BEWARE: The Group "End Citizens United" is Pulling Your Chain
Dear Rob,
I'm writing with some troubling information...
Are you getting daily emails from a group calling itself "End Citizens United"?We've been getting tons of questions about who this group is, and a bunch of messages from confused people thinking that these emails are coming from Move to Amend. Let me assure you, they are NOT Move to Amend.
We've now been asked by dozens and dozens of our supporters to send an email to our full list to shine a light on what's going on here...
This shadowy "End Citizens United" group popped up on the scene just as the 2016 Presidential candidates are starting to declare their campaigns. This Super PAC claims to be working against Citizens United and putting an "End to Corporate Personhood" but a visit to their website says otherwise:
- No suggested language as to what the amendment should say.
- No suggestion that corporate personhood is the root problem.
- No information or support for any of the myriad amendments already under consideration, including the We the People Amendment.
- No information about who is behind their group.
- No field operation to help organize people.
Just a petition (to collect names for their database), and a Donate button (to collect money for ??).
They say they've already collected a million dollars. But what are they going to do with the money since they have no actual campaign against Citizens United?Our sources tell us they are a group of individuals who formed this PAC to raise funds for Democrats running for office in the upcoming election. Recently they updated their website with some information about this, but details on how this will help end corporate personhood are thin at best.
They're co-opting the momentum and excitement for our movement to fundraise for candidates who may or may not even support amending the Constitution to "end Citizens United" and who certainly have shown no leadership in addressing the even more root issue of corporate constitutional rights.
And even more concerning is that they are turning folks away from our movementwith their careless deluge of messages that basically constitutes spamming. They probably purchased the lists they are using, which is frowned on internet etiquette (we haven't found anyone who started getting their original messages who actually opted in) -- and they send emails daily, sometimes up to three times a day!
As the election season heats up, you will undoubtedly be receiving lots more emails than usual from unfamiliar front groups, as both parties exploit our movement to the best of their ability to get your vote.
Think before you click—don’t become a tool in their efforts to co-opt our movement!
You can help by:
- Telling your friends what's going on
- Hitting the "Spam" button when you receive emails from them (unless you signed yourself up for their list)
- Letting them know that if they want to support an amendment they should contribute to groups like Move to Amend who are actually doing the work to build this grassroots movement.
I hope this helps clarify. As I said, we've been asked to send this message because this PAC is trying to co-opt our collective work. If they want to join the movement to amend, that's great (we could use their help!) -- but so far it doesn't look like that's their agenda.
Sincerely,
Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap
National Director
Move to Amend Coalition
P.S. In the interest of clarity and transparency on our part, I'd like to share Move to Amend's email policies with you:
- We will occasionally send two emails a week, or none in a week, for an average of one email a week to our entire list.
- We only send one fundraising email a month, unless we are in a special campaign where we need to meet a specific goal or timeline, in which case we might send additional messages to folks who haven't yet donated.
- Our emails always speak to corporate Constitutional rights and money as speech, not just the latter, and carry our banner and contact info.
- Our messages have a clear suggestion for action to help us reach out and find others to join in our cause.
- Our local affiliates also send targeted emails to Move to Amend supporters about local events and actions of interest, but never on the same day as a national blast. These emails also always have a MTA banner and local and national contact information.
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