Sacramento Bee Columnist Jon Ortiz knows what billionaire political players and special interests had in mind when they put the Special Exemptions Act on the November 2012 ballot – gutting the political power of middle class working women and men and silencing their voices.

Ortiz reports that the measure pretends to level the political playing field, but it will in reality allow wealthy political contributors to skirt regulations and increase their political power. These wealthy interests already outspend labor by a ratio of 15-1.

“It promises to gut the power of labor unions because they raise nearly all of their money for political and other purposes via payroll-deducted dues from their members’ paychecks,” Ortiz writes. “Corporations, by contrast, raise the bulk of their campaign money from donations given by top executives and drawn from company treasuries.”

Read more about this deceptive and cynical power play in the Sacramento Bee’s  Move  Over Wisconsin.

A community group plans to march on the state Capitol on Monday to protest the impact of “dirty money” from bankers and mortgage companies on elected officials.

The march by members of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment is slated to start at the CA Bankers Assn. Office at 9:45 a.m.

Organizers of the event report that banking and mortgage industries have spent “$8.8 million” in “dirty money” since 2007, with the aim of shaping actions by legislators and other elected officials.

The community members are specifically noting the efforts of these corporate special interests ”to kill the Homeowner Protection Act,” pending legislation.

The amount of money and influence corporations have exerted on the Capitol is a prime reason California’s teachers are opposing the “Corporate Power Grab” on the November 2012 ballot. While the measure masquerades as “political campaign reform,” it will help corporations increase their political clout while diminishing that of organized teachers and other
union members.

Currently, corporations outspend unions by a ratio of 15-1, according to information from an alliance of labor groups. The passage of the “Corporate Power Grab” would allow corporations and other well-funded special interest groups to boost that ratio.