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Wolf PAC Current Article

Wolf PAC

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Wolf PAC

Formation	October 2011
Founder	Cenk Uygur
Type	Political action committee
Headquarters	Carthay, Los Angeles,California, United States[1]
Executive Director	Ryan Clayton[2]
Organizing Director	Mike Monetta[3]
Website	wolf-pac.com

Wolf PAC is an American non-partisan political action committee formed in 2011 with the goal of "ending corporate personhood and publicly financing all elections in our country", to include the restriction of large monetary donations to political candidates, parties, and groups.^[4][5] It began with an announcement at an Occupy Wall Street rally in New York City by The Young Turks host Cenk Uygur.^[6] On a state level Wolf PAC has bi-partisan support for its objectives.^[7]

Its strategy is to add a 28th amendment to the Constitution, thereby overturning multiple Supreme Court cases includingCitizens United v. FEC and Buckley v. Valeo, which cumulatively have made it impossible to achieve Wolf PAC's campaign finance goals through simple legislation. Wolf PAC believes that Congress is too corrupt to pass such an amendment itself, and therefore advocates a convention of the States, which is a procedure outlined in Article V of the Constitution. As of July 2015, four out of the necessary thirty-four states have passed resolutions calling for such a convention.

Contents

 [hide] 

• 1 Formation and background
• 2 Progress in particular states
  • 2.1 Vermont
  • 2.2 California
  • 2.3 Illinois
  • 2.4 New Jersey
• 3 See also
• 4 References

Formation and background[edit source | edit]

On January 21, 2010, the Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. FEC that it is unconstitutional to restrict independent expenditures by corporations, unions, and otherassociations.^[8] This ruling was followed in March by the D.C. District Court of Appeals Speechnow.org v. FEC case, in which the court explicitly allowed the creation of Super PACs, which are allowed to spend unlimited money to influence elections, as long as they do not coordinate with any candidates.^[9]

These court cases are widely viewed as having worsened the influence of moneyed interests in the American political system,^[10] and convinced Cenk Uygur, the host of the online news show The Young Turks, that action was necessary.^[11] Although the paperwork to form Wolf PAC was filed with the FEC as early as June 2010,^[12] Uygur announced the creation of Wolf PAC on October 19, 2011 during the Occupy Wall Street occupation of Zucotti Park in New York City.^[13]

Progress in particular states[edit source | edit]

As a national group, Wolf PAC is working in all 50 states and declares to have currently over 20,000 volunteers.^[14][15] The table below shows the progress level in each state where a Wolf PAC backed resolution has passed in either the House or the Senate.

State	Introduced	Bill(s)	Lower house	Upper house	Status	California	December 3, 2012	AJR 1[16]	passed (January 30, 2014)	passed (June 23, 2014)	passed
Connecticut	May 30, 2015	HJ 64[17]	passed (May 30, 2015)	Pending	Pending
Delaware	January 28, 2015	SCR 6[18]	Pending	passed (March 25, 2015)	Pending
Hawaii	February 17, 2015	HCR 53[19]	passed (March 17, 2015)	Pending	Pending
Illinois	October 22, 2013	SJR 42[20]	passed (December 3, 2014)	passed (April 9, 2014)	passed
Maryland	February 6, 2015	SJ 2[21]	Pending	passed (April 8, 2015)	Pending
Missouri	February 10, 2015	SCR 19[22]	Pending	passed (March 31, 2015)	Pending
New Hampshire	January 7, 2015	HCR 2[23]	passed (March 4, 2015)	Pending	Pending
New Jersey	August 11, 2014	SCR 132[24] / ACR 149[25]	passed (February 23, 2015)	passed (December 18, 2014)	passed
Vermont	April 16, 2013	JRS 27[26]	passed (March 21, 2014)	passed (May 2, 2014)	passed

Vermont[edit source | edit]

On March 21, 2014, the Vermont Senate passed JRS 27, a Wolf PAC-backed resolution, in a bipartisan 25 to 2 vote.^[27] On May 2, 2014, the Vermont House passed the resolution, making Vermont the first state in the nation to call for an Article V convention concerning campaign finance reform.^[28]

California[edit source | edit]

On March 20, 2012, a Wolf PAC-backed resolution was introduced in the California State Assembly, but was voted down in the Judiciary Committee.^[29] On January 30, 2014, the California State Assembly became the second state lower chamber to pass Wolf PAC's bill calling for a constitutional convention. On June 23, 2014, California became the second state in the nation to pass Wolf PAC's resolution.^[30]

Illinois[edit source | edit]

On December 3, 2014, the Illinois Senate voted on SJR42, which passed the needed 3/5ths majority by one vote, 72 to 40, becoming the third state to call for the convention.

New Jersey[edit source | edit]

A resolution to call for a constitutional convention to overturn Citizens United was introduced on 11 August 2014. It passed the Senate on 18 December 2014 and the Assembly on 23 February 2015.

See also[edit source | edit]

• Campaign finance reform in the United States
• Convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution
• Occupy Wall Street
• Mayday PAC
• Move to Amend

Proposed Edits:

1. Add a paragraph describing Wolf PAC's coordination with NH Rebellion, citing http://www.concordmonitor.com/news/moneytrail/15296245-95/money-trail-seeking-amendments-convention-wolf-pac-joins-nh-rebellion
2. Add to NJ section by mentioning the opposition to the 28th Amendment made by the Koch Brothers, citing http://awareandfair.com/2014/10/18/amendment-to-ban-money-from-politics-passes-nj-state-committee-now-goes-to-nj-senate-for-vote/