I've already put this up, as part of a longer thing, but as you haven't read it yet, here's a little tighter version.
D R A F T
A REALLY HEAVY-DUTY
CAMPAIGN-FUNDING, EARMARK-REVEALING,
GOVERNMENT ETHICS REFORMING,
GOVERNMENT-FOR-SALE-REAL-CHEAP
REFORM ACT
The PCIUCCUCFRRPACAJHW Act of 2009
This bill may be cited as:
The People’s Comprehensive, Invasive, Ubiquitous, Conduct-Changing and Ultimate Campaign Finance Reform and Restoration of Presidential and Congressional and Judicial Honor Weapons Act of 2009, or, The PCIUCCUCFRRPACAJHW Act of 2009. (If you want to try for a U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act-like, massively strained, hypocritical, propagandistic, jingoistic, misleading, Constitution-shredding and tortured title/acronym combo like that disgusting, dangerous fraud of a public law, be my guest. But while you do it, please remember that "our legislators" didn't even read the Manhattan Telephone-Book-thick piece of legislation before they voted on it. And remind yourself what incredibly irresponsible and feckless office-holders they turned out to be. It's no wonder that the country is in a Depression.)
Introduction: Four or more major initiatives are launched by this legislation: (Note: While it is possible that public financing of elections might bring the business of selling government to the lowest bidder--for so it seems to be the case these days--to a screeching halt, I doubt it. So, herewith, a rough draft of The PCIUCCUCFRRPACAJHW Act of 2009.
0) The “Zero-th Option”: Publicly funded campaigns. ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER FUNDS, MEDIUMS OF EXCHANGE, QUID PRO QUOS, CAN BE USED. This would be found unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds. So it’ll never happen.
1) CAMPAIGN BROADCAST (ETC.) ADVERTISING BECOMES FREE.
The Federal Communications Act is amended to implements free campaign advertising channel set-asides; commercial licensees must manage the channels, provide the gear and managing the bookings/scheduling/drawings for time-slots as part of the requirements they must meet in return for obtaining licenses to use the public airwaves/electromagnetic spectrum. The FCC sets aside a half-dozen channels for presidential and congressional races, state government races, municipal, school-board, tribal council elections and general citizen initiative and “issue” ads. All paid advertising is banned. (That is, commercial outlets can no longer charge for political advertising. They can run it if they want, but they then have to invite ALL competitors for the position or issue to run their ads, and then run them in a contiguous block, the order of appearance to be determined at random.
2) NEW LOBBYIST FILING STRUCTURES AND CONTRIBUTION LIMITS:
Anyone seeking any benefit from government (from a free Kleenex® to a multi-trillion-dollar no-bid contract) has to register. Whether they’re Prince Bandar, Benjie Netanyahu, Gordon Brown or the late Hale Bogg’s boy (Cokie Roberts won’t have to register, as long as she doesn’t lobby). I’m thinking that We the People require that lobbyists must also wear a global positioning system bracelet or anklet linked to the Internet so we can track their whereabouts at all times.
Major points:
¶ NO LIMITS ON CONTRIBUTIONS, BENEFITS. NONE!
¶ EVERYONE IS A LOBBYIST EXCEPT FOR THE OFFICIAL TARGET
— None of this “I only called him once, so I’m not a lobbyist” stuff. If a citizen sends a letter, he’s a lobbyist. The benefit conferred/received will be de-minimus, but you still have to file. (Hmm, does this give us a nice Big Brother National ID & GPS tag for all citizens? Not unless they try to assert their citizenship, by golly.)
¶ MUST FILE ELECTRONICALLY BY MIDNIGHT OF THE DAY
— This applies to donors and donees; all parties file.
— Day includes holidays, Saturdays and Sundays
— Videotapes of all meetings with officials, hi-def, hi-qual, hi-fi. That is, the videos must be done with no less than two cameras, the scene must be well-lit, the sound high fidelity. Officials and lobbyists will be accompanied by a two-to-three-person camera crew at all times. The record of benefits received from sex workers will provide entertainment for all when uploaded.
— Digital pix of physical objects, appraisals of value
— Value appraisals must be updated by midnight of the day of a new accrual (e.g., if an “earmark” is put in for a $2 billion no-bid contract, and the amount is raised/lowered in committee, the update must be posted by midnight).
¶ PENALTIES FOR FAILURE TO FILE/FALSIFICATION
— License to lobby suspended, one year per day late.
— Fine of 100 times the value of the benefit is assessed
— Miscreants’ names are posted on the Internet
— Miscreants are barred from all public buildings, unless accompanied by a retinue of six members of the public, assigned from the local jury pool.
— I would consider a prison term of twice the length of the term of office of the “benefited” office-holder, not to exceed 12 years, in the case of judicial appointees, for example, where there is no term limit--for the lobbyists
— Officials who receive the lobbying benefits are just removed from office, and lose their secret service posse, medical and retirement benefits.
3) NEW ACCOUNTING REQUIREMENTS; WINDFALL ROPI PROFITS TAX
¶ NEW PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FOR CORPORATIONS
— Companies must set up a complete accounting unit for all of their lobbying activities. Online.
— This includes all salaries, by individuals, all objects, benefits provided, all expenses of the office
— This includes all “think-tank” contributions, itemized down to such things as time to write an op-ed piece to “support your man,” (or woman), “white papers” supporting your business interests (PNAC, Project for a New American Century, for example, would have to register as a lobby, keep their books online and up-to-date, and itemize all their activities, expenses, salaries.
— Accrual of governmental benefits must be filed/posted by midnight of the day on which received.
— All benefits received by virtue of the association of lobbyists with public officials will be valued, appraised, so that the return on political investments, or ROPI, can be calculated, ascertained.
— We’ll need a special “Governmental Benefits Appraisal Office” or something like to calculate the value of the benefits received.
¶ ROPI WINDFALL PROFITS TAX:
— The Return on Political Investment (ROPI) will be capped at 25%, which certainly seems generous. Perhaps it should be more in line with most business ROIs, which run from the single digits to the high teens)
— Profit greater than 25% is subject to the ROPI Windfall Profits Tax, or RWPT, a nice, confusing, compound acronym.
— The RWPT tax rate is 100%, and it pops right back into the US Treasury (for all the cold comfort that that gives one, sad to say). Gone will be the days of government officials selling out the country for a mass of pottage, as in conferring a trillion-dollar benefit for a few million dollars in campaign pocket change. Our government officials obviously have absolutely no sense of business and the value of money, as has been amply demonstrated to every single (and married) one of us in the past one-score and four years.
4) BENEFITS STATEMENTS REQUIRED ON:
¶ EVERY PIECE OF LEGISLATION
— The Benefits Statement includes with specificity the name of the company, person, country, etc., and the benefits that will be conferred by the legislation.
— The Benefits Statement also includes with specificity the name of the legislator, legislative aide, relative of the legislator who has received the benefit, or “quid” for the “pro”, and the nature, amount, value, etc., of the benefit received
¶ EVERY EXECUTIVE DECISION, DIRECTIVE, FINDING
— The Benefits Statement includes with specificity the name of the company, person, country, etc., and the benefits that will be conferred by the decision, directive or finding (etc.).
— The Benefits Statement also includes with specificity the name of the president, vice president, White House aide, relative, friend, etc., who has received the benefit, or “quid” for the “pro”, and the nature, amount, value, etc., of the benefit received.
¶ EVERY ADMINISTRATIVE, REGULATORY ACTION
— The Benefits Statement includes with specificity the name of the company, person, country, etc., and the benefits that will be conferred by the regulation, decision, ruling, etc.
— The Benefits Statement also includes with specificity the name of the regulator, administrator, cabinet officer, aide, relative of the legislator who has received the benefit, or “quid” for the “pro,” and the nature, amount, value, etc., of the benefit received.
¶ EVERY JUDICIAL DECISION, FINDING OR OPINION
— The Benefits Statement includes with specificity the name of the company, person, country, etc., and the benefits that will be conferred by the court decision, finding or opinion.
— The Benefits Statement also includes with specificity the name of the judge, judicial aide, relative of the jurist who has received the benefit, or “quid” for the “pro”, and the nature, amount, value, etc., of the benefit received.
--------------------------
Various pieces of existing legislation affected: (a non-exhaustive list).
For example: Title 18, USCode (the federal criminal code); the Federal Communications Act; McCain-Feingold; Federal Administrative procedures act(s); Federal Tax laws, IRS regs; Federal Election Commission rules and regulations. Federal Reserve Act, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and so on.….
Statement of Purpose:
To eliminate the constraints and limitations on the giving of campaign contributions, gifts, loans, moneys, bribes and so on in order to obtain governmental favors, benefits of any kind whatsoever, to eliminate competitors, to protect special status, etc. as being an infringement upon the freedom of speech, association, and the petitioning of government for the redress of grievances;
To illuminate, or drag into the light of day, the general business practices that are used to run this country all the time;
To rein in the stratospheric profits made by companies for their piddling investment in politicians and administration officials. It would dial down the profits from hundreds of thousands of a percent and cap them at what still is a generous amount, namely 18%;
To free up the election campaign process so people can give any amount of money they wish, any gifts, any jobs for relatives, any weekend houses, any Capitol Building hideaways, island Shangri-La’s, corporate jet trip, honoraria, honorary degrees, titles (excluding titles of “nobility,” which are expressly prohibited by the US Constitution—Art. I, §9 ¶8), club memberships, board memberships, motor vehicles, tickets, seats or booths or skyboxes to or at sports or cultural events, comestibles, potables, drugs, services from sex industry workers (whether unionized or free-lance), etc., to obtain any benefit of any kind whatsoever, in the broadest possible interpretation of the word “benefit,” “a good thing,” “a nice thing,” “much better than a sharp stick in the eye.” This would include many transactions that now are on the books as federal, state and/or local crimes, and those criminal laws would have to be amended or repealed.
Under this legislation, for example, if a governor of Illinois, say, wanted to sell a recess appointment to the US Senate, I see no reason why the governor shouldn’t be able to do that (though there are standing issues/jurisdictional issues here). He just has to disclose the amount, etc., all the details of the transaction, within 48 hours, on the Internet and in digital archival form. Or be subject to the penalty provisions of this legislation.)
The quid-pro-quo is straightforward. That is, in return for total freedom in campaign contribution giving and receiving, EVERYTHING of value conferred, given, received must be disclosed quickly and completely, with accompanying digital photographs and video recordings and descriptions of the thing or things given, and of the thing or things received. In addition, high-fidelity audio and video recordings, with no less than two cameras, that are well-lit, of all meetings with public officials must be submitted by both the giving and receiving parties, archived in perpetuity, and made available on the Internet.
NEW FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING RULES ESTABLISHED: All lobbyists, corporations, etc., all seekers for special treatment, by any and all means, whether the benefit-seeking requests, communications/interactions take place in person, by letter, phone call, e-mail, Twitter, TextMessage, InstantMessaging, semaphore signals, wig-wag, Morse or any other code, are now required to handle their government affairs activities as a defined profit center, with their books on file for all to see on the Internet, updated overnight, just as what we used to call banks (now known as gambling casinos) do/did, so that the public can compare the expenses the corporations and other favor-seekers incur with the benefits they receive, and can note the amount of money, etc., the elected or appointed officials receive and compare it with the benefits they confer.
Furthermore, this legislation will put an end to the insane rates of Return on Political Investment, or ROPI, that corporate America has for far too long enjoyed at the expense of the general public. Political investment profits will be capped at a generous 18%, and anything over that amount will be subject to the Windfall ROPI Tax, which is set at 100%.
About eight major initiatives are launched by this legislation: (I still have to firm up each component, and I can't count.)
0) The “Zero-th Option”: Publicly funded campaigns. ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER FUNDS, MEDIUMS OF EXCHANGE, CAN BE USED. This would be found unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds. So it’ll never happen.
1) CAMPAIGN ADVERTISING BECOMES FREE. The FCC implements free campaign advertising channel set-asides; commercial licensees must manage the channels, provide the gear and managing the bookings/scheduling/drawings for time-slots as part of the requirements they must meet in return for obtaining licenses to use the public airwaves/electromagnetic spectrum.
2) New Lobbyist filing structures
Contributions defined: Any thing of value, goods, services, provided, given, loaned. Detailed receipts required for all items. For example, if a meal is purchased for the official, the itemized waiter’s receipt is required, describing what items were purchased.
Appraisals; digital photographs. Valuation: Full market value. For example, air travel will be valued at the full market value of the trip on a leased aircraft, divided by the number of passengers on the trip (does this make sense?)
No limits on contributions
Must file electronically within 24 hours
Penalties for failure to file/falsification of filing records: License to lobby is suspended for some period, a fine of 100 x the value of the contribution not filed and/or falsified. Notice of suspension is posted on the Internet, and miscreant is somehow prevented from showing up in Congress or in the office buildings or in Washington, DC entirely, maybe. Q: How to make this work.
3) Windfall ROPI Profits Tax--18% ROPI maximum.
As part of the licensing process for lobbyists (lobbyists defined in the broadest terms possible--as noted above--any and all things that in the most tangential manner confer benefit, value, “niceness,” to the favor-seeker/favor-giver are lobbying--including letters from constituents, etc. And of course such “shadow” lobbying organizations like AIPAC must register as lobbyists for a foreign government; also, all spies, like Mossad, must register, as well.
Companies must set up a complete accounting unit for all of their lobbying activities. That is, their lobbying operations, including campaign contributions, travel, gifts, meetings with legislators, are all to be described with great particularity. Videotapes suitable for YouTube or GoogleVideo or Blip.TV or Hulu, will be made of all meetings with public officials and filed within 24 hours with the federal election commission. (Rename it to Federal Lobbying Commission or something appropriate).
All benefits received by virtue of the association of lobbyists with public officials will be valued, appraised, so that the return on political investments, or ROPI, can be calculated, ascertained.
We’ll need a special “Congressional and Executive branch benefits Evaluation Budget Office” or something like to calculate the value of the benefits received.
ROPI WINDFALL PROFITS TAX: The Return on Political Investment will be limited to 18% over the cost/expenses etc. incurred. All amounts over that will be subjected to the ROPI Windfall Profits Tax, of 100%. This will end the practice of corporations getting profits of thousands of a percent from the paltry millions of dollars they contribute--that is, legislators are selling billions of dollars of benefits to their corporate sponsors for mere millions. A reversal of good business practices; it’s “Buy dear and sell cheap, and what do you care; it’s not your money you’re giving away, anyway. It’s “The Taxpayers’ pockets we’re picking, with good heart and full of cheer.”
4) STATEMENT OF BENEFITS CONFERRED/RECEIVED TO BE INCLUDED WITH EVERY PIECE OF LEGISLATION, EVERY EXECUTIVE, ADMINISTRATIVE, REGULATORY AND JUDICIAL DECISION.
Benefits Conferred: As a new part of the legislative, executive/regulatory and judicial process, all legislation, regulation or judicial decisions which will confer a benefit on someone lobbying the government will have a Statement of Financial Benefits in the preamble of the bills, resolutions, regulations or opinions/decisions involved. The Financial Benefit Statement will specify the name of the individual, the company, the details of the Political Investment account involved, the amount of the benefit conferred, and the expenses of the company and/or individual incurred to obtain such benefit. For example, the use of a citizen’s hunting lodge for a weekend would be valued. If the contributor provides a personal sex worker for the official, ditto. If the contributor provides a job or reference or loan, etc., for a family member of the official, uses influence to get a family member a position of value, admission to a club or school, etc., ditto. All this must be listed and accounted for in the Statement of Benefits.
Contributions Received: Every federal official who participates in the drafting and passage of any legislation, rule, ruling, decision, opinion, whether by writing, supporting, co-sponsoring, voting for, speaking on behalf of it, must list the benefits received, from whom, etc., in full detail. And these receipts must be posted, and on the Internet, overnight of the day of their receipt OR THEIR ACCRUAL (in other words, any promises to contribute in futuro must be announced, acknowledged, posted on the internet, overnight, as if the physical thing itself had been received). To repeat, benefits received are to be construed in the broadest possible way. They include even such public relations benefits as a public official providing a photo-op or photograph of him or herself with the corporation or individual seeking benefits, to the extent that such fraternization will enhance the reputation, power, etc., of the contributor and/or (depending on the rank, power, etc. of the parties) recipient.
IMPACT ON THE WHITE HOUSE:
Every “signing statement,” “presidential decision document,” presidential “finding,” presidential pardon — that is, any and all official and unofficial acts, actions, activities of the President, Vice President, Cabinet members, all their staff members, etc., must also include its own Statement of Benefits. These statements must be filed and placed on the Internet overnight of the day during which the benefits were received/given. This would include, but not be limited to, the signing of directives to assassinate a particularly non-favored leader (Fidel Castro, for example), eliminate a political “enemy” (JFK, RFK, MLKJr., Malcolm X and relevant witnesses, participants, co-conspirators), to incur “collateral damage” (as on 9/11/2001, or the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan and incursions into Pakistan), to start a war or military incursion anywhere in the world (beneficiaries such as United Fruit, ITT, Anaconda Copper, Big Oil Halliburton, Brown & Root (& Kellogg), etc.)--the catalog is long.
It would be required on such things as the the pleadings filed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to prevent the 50 state Attorneys General from enforcing their own state's laws against predatory mortgage- and credit-card lending, Had the OCC not stepped in, the state attorneys general would have prevented most of the Wall Street gambling and Ponzi schemes that launched us into the Global Depression of 2008 (and 9, 10, 11, 12, 13--I'm still counting.) See the Op-Ed article in the February 14, 2008 Washington Post that Eliot Spitzer wrote about this topic. And you might ask yourself, "Was this why the FBI released the Spitzer-gate sex stuff? Was it on behalf of the so-called "bankers" on Wall Street that Spitzer's character was assassinated?"
Here's the link: Washington Post (actually, I can't find it in the WaPo archive, but I've sent them a request for the link. The voice-over on this YouTube video reads the entire article, however. And a
BrasscheckTV.com video on YouTube.
More examples of benefits: They include, for example, such “savings” benefits as the extension of the broadcast license renewal period from three years to eight years--the cost savings of not having to do the renewal stuff can be calculated. Ditto the savings in not having to provide a fairness doctrine opportunity for all diverse opinions/viewpoints to be seen/heard. How would we appraise the value of that pain in the neck being lifted? For “right-wing talk radio,” the benefit conferred is 100% of the profits of operating the stations, because without the repeal of the fairness doctrine, they would not be able to operate profitably.
THE REST OF THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH IS INCLUDED, FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE, THE CIA, DIA, FAA, NORAD, to the FTC and FDA to NOAH, the BLS, etc. And our private “Federal Reserve System”--which is not federal, has no reserve--but is all “system”: This law will also govern ALL interactions with the apparatus of the executive branch, with all contracts, clauses, procedures, rules, etc., which redound to the benefit of the corporate contributor/lobbyist operation. In this case, the agency involved must preface every rule-making, every regulation, with a Statement of Benefit, just as in the case of the legislature. Rules which are beneficial because they relax stringent requirements, and rules which are beneficial because they confer monopoly status, etc., no-bid contracts, a prosecution dropped, crimes that are forgiven, or pardoned, sentences commuted, and so on, must be valued. Regulations which make it difficult for a rival corporation to compete are also to be appraised and their value set out (and the means by which the value was arrived at.).
Other examples of benefits conferred: Going to war in Iraq so that Halliburton, Blackwater, RAND, Exxon, etc., (in other words, every and all outfits that do business with the executive, judicial and legislative branches) all get nice sinecures/contracts, etc. The impact of the 25% windfall tax should be major, major, major, in this case. Imagine if Exxon, or “Big Oil” had to rent the US Military on their own hook. In this case, for contributions of millions, they’re getting a savings on military costs of Trillions of dollars--AND they’re getting exclusive oil-field contracts, ongoing “police protection” from our GIs, etc.
To take another example: Big Pharma and the Medicare Part D drug benefit. What did they spend for lobbying, and what are they making in ongoing revenue? Well, they get to keep only 25% profit; the rest goes back into the treasury on behalf of the citizens of the US of A.
And another: If the Social Security laws were amended as Bush wanted, to let individuals “own” their own retirement funds and manage their investments, just what benefit would Big-Finance get? Trillions over lifetimes, generations.
JUDICIAL SYSTEM INCLUDED:
Again, a Statement of Benefits will be required for each and every legal decision proffered by a federal court, up to and including the Supreme Court.
Benefits Conferred: These would of course include the value of seminars in exotic locations, weekends spent camping, duck-hunting, etc., with any and all citizens subject to the jurisdiction of the Constitution and Laws of the United States and/or within the reach of Pax-et-Bellum Americana, the (now maybe former) Global American Hegemony or Empire. In other words, contributions from foreign governments, individuals are covered, whether its the Shah of Iran, the Grand Ayatollah of Iran, or Burundi, or Haiti or the Prime Minister of Canada, Gt. Britain, Japan, whatever.
Benefits Received: The statement would assess and estimate the value to the litigants/parties/potential litigants/parties of the decision reached in the court opinion.
Bottom line: Our government runs on money and power, benefits asked and received, benefits given and received. I am now old enough to recognize that this is the case, that it is an essential part of the human wiring, and that it will not be changed by any prohibitions, rules, regulations, laws, etc.
So let’s just acknowledge that fact, and make it completely visible, or “transparent” as the current slang has it. That is, it’s already transparent to us--we can all “see” through the flag our government wraps itself in. We all know that “The emperor has no clothes--he’s dressed in money, the glory of the green, black and peach--our Benjamins, Grants, Lincolns, Hamiltons, Lincolns, Jeffersons and Washingtons.”
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