VIDEO: Free Speech For People And Our Fight To End Foreign-Influenced Corporate Spending in Our Elections Posted on March 31, 2021 (April 2, 2021) Challenging Foreign Influence Free Speech For People has been at the forefront in the fight to end foreign-influenced corporate campaign spending, researching, drafting, and advocating for legislation on all levels of government. We helped to successfully pass laws in St. Petersburg, Florida in 2017, and in Seattle, Washington in 2020. Seven states (Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, NewRead More
Americans Overwhelmingly Support Banning Foreign Corporate Spending in Elections Posted on January 14, 2020 (June 2, 2020) Challenging Foreign Influence A recent survey conducted by Civis Analytics on behalf of the Center for American Progress Action Fund found strong bipartisan support for banning corporate spending in elections from corporations with significant foreign ownership. Of the 2,633 voters interviewed for the survey, 73 percent said they supported spending limits on U.S. companies with “any” foreign ownership.Read More
New CAP Report on Ending Foreign-Influenced Corporate Spending in U.S. Elections Highlights Problem, Validates FSFP’s Work Posted on November 21, 2019 (June 18, 2020) Challenging Foreign Influence A new report from the Center for American Progress, written by senior fellow Michael Sozan, highlights the problem of political spending by foreign-influenced corporations. The report—which cites Free Speech For People’s pioneering legislative work in places like Seattle, St. Petersburg, and Massachusetts—proposes banning political spending by partially-foreign-owned corporations, using the same thresholds for foreign ownershipRead More
Court of Appeals Upholds Law Banning Political Spending in Local Elections by Foreign Nationals Posted on May 30, 2019 A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit rejected a challenge to a federal law banning political spending by foreign nationals in local elections. This law had been upheld by the Supreme Court with respect to federal elections, but this is the first decision applying it to state or localRead More
Center for Public Integrity: How Russian money and influence slipped through cracks in the US legal system Posted on October 25, 2018 Alex Finley of the Center for Public Integrity reports on how foreign money can influence our elections, using Russian electoral influence as an example. As the article notes, the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling created a loophole for foreign interests to spend money in U.S. elections through corporations: Foreigners can also exert influence through U.S.Read More
FSFP files FEC Complaint Against Citgo and Trump’s Inaugural Committee Posted on April 26, 2017 (October 3, 2018) We filed an FEC complaint that alleges “foreign nationals” from Citgo, may have violated federal law by donating to President Trump’s inaugural committee. Read More
Stream Audio From The FEC Forum On Corporate Political Spending & Political Influence Posted on June 28, 2016 (June 28, 2016) FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub hosted a forum on “Corporate Political Spending and Foreign Influence.”Read More