Coal company executives say they plan to target certain Congressmen they deem hostile to coal, and following the Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC, corporations are unleashed. An International Coal Group VP, in a letter leaked to the Lexington Herald-Leader, wrote other coal executives: "With the Supreme Court ruling, we are in a position to be able to take corporate positions that were not previously available in allowing our voices to be heard." Allowing their voices to be heard, huh? Which is to say, allowing them to spend unlimited piles of cash smearing the lives and careers of Democrat Rep. Ben Chandler of Kentucky and Democrat Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia, just for starters.From Politico:
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has already vowed to invest $75 million in the mid-term elections. And health insurers are also planning to play big in November....
And what minority group in Congress, armed with the sure-fire knee-capper called the filibuster, refused this week to even allow discussion of a disclosure law "which would require corporations and interest groups to identify themselves when they sponsor political ads and, in the case of smaller organizations, to reveal their donors"?
If you guessed "the Republicans in the U.S. Senate," then DING DING DING, you are our winner.
Republicans are struttin' right now, assured in their belief that the American people will want to put American corporations in charge of every freakin' thing in the universe, with the Republicans as their willing toadies.