{"id":28588,"date":"2012-07-15T11:35:47","date_gmt":"2012-07-15T17:35:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/15\/public-pensions-and-political-speech.html"},"modified":"2012-07-15T11:35:47","modified_gmt":"2012-07-15T17:35:47","slug":"public-pensions-and-political-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/15\/public-pensions-and-political-speech.html","title":{"rendered":"Public Pensions and Political Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The GOP continually lambastes unions for collecting dues from employee members and then using them for political purposes without those union members having a say. \u00a0But <i>Citizens United<\/i> means that public pension plans, paid into by public employees and invested into corporations, are providing significant money to let corporations &quot;speak&quot; politically, whether or not that&#39;s in the interest or desire of the pension employees.<\/p>\n<p style='clear:both;'>\n<p style='margin-bottom:5px;'><strong>Embedded Link<\/strong><\/p>\n<div style='height:120px;width:120px;overflow:hidden;float:left;margin-top:0px;padding-top:0px;margin-right:10px;vertical-align:top;text-align:center;clear:both;'>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img style='max-width:none;' src='https:\/\/images0-focus-opensocial.googleusercontent.com\/gadgets\/proxy?container=focus&#038;gadget=a&#038;resize_h=100&#038;url=http%3A%2F%2Fgraphics8.nytimes.com%2Fimages%2F2012%2F07%2F13%2Fopinion%2F0713OPEDclifford%2F0713OPEDclifford-thumbLarge.jpg' border='0' \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href='http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2012\/07\/13\/opinion\/under-citizens-united-public-employees-are-compelled-to-pay-for-corporate-political-speech.html?_r=1&#038;smid=go-share'>Under Citizens United, Public Employees Are Compelled to Pay for Corporate Political Speech<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPublic pension plans need to ensure that employees are not compelled to finance corporate political speech.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p style='clear:both;'> <strong>Google+:<\/strong> <a href='https:\/\/plus.google.com\/101083456815352083930\/posts\/CLuSdxFg4EU' target='_new'>View post on Google+<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The GOP continually lambastes unions for collecting dues from employee members and then using them for political purposes without those union members having a say. \u00a0But Citizens United means that public pension plans, paid into by public employees and invested into corporations, are providing significant money to let corporations &quot;speak&quot; politically, whether or not that&#39;s &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/15\/public-pensions-and-political-speech.html\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Public Pensions and Political Speech&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28588","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plusposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":134641,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/09\/11\/need-moar-money-political-campaigns.html","url_meta":{"origin":28588,"position":0},"title":"Because we need MOAR MONEY in political campaigns!","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 11-Sep-17 9:19am","format":false,"excerpt":"Various House GOP members are adding in little bits and bobs of campaign finance deregulation into different budget bills, because clearly they think that finding more ways (and more hidden ways) to let people spend their way to political success will favor their party make us all More Free! Among\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Paul-Ryan-speaker-of-the-house.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":10440,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/01\/13\/what_a_novel_idea.html","url_meta":{"origin":28588,"position":1},"title":"What a novel idea!","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 13-Jan-07 1:21pm","format":false,"excerpt":"If a congressman gets convicted of a major ethics offense -- bribery, corruption, etc.-- strip them of their congressional pension. It's ... beautiful. \"The only thing crazier than giving a...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Politics &amp; Law&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Politics &amp; Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22347,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/08\/24\/sorry-mitt-they-still-arent-people.html","url_meta":{"origin":28588,"position":2},"title":"Sorry, Mitt &#8212; they still aren&#8217;t people","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 24-Aug-11 11:10pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Mitt Romney tries the warmer, personal approach, trying to come across as a Nice Guy who (still)\u00a0just thinks the Corporations (not unlike Soylent Green) are People. At Wednesday\u2019s town hall, Romney said: \u201cCorporations \u2014 they\u2019re made up of people. They\u2019re just groups of people that come together for work. When\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Big Business&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/bag-of-money.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":43373,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/07\/06\/people-have-goals-and-aspirations-corporations-are-out-for-profit.html","url_meta":{"origin":28588,"position":3},"title":"People have goals and aspirations. Corporations are out for profit","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 6-Jul-14 5:09pm","format":false,"excerpt":"And that is the key problem with the Hobby Lobby decision (and Citizens United before it). \u00a0'Here is the textbook legal definition of a corporation: an association of individuals, created by law or under authority of law, having a continuous existence independent of the existences of its members, and powers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15875,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/09\/28\/why-we-should-punish-acorn.html","url_meta":{"origin":28588,"position":4},"title":"Why we should punish ACORN","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 28-Sep-09 12:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Cafe Philos asks: Although the employees have been dutifully fired, and although there is no evidence that it is ACORN\u2019s actual policy to offer advice on how to evade taxes, set up brothels, and smuggle illegal immigrants into the US, most of us are a bit upset \u2014 including me.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Big Business&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Big Business","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/big-business"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/acorn.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24931,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/30\/corporations-arent-people.html","url_meta":{"origin":28588,"position":5},"title":"Corporations Aren&#39;t People","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 30-Dec-11 9:35am","format":false,"excerpt":"They can't vote (yet), they aren't subject to criminal punishment, they can't serve in the military, they can't hold office, they ... well, they just aren't people. So why is SCOTUS protecting their First Amendment \"free speech\" rights to donate as much money as they want to political campaigns.It's wrong,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28588","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28588"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28588\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28588"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28588"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28588"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}