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For Immediate Release
November, 19 2010, 12:49pm EDT
Contact:
Drew Courtney or Josh Glasstetter,Phone: 202-467-4999,Email:,media@pfaw.org
Citizens Blindsided: Updated PFAW Report Examines Role of Corporate Money in 2010 Elections
An updated and expanded report released by People For the American
Way today analyzes the impact corporate money had on the 2010
elections, the first election cycle after the Supreme Court's decision
in Citizens United v. FEC.
WASHINGTON
An updated and expanded report released by People For the American
Way today analyzes the impact corporate money had on the 2010
elections, the first election cycle after the Supreme Court's decision
in Citizens United v. FEC. The report, Citizens Blindsided: Secret Corporate Money in the 2010 Elections and America's New Shadow Democracy,
has been updated to included the total amounts spent and success
rates of outside pro-corporate groups, and expanded to include new
group profiles and a new foreword.
- In a new foreword, constitutional law professor, Maryland state senator, and People For Senior Fellow Jamie Raskin,
explores the legal and political implications of corporate spending in
elections. "For the first time in our history," he writes, "the Court
has thus transformed single-minded profit-making corporations into
full-fledged political citizens armed with the rights of the people."
- The report includes updated spending totals and electoral success rates for 14 groups and profiles two additional groups: the radically anti-government astroturfing outfit Americans for Limited Government and Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform.
- Examines the false claims repeated by many
corporate-funded outside groups on issues including health care
reform, the stimulus, and the American Clean Energy and Security Act.
In the last ninety days of the election, the twenty largest conservative outside groups ran 144,182 television ads. Seventy-seven percent of those ads came from organizations which do not disclose their donors.
- Includes a total accounting of anonymous spending in the 2010 elections. Anonymously funded Pro-GOP groups outspent their pro-Democratic counterparts by a 6:1 margin.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, eight of the top ten
groups that did not disclose their sources of funding directed the
bulk of their money to GOP candidates.
Read the full report here: https://www.pfaw.org/media-center/publications/citizens-blindsided-secret-corporate-money-the-2010-elections-and-america-
People For the American Way works to build a democratic society that implements the ideals of freedom, equality, opportunity and justice for all. We encourage civic participation, defend fundamental rights, and fight to dismantle systemic barriers to equitable opportunity. We fight against right-wing extremism and the injustice it fosters.
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Aid Group Warns US-Israeli War on Iran Has Unleashed ‘Triple Emergency’ With Devastating Consequences for Millions
“With global humanitarian needs already at record levels, further escalation of the conflict in the Middle East and wider region will have grave ramifications for crises across the world,” said one advocate.
Mar 20, 2026
The US-Israeli war against Iran has unleashed a "triple emergency" that is draining the global humanitarian aid system of resources and putting millions of the world's most vulnerable people at even greater risk, according to a dire warning issued Friday by the International Rescue Committee.
The war has already resulted in the deaths of thousands and the displacement of millions of people in Iran and Lebanon. But the IRC says that the ripple effects of the war are beginning to spread to conflict zones across the world.
The conflict has caused many nations in the region to partially or fully close their airspace, leaving critical cargo stranded.
Meanwhile, Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for US and Israeli attacks has disrupted the flow of more than 20% of the world’s oil exports, sharply raising transport costs and straining budgets that could go toward lifesaving aid.
“Medical aid is highly dependent on international transport,” said Willem Zuidema, Save the Children’s global supply chain director. “The blockage in the Strait of Hormuz, combined with spiking cost for insurance and fuel, is directly impacting patients in our health facilities, at the worst time possible.”
IRC said $130,000 worth of pharmaceutical aid intended for its humanitarian response to the conflict in Sudan has been left stranded in Dubai due to the strait's closure.
According to Save the Children, this delay has put 90 primary healthcare facilities across Sudan at risk of running low on supplies.
More than 400,000 children, the group estimated, could be affected by the inability to receive antibiotics, antimalarial drugs, pain and fever medications, and other treatments.
The group said it has been forced to deliver the aid using the much more costly method of transporting it across Jeddah, where it will be carried by sea freight to Sudan, which the group said could add as much as $1,000-2,000 per container.
The same is true of humanitarian zones in Afghanistan and Yemen, where treatments for thousands of children must now be delivered by air or by land, dramatically raising the costs.
The closure of the strait has also forced many vessels carrying aid to find alternative routes. IRC said its shipping partners have been forced to reroute their operations to instead travel around Africa's Cape of Good Hope, adding up to a month for ocean freight deliveries to war zones on the continent.
"What we are seeing is the war in Iran unleashing a triple emergency," said David Milliband, the president and CEO of IRC.
"First, a surge in humanitarian need, with Lebanon now the most visible humanitarian scar and one of the fastest-growing displacement crises in the world, with over one million people forced from their homes in weeks," he said.
"Second, a global economic shock, as disruptions to food, fuel, and fertilizer markets, putting up to 30% of fertilizer trade at risk, threatens more than 300 million people already facing acute food insecurity," said Milliband, and "third, a system under strain, with more than 60 conflicts stretching diplomatic attention and funding to a breaking point, pushing crises like Sudan and Gaza further down the list of priorities."
Milliband marveled at the priorities of the powers prosecuting the war. He pointed to a recent estimate from the Pentagon that the first six days of the war alone cost $11.3 billion, noting that "just $4 billion is enough to pay for treatment for every acutely malnourished child in the world."
Zuidema said that the "grave ripple effects" caused by the war are exacerbated by the fact that "governments are cutting vital foreign aid budgets."
He called on all parties to the war to cease hostilities and to adhere to their obligations under international law, including allowing the free flow of humanitarian aid.
“There should be no barriers to lifesaving supplies: Exemptions should be put in place to allow humanitarian supplies, fertilizer, and food to be able to move through the Strait of Hormuz,” Zuidema said. “With global humanitarian needs already at record levels, further escalation of the conflict in the Middle East and wider region will have grave ramifications for crises across the world.”
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Free Press Groups Demand Trump Admin End Targeting of Journalists After Nashville Reporter's Release
Estefany Rodríguez's detention "has had a chilling effect, undermining journalists’ ability, especially local reporters, to cover their communities without fear of retaliation," according to one advocate.
Mar 20, 2026
Immigrant rights and press freedom groups were celebrating Friday after Nashville journalist Estefany Rodríguez was released from a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana, two weeks after she was detained—but advocates said they would continue challenging the violation of Rodríguez's rights and demanded the Trump administration end its targeting of journalists amid its anti-immigration crackdown.
Rodríguez was freed on a $10,000 bond, more than two weeks after the Nashville Noticias reporter was detained outside a gym while traveling in her marked press vehicle.
As Common Dreams reported, press freedom advocates expressed concern that Rodríguez was detained in retaliation for her reporting on ICE's mass detention and deportation operation under President Donald Trump.
An ICE officer told her lawyer after her arrest that Rodríguez had been labeled a "flight risk" because she "missed" two meetings at the local ICE office—although the agency had previously informed her lawyer and her husband that she didn't need to go to the meetings.
Nora Benavidez, senior counsel of the media rights group Free Press, said the group welcomed the news of Rodríguez's release but emphasized that "while this is a victory for Rodríguez, her free speech rights, and the communities she reports for, the fight is not over."
"We remain troubled by the federal government’s ongoing campaign to silence and deport reporters who cover the administration’s gross mistreatment of immigrants," said Benavidez. "We will continue to fight for Rodríguez and her right to report free from retaliation while we challenge the federal government’s relentless assaults on the First Amendment across this country.”
"Press freedom is not theoretical—it is tested in moments like this. Safeguarding it means removing unnecessary barriers and ensuring that journalists, especially those serving vulnerable communities, can report freely and without fear."
Rodríguez was arrested weeks after journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort were arrested for reporting on an anti-ICE protest at a church in Minneapolis. Emmy-winning journalist Mario Guevara was arrested last June after reporting on a No Kings protest against Trump in Atlanta; he was detained for more than 100 days before being deported to El Salvador.
Rodríguez arrived in the US lawfully in 2021 from her native Colombia, where she faced threats due to her reporting work. She applied for asylum before her visa expired.
Nashville Banner reported that Rodríguez was granted the bond by a judge on Monday, but a mandatory stay allowed ICE attorneys the opportunity to appeal the decision, which they ultimately did not. Then it took a day for Rodríguez's family to post the bond through an electronic system on Wednesday, which required approval since they were first-time users.
The bureaucratic delays added to the ordeal Rodríguez faced during her detention, during which she was not able to contact her attorneys until March 14. She first spent a week in a county jail in Alabama where guards placed her in isolation for five days, claiming she had contracted lice. According to Nashville Banner, before she was transferred to the center in Louisiana, the guards "took her to the shower, made her strip naked, and poured cleaning liquid over her head." The substance made Rodríguez's eyes burn, and the outlet reported that "she believed the liquid was also used to clean floors."
Following her release, Rodríguez's legal case is ongoing. Her lawyers filed an emergency petition for a writ of habeas corpus in federal court. Government lawyers are now arguing the case is moot because Rodríguez has been released, but her attorneys are seeking an evidentiary hearing to obtain an injunction against her potential redetenion.
"We plan to proceed with the habeas petition that was filed on March 4, challenging both her warrantless arrest and retaliation for her exercise of First Amendment rights," said Mike Holley, an attorney with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition. "Through that petition, we are seeking not only her complete release, but an order prohibiting ICE from mistreating her in a similar way in the future.”
In the petition, Rodríguez's legal team argued her detention has violated her First, Fourth, and Fifth amendment rights and asserted that she was detained in relation to her coverage of ICE operations.
Jose Zamora, regional director of the Americas for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said Rodríguez's detention "has had a chilling effect, undermining journalists’ ability, especially local reporters, to cover their communities without fear of retaliation."
“The government must uphold press freedom and ensure all journalists can work safely and without reprisal," said Zamora.
Mark Schoeff Jr., president of the National Press Club, said that Rodríguez's case "should never have reached this point."
"We urge authorities to drop any further action against Ms. Rodríguez and allow her to continue her work without interference. She is a community-focused journalist whose reporting serves the public interest, and she must be able to work openly and cooperatively as she seeks to resolve her legal status in the United States," said Schoeff. "A free press depends on the ability of journalists to report without fear of detention or retaliation. Reporters cannot do their jobs if they fear detention for doing their jobs."
"Press freedom is not theoretical—it is tested in moments like this," he added. "Safeguarding it means removing unnecessary barriers and ensuring that journalists, especially those serving vulnerable communities, can report freely and without fear."
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US Kills at Least 2 More People in Yet Another Illegal Boat Bombing
“This lawless killing for content cannot become mere background noise," said one critic.
Mar 20, 2026
The Trump administration isn't letting its unconstitutional war with Iran stop its illegal boat-bombing campaign in Latin America.
US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said on Friday that it had conducted yet another lethal boat strike on a suspected drug boat traveling in what it described as "known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific."
While SOUTHCOM initially said that three men survived the Thursday strike, a spokesperson for the US Coast Guard subsequently told CNN reporter Zachary Cohen that two of the men on the boat were killed, while a lone survivor was rescued and taken into custody by authorities in Costa Rica.
According to Cohen, at least 160 people have so far been killed by the Trump administration's boat strikes, which several legal experts have described as illegal acts of murder.
The latest strike on a suspected drug vessel came on the same day Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the commander of SOUTHCOM, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Trump administration's boat-bombing spree is "not the answer" to the drug addiction crisis in the US.
As reported by The New York Times on Thursday, Donovan told lawmakers that the strikes are "probably not the most effective" tool to combat illicit drug trafficking, and said he was developing a more comprehensive plan to stop the flow of drugs into the US.
Human rights group Amnesty International slammed Donovan for carrying out another strike even while acknowledging their negligible impact on the drug trade.
"Congress must take action against these strikes!" the group said in a social media post.
Brian Finucane, senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, expressed concern that the Trump administration's Iran war was distracting from the other illegal killing it is carrying out.
"This lawless killing for content cannot become mere background noise," he wrote.
A coalition of rights organizations led by the ACLU last year sued the Trump administration to demand it release documents that provide legal justification for its boat-bombing campaign.
The groups said that the Trump administration’s rationales for the strikes deserve special scrutiny because their justification hinges on claims that the US is in an “armed conflict” with international drug cartels akin to past conflicts between the US government and terrorist organizations such as al-Qaeda.
The groups argued there is simply no way that drug cartels can be classified under the same umbrella as terrorist organizations, given that the law regarding war with nonstate actors says that any organizations considered to be in armed conflict with the US must be an “organized armed group” that is structured like a conventional military and engaged in “protracted armed violence” with the US government.
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