[Durham INC] Citizens United petition against Super PACs, pls consider signing for Durham constituency

[Melissa Rooney]

The info didn't make it in my earlier email so here it is again:

Please read the information below and consider signing this petition against SuperPACs. If 50 or more Durham residents sign it, it will be sent to the Durham County Commissioners. Of course, it will make a bigger statement if as many people sign it as possible.

Here is the link, in case the ones below don't work (they often don't if sent from my iPad).

http://www.webaction.org/site/R?i=wyAd1aViliK1BVfH_Y_6eQ

Thanks!
Melissa (Rooney)
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Thanks to Super PACs, the 2012 election could be swayed by little more than 1,000 of the richest Americans.

Super PACs, created in the wake of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, have become vehicles for special interests and the ultra-wealthy to drown out the voices of the majority of the public. Our recent report found that 96% of itemized Super PAC contributions were donations of $10,000 or more made by just 1,097 donors, or 0.00035% of the population. [1] 

We've joined a national effort to pass 100 local resolutions calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, and we want Durham to be part of it.

Sign the petition for Durham to pass a resolution in favor of an amendment to overturn Citizens United.

If 50 people in Durham sign the petition, we will deliver the draft resolution and petition signatures to your local government officials. In addition, NCPIRG's advocacy staff will make an effort to connect Durham's initiative to similar initiatives among groups or municipalities in your area.

Already, Los Angeles and New York City have passed resolutions against the Citizens United decision. So have Hawaii, New Mexico and Vermont. Now, people across the country are proposing resolutions through their city councils and state legislatures that declare public support for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United, clean up our campaign finance system, and keep our democracy firmly in the hands of the American people. 

The 2010 Citizens United decision gave corporations the right to spend unlimited money in our elections and allowed for the creation of Super PACs, which can raise unlimited campaign funds. So far these Super PACs have raised $201.9 million from special interests in an attempt to buy our elections. [2]

How can the average citizen compete with that? Only through people power.

It will take a critical mass of support to overcome the billions of special interest dollars flooding our elections, so we're ready to kick this effort into high gear. We're working to pass 100 local resolutions calling for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United. Make Durham a part of it.

Please sign our petition and share this email with your friends and neighbors. If 50 people in Durham sign the petition, we will deliver the signatures to your local government, along with the tools to pass a resolution.

Amending the U.S. Constitution is not easy, nor is it something that we take lightly. However, our democracy is fundamentally threatened by theCitizens United decision and related cases so we are prepared to take bold action to protect it. 

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