment Would Reverse Recent Supreme Court Rulings on Money in Politics (Week Ending June 13, 2014)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

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Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

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Proposed Constitutional Amendment Would Reverse Recent Supreme Court Rulings on Money in Politics

Posted June 4, 2014

Interview with Marge Baker, executive vice president with People for the American Way, conducted by Melinda Tuhus

In 2010, the Citizens United ruling from the Supreme Court allowed unlimited contributions from corporations and unions to political candidates, purportedly independent of their campaigns. In April of this year, the court's McCutcheon decision overturned aggregate limits on campaign donations by individuals to both national parties and federal candidate committees. Both decisions equated money with free speech.

Many bills have been introduced in Congress to try to scale back the impact of big money in politics. One measure being proposed is a Constitutional amendment introduced by Sen. Tom Udall, D-New Mexico, that would give Congress power to regulate the raising and spending of money in federal elections and provide state legislatures with similar authority over state elections, including setting limits on both the amount someone may contribute to candidates and the amount candidates may spend.

A Judiciary Committee hearing on June 5 attracted media attention as well as the participation of the Republican and Democratic leaders of the Senate. In what insiders called "a highly unusual appearance," Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid will testify for the bill and Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell testified against it. Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Marge Baker, executive vice president with People for the American Way. Here she explains that passage of the Udall bill would be a first step in a long process to reclaim American democracy for all the people, not just the wealthy few.

MARGE BAKER: Up until the radical decision of Citizens United – and in some ways the even more radical decision in the McCutcheon case – the Supreme Court was interpreting the First Amendment in a way that folks might have disagreed with the fundamental proposition about money equaling speech, but they hadn't yet used that doctrine to totally dismantle the campaign finance system. What happened in Citizens United and then McCutcheon is, it's clear that this court is determined to dismantle the campaign finance system using its interpretation of the First Amendment, and what we think is that interpretation is fundamentally wrong, and we need to restore the First Amendment to what it's intended to be – it's intended to be for all people, not just the privileged and the powerful. And I think what we have is a Supreme Court that's really run roughshod over the First Amendment and what we need to do with this amendment is restore the First Amendment to its intended purpose.

BETWEEN THE LINES: The Udall amendment so far has no Republican co-sponsors, and it seems unlikely to garner any in the current Congress, so passage looks bleak.

MARGE BAKER: As you may know, there are 16 states now that are on record, either through ballot initiatives or through votes of their state legislatures, that are in support of a congressional amendment, basically calling on their congressional delegations to support amending the Constitution to overturn Citizens United and related cases. And in a number of those state legislatures, you have Republicans voting for this kind of resolution – I think there's more than a hundred. So at the state level, there is Republican support for this. And the other important fact is that when these initiatives go to the polls – in Colorado and Montana – voters statewide voted on an initiative calling on their congressional delegation to support an amendment, and in cities across the country, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago – and in all of those votes, they win by three-quarters. Seventy-five percent and upwards of the people voting support a Constitutional amendment. When you get those numbers, that means this is bipartisan. So at the grassroots level, at the citizen level, it's bipartisan. In state legislatures, you get Republican support. We haven't yet gotten there in the U.S. Congress, but I think we will, because the people are demanding it.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Marge Baker, a Constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds vote by both houses of Congress, then ratification by three-quarters of the state legislatures. As we know from the failed Equal Rights Amendment, decades ago, this process is a long slog that doesn't always even end in victory. There's no other way to deal with the issue of money in politics?

MARGE BAKER: Actually, there's not. It's ambitious and audacious, but when the Supreme Court has so distorted what the First Amendment is, then you have two choices: you amend the Constitution or you change who sits on the Supreme Court and change the jurisprudence of the court. And those two aren't inconsistent. A campaign for a Constitutional amendment based on this notion that the American people want representative government; they want to believe this is a government of the people. Organizing around that, to amend the Constitution to do that, also lifts up the discussion about whether the Court got it right, so that when new justices are confirmed to the Supreme Court, it becomes part of the discussion, it becomes part of the issue: what view of the First Amendment do these justices have? Do they also want to restore the First Amendment as we would through a Constitutional amendment? So the two are very important; they go hand in hand.

And the ERA is a perfect example. I actually believe we will get to being able to pass this Constitutional amendment, and, even though the ERA wasn't successful, the discussion about equal rights for women produced a whole host of both court decisions that opened up equal rights for women, as well as legislation. So this is an interchange between the Court, the Constitution and the American public and the cultural change that needs to happen so that basically the views of the people now become pre-eminent and the views of five justices sitting on the Supreme Court are not in terms of what this Constitution and this democracy are all about.

BETWEEN THE LINES: There have been other bills in Congress that take a different approach, like the Sarbanes bill in the House that promotes public funding.

MARGE BAKER: I think these are all important. I think there is long-term, ambitious organizing that has to go on to amend the Constitution. At the same time, we also ought to be pushing for everything we can do to make the situation better, and that includes the Sarbanes "Government by the People" small donor bill. It includes disclose legislation and administrative action. There's a whole host of things we can do to make the current situation better, and we should try to do that. And we actually believe that the backdrop for framing how important this issue is by talking about a Constitutional amendment helps lift and add energy to those efforts as well. This is a full court press on every front that we can possibly act on.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Well, it's a long view, because two-thirds in each house is far from where the vote would be if it were held now.

MARGE BAKER: That's correct, but organizing of this issue and raising this notion that we deserve representative government – which is absolutely at the core of Rep. Sarbanes' Government by the People bill – those two interchange. So maybe in the short run we get a hovernment by the people act passed, as we continue to organize for a Constitutional amendment. And that will make things much, much better if we got that passed.

Find more information on People for the American Way by visiting pfaw.org.