ColorOfChange.org changing the color of democracy

UPDATE (03/08/13): After more than 1,500 Georgia ColorOfChange members rallied to action, Georgia's House resoundingly rejected HB 282 on a bipartisan 70-94 vote.

Today, the Georgia House of Representatives is voting on a bill to ban local governments from creating broadband Internet networks even when most residents have no option for private broadband service. HB 282 is being pushed by Big Telecom, and got its start as a "model" bill from the corporate bill mill the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

We're urging Georgia lawmakers to reject this giveaway to the telecom industry and protect the right to connect for all communities. Read the email we sent to our members after the jump, and if you live in Georgia please urge your Representative to vote NO on HB 282.

Today, ColorOfChange launched a campaign urging TV network executives to refuse to air the National Rifle Association's (NRA) deeply offensive ad attacking President Obama's family. The NRA's ad centers on its ill-conceived demand for armed officers or guards in every American school, then suggests that Sasha and Malia shouldn't get Secret Service protection unless the President defers to the NRA's agenda. Dragging the president's children into this fight is a troubling new low — even for the NRA's notoriously callous leadership.

The NRA offers no sustainable solutions to reduce gun violence in our communities. Its ad is solely intended to whip up anger and paranoia at the president and his family. Together we can make sure that TV executives understand that the NRA's indefensible attack ad has no place in our homes. Check out the ad for yourself, and then read the email we sent to our members below and be sure to take action here.

ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson appeared on Current TV's The War Room Friday to discuss our campaign urging ALEC's corporate funders to take a stand against profit-driven gun violence. Thanks to ALEC's deep, decades-long relationship with the NRA, a hard push to enact "model" bills designed to expand the gun market — at any cost — has long been a cornerstone of ALEC's legislative agenda.

ALEC is the driving force behind the infamous "gun show loophole" widely discussed in the 1990s, more accurately described as a private sale loophole. In over 30 states, the loophole permits anyone who isn't a licensed firearms dealer to sell an unlimited number of guns with no criminal background check or mental health check — and with no real liability for making sales to straw purchasers engaged in gun trafficking. Unsurprisingly, ALEC's loophole now drives 40% of all gun sales in the United States.

ALEC's work to ensure that as many people purchase as many guns as possible, knowing that more guns mean more homicide, is why we're demanding that corporations cut ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council. Watch the video above and join our campaign.

For decades, the NRA and ALEC have worked hand in glove to pass legislation designed to increase gun sales — regardless of the human cost. In the wake of the shooting tragedy in Newtown, the NRA has unabashedly called for even more guns in our communities, recommitting itself to blocking commonsense efforts to reduce gun violence.

That's why today ColorOfChange launched a campaign highlighting ALEC's relationship with the NRA and renewing our call to ALEC's corporate funders to cut ties with the group. It's time these corporations draw the line: continuing to fund ALEC helps push NRA-drafted gun access laws that devastate our communities, and elevates gun industry profits over human lives.

Check out the email we sent to ColorOfChange members today, and join us here.

Last Friday, Jordan Russell Davis, a 17-year-old Florida high school student, was shot and killed during a dispute over loud music with Michael David Dunn, 45. According to Davis' father, the teenager was unarmed.

It's hard to ignore how closely the circumstances of the case echo the shooting of Trayvon Martin, the unarmed Florida teenager who was shot less than a year ago. ColorOfChange members spoke out against Florida's "Shoot First" law, which shielded Trayvon's killer from arrest and prosecution. Now, Black communities are once again feeling the devastating impact of "Shoot First," which will likely be invoked by Dunn's legal defense.

Join us in redoubling our efforts to demand that state government officials oppose "Shoot First" laws where they are under consideration and repeal them where they are in place. Read the email we sent to our members after the jump.

UPDATE: 1/8/13 Wendy's fast food chain has cut down the hours of 100 workers to only 28 hrs/week, just below the 32 hrs/week required to qualify for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

UPDATE: 11/14/12 Murray Energy has fired 160 workers. Both Papa John's Pizza and Applebee's have threatened to fire workers due to Obama's re-election and the myth that the Affordable Care Act will cause excessive financial burdens.

High-profile Republican politicians and business owners have launched a coordinated effort to deliver votes to the GOP — by threatening workers' jobs.

Major companies such as Murray Energy, Rite-Hite, Wynn Resorts, and the Koch Brothers' Georgia-Pacific are leveraging intense pressure on their employees to vote against President Obama, or else. In the words of Westgate Resorts CEO David Siegel: "The economy doesn’t currently pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration."

ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson recently sat down with GritTV's Laura Flanders to discuss our ongoing campaign to get major corporations to end their membership in ALEC. The shadowy lobby group has pushed model legislation that suppresses the Black vote.

In the clip above, Rashad discusses how the voices of hundreds of thousands of ColorOfChange members are holding some of the world's biggest companies accountable for their actions and why ALEC's far-reaching influence in Congress must come to an end.

Check out the video above, and don't forget to register to vote and get more information on voter ID laws at vote.colorofchange.org.

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) — the corporate "bill mill" known primarily for pushing discriminatory voter ID laws through statehouses across the country — is bleeding members. Since ColorOfChange began drawing attention to ALEC's voter suppression efforts last year, 40 major corporations and 70 state legislators have publicly disavowed any relationship with the group.

In the midst of this PR disaster, ALEC is grasping at straws to try to polish its image. Last week, Executive Director Ron Scheberle tried to convince readers of the San Francisco Chronicle that ALEC is a natural ally of tech startups and small-business entrepreneurs. Scheberle failed to mention that ALEC continually pushes legislation designed to protect entrenched special interests by killing off the competition.

Today, the Chronicle is featuring ColorOfChange Executive Director Rashad Robinson's response to Scheberle's op-ed, and to ALEC's cynical attempts to whitewash its record.

UPDATE: (09/12/12) The state Supreme Court will review the lower court's ruling tomorrow, with proceedings televised live on Pennsylvania Cable Network at 9:30am local time.

On Wednesday, Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson refused to halt implementation of Pennsylvania's discriminatory voter ID law — claiming that the state's "asserted interest in protecting public confidence in elections" is sufficient to outweigh the voting rights of 1.6 million largely Black and brown citizens who may be unconstitutionally barred from the polls this November. 

The scale of the potential disenfranchisement in Pennsylvania is so vast because the state has one of the most restrictive voter ID laws on record — a coup for the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which since 2009 has invested heavily in passing such laws nationwide.

Yesterday, ColorOfChange announced that two of America's biggest household names have dropped ALEC -- the right-wing lobby group that has pushed discriminatory voter ID laws throughout the country. We announced the companies' departure at a press conference timed to ALEC's meeting in Utah. Now 30 companies have made the decision to part ways with ALEC since ColorOfChange launched its campaign late last year.

ColorOfChange applauds these corporations' decision to do the right thing. Now it's time for others, including corporate giant eBay, to do the same.