Citizen Action of New York News

Fox 40 WICZ

Binghamton, NY

http://www.wicz.com/news2005/viewarticle.asp?a=9089

Do campaign contributions from big corporate industries affect legislation?

Well, a recently released report from citizen action says big money makes contributions that block legislation that benefits citizens.

On Tuesday, protestors stood in front of the state building, and spoke about 5 specific bills related to health care, the environment, rent regulation and ticket scalping.

According to Citizen Action’s report, the bills have been blocked by big industries for years, because they don’t want laws put in place  that could hurt business.

Citizen action reps say all residents must voice their opinions or this trend will continue.

“I can’t under value the importance of people calling their state representatives, going to our website.  Speaking to their friends, their neighbors, getting them to call, send e-mails,” said Lea Webb of Citizen Action.

Citizen Action reps encourage people to voice their opinions in the next four weeks before the state legislature votes on the bills.

Log on to voters.donors dot.org for more information.

VIDEO: http://www.wicz.com/news/video.asp?video=05+26+09+citact.wmv.flv

News Channel 34 – ABC/NBC

Binghamton, NY

http://www.newschannel34.com/news/local/story/Citizen-Action-Calls-for-Finance-Reform-on-the/mkGvLbQwkE60uSLTEHs3sQ.cspx

Citizen Action is pushing for campaign finance reform.

It wants public financing for candidates.

Citizen Action says contributions by some industries and corporations influence politicians.

In a report called “New Yorkers Pay When Big Money Plays”, Citizen Action says it’s clear that state residents pay more for some things because of corporate interests.

An example, drug companies don’t want the state to buy prescription drugs in bulk, because it would lower the price of prescriptions for consumers and they would lose money.

Finance reform could also get more people involved with politics.

Webb says, “It really opens the door for more people from the grassroots level to really run for office, because it will take away the need for major fund-raising. If you want to run for a statewide office you need to raise well over 100-thousand dollars. So, we feel by taking big money interests away from the political system it will really push forward the peoples agenda.”

The state legislature will be considering legislation to support public financing.

Citizen Action also has a website at www.votersnotdonors.org with more info.

Booklyn Ron (blog)

Binghamton, NY (Brooklyn, NY)

http://www.brooklynron.com/lea-webb/

Lea Webb

Lea Webb is the first African American elected to the City Council in Bhinghamton, in upstate New York.
Only 28 years old, she’s making a name for herself taking on progressive causes, one after the other.

Webb is calling for New Yorkers to press their state legislators on the issue of public financing of campaigns.

There is much concern about this cause now, especially since we know how campaign donors and their conduits milked state coffers in the form of pension fund investments.

Webb says interested New Yorkers must tackle this problem right away by signing notes to their elected officials demanding public financing.

Here’s a video of her making her case.