I just got an email from the
Apollo Alliance that demonstrates the need for activists on several issues - environmentalists in particular - to join in solidarity with Common Cause in working to implement public financing of campaigns.
Part of the email reads:
We can see change coming. The President-elect and other new leaders in Washington are ready to re-power our economy. There's a real chance now that we can end our addiction to fossil fuels and put Americans to work with good, green jobs.
But we know Big Oil has the money, influence, and friends like Inhofe to throw up roadblocks at every turn. Their war chest is enormous - the three largest U.S. oil companies raked in $71.2 billion in profits so far in 2008 - and some have upped their spending on lobbyists by more than 70% this year.
They're already pressuring our leaders with everything they've got.
Key lawmakers like Inhofe will make critical decisions about whether Big Oil's dirty fingerprints are all over our future energy policy. If we can show that America is watching - with thousands of letters from people like you - we can curb their back-room dealing.
Americans demand an economic recovery that moves us into the future - one built on clean energy and millions of green-collar jobs. For obstructionists like Inhofe, it's time to stand down.
Take action on this issue.
Bob Edgar and I made a similar point on
Marc Sussman's Money Message show this past weekend. Marc is a big environmentalists and is particularly concerned about the influence of coal fired powered plants. We mentioned that big energy (the coal, oil, and gas industries) contribute, on average, 50 times the amount of money to election campaigns as do environmental groups. As a result, big energy lobbyists have a lot of access and influence in shaping energy policy and controlling the debate.
If our elected officials no longer had to rely on campaign contributions from the very industries for which they write laws, the Apollo Alliance would not have to write these kinds of emails. Big energy would no longer be able to use their financial might to obstruct a clean energy policy that is so urgently needed.
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