{"id":432,"date":"2018-03-14T02:27:06","date_gmt":"2018-03-14T02:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/work\/foreign-corporations\/"},"modified":"2018-03-14T02:27:06","modified_gmt":"2018-03-14T02:27:06","slug":"foreign-corporations","status":"publish","type":"work","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/work\/foreign-corporations\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreign Corporations"},"template":"","class_list":["post-432","work","type-work","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"Foreign interests should not be able to influence our political system by pouring money into Massachusetts elections.","featured_image":6069,"work_type":false,"related_issues":[92,464],"location":24},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":null,"name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

The integrity of our elections is essential to the health of our democracy.<\/h2>\r\nEven in these divided times, Americans can agree that foreign interests should not be able to influence our political system by pouring money into elections. Under current law, foreign governments and citizens (except lawful permanent residents) are forbidden from spending money in state elections.\r\n\r\nYet a gap in the law allows foreign money to enter our politics through political spending by corporations<\/em>. Legislation<\/a>\u00a0in Massachusetts would close that loophole.\r\n\r\nThe Supreme Court\u2019s 2010 decision Citizens United v. FEC<\/a> opened the door for corporations donate freely to American campaigns. This means that for-profit corporations under foreign control or influence can spend unlimited money in our elections. For example, a corporation organized under the Massachusetts law might have many (or only) foreign nationals as shareholders, but as a corporation it can spend unlimited money to influence our electoral process.\r\n\r\nIt's a loophole that is easily exploited, and it needs to be closed now.\r\n\r\nHere in Massachusetts, we can act by passing legislation that protects our elections from political spending by companies under foreign influence. Here\u2019s how the proposed law works: if a single foreign shareholder owns more than 5% of a company\u2019s shares, it cannot spend money to influence Massachusetts elections. Five percent is the threshold at which a single shareholder must be disclosed<\/a> to the Securities and Exchange Commission and is considered a significant influence in the corporation\u2019s decision-making. Furthermore, any company with over 20% total foreign ownership is also considered foreign-influenced. These measures will ensure that the financing of our state elections are protected from foreign corporate manipulation.\r\n\r\nBeyond the practical effect of curtailing corporate spending in elections, this prohibition is fully constitutional and would expose the contradictions in Citizens United that can help catalyze the legal argument to overturn it.\r\n\r\nA successful democratic self-government requires that elections be decided by those who live there and whose day-to-day lives will be shaped by the outcome. Here in Massachusetts, the Birthplace of the American Revolution, we should act now to protect our own state\u2019s democracy and lead the way to fortifying America\u2019s system of free and fair elections."}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"Close the Foreign Contributions Loophole<\/a> "}}]},"yoast_head":"\nForeign Corporations - Common Cause Massachusetts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/work\/foreign-corporations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Foreign Corporations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/work\/foreign-corporations\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Common Cause Massachusetts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/common-cause-share-image.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/work\/foreign-corporations\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/work\/foreign-corporations\/\",\"name\":\"Foreign Corporations - Common Cause Massachusetts\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-14T02:27:06+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/work\/foreign-corporations\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/work\/foreign-corporations\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/work\/foreign-corporations\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Foreign Corporations\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/\",\"name\":\"Common Cause Massachusetts\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Foreign Corporations - Common Cause Massachusetts","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/work\/foreign-corporations\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Foreign Corporations","og_url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/work\/foreign-corporations\/","og_site_name":"Common Cause Massachusetts","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/common-cause-share-image.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/work\/foreign-corporations\/","url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/work\/foreign-corporations\/","name":"Foreign Corporations - Common Cause Massachusetts","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/#website"},"datePublished":"2018-03-14T02:27:06+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/work\/foreign-corporations\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/work\/foreign-corporations\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/work\/foreign-corporations\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Foreign Corporations"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/","name":"Common Cause Massachusetts","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Common Cause Massachusetts","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/work\/432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/work"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/work"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/work\/432\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/massachusetts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}