Citizens' Daily Lobby

Rep. Alan Grayson is sponsoring legislation in a pre-emptive response to an anticipated Supreme Court decision to extend corporate personhood to the political arena.  The Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act and four other bills would seek to limit direct corporate participation in American politics.  According to the Huffington Post:

Grayson introduced a handful of bills on Wednesday — the Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act, the Corporate Propaganda Sunshine Act, the End Political Kickbacks Act, and two other measures.

The Business Should Mind Its Own Business Act would impose a 500 percent excise tax on corporate contributions to political committees and on corporate expenditures on political advocacy campaigns. The Corporate Propaganda Sunshine Act would require public companies to report what they spend to influence public opinion on any matter other than the promotion of their goods and services. The End Political Kickbacks Act would restrict political contributions by government contractors.

The other measures would apply antitrust regulations to political committees and bar corporations from securities exchanges unless the corporation is certified in compliance with election law.

“This case is basically about an effort to get around that. Citizens United took corporate money and tried to influence an election,” said Lisa Gilbert of the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. “These are all pieces of good policy. I hope they draw attention to the potential frightening implications of Citizens United.”