Welcome!

Occupy Petaluma created this survey to ensure that some of the major “Occupy” concerns are addressed within the Congressional race.  We hope you find the results helpful in choosing the candidate to best represent you and your values.

The nine respondents were Susan Adams (Dem), Brooke Clarke (Ind),  Andy Caffrey (Dem), Mike Halliwell (Rep), Jared Huffman (Dem), John Lewallen (Ind), Tiffany Renée (Dem), Daniel Roberts (Rep) and Norman Solomon (Dem).

Non-responders were William Courtney (Dem),  Larry Fritzlan (Dem) and Stacey Lawson (Dem).

We invite you to browse the candidates’ responses by topic.  For the menu of topics place your cursor on the Occupy Democracy tab above, then on the “Congressional Candidate ‘Virtual Forum’” drop-down that appears.  The menu of ten topics will appear to the right.  On each page just below the question we posed to the candidates you’ll find background information and links that were available to them as they went through the process of responding to this survey.

Please note that the candidates’ responses rotate through the ten questions in alphabetical order, beginning in the first question with the first candidate to reply to this survey, John Lewallen.   Also, please note that the candidates answers are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Occupy Petaluma.

As a movement of the 99% of the population that controls only 60% of the wealth in our country, individuals within Occupy Petaluma support a range of candidates.  The group itself does not make endorsements.

If you find this survey helpful please share it with your friends…and consider joining us as we work to reclaim our country for the 99%!

You May Wish to Know…

Moratorium on Foreclosures

Perhaps one of the most significant findings of the survey is that six of the candidates — Solomon, Adams, Caffrey, Huffman, Lewallen and Renée – all support a national moratorium on foreclosures.   This finding and other significant statements on the foreclosure crisis can be found by selecting “Foreclosure Fraud” from the menu of ten topics.

Constitutional Amendment to Overturn Citizen United

We chose to focus our question regarding campaign finance on Move to Amend because we believe it is necessary to go beyond simply asking candidates if they support a Constitutional Amendment overturning Citizens United.  There are many proposed amendments being discussed throughout the country.  Unfortunately the five introduced into Congress so far have major loopholes.  We believe the public needs to inform themselves of the differences between amendments in order to back the one that best represents their interests.

The Occupy Democracy working group of Occupy Petaluma studied six of the main amendments proposed to date, and came to the conclusion that the Constitutional Amendment proposed by Move to Amend goes the farthest toward leveling the playing field and accomplishing the intent of representational democracy.  It would require — rather than empower — federal, state and local governments to regulate contributions both to political campaigns and ballot initiatives, including contributions made by candidates themselves.  It would also fix the legal technicality of “corporate personhood” which allowed the Supreme Court to rule that political spending by corporations and unions is “speech” protected by the First Amendment.

Move to Amend contains the clearest language to ensure that all entities – for profit corporations, not-for-profit organizations such as PACs and Super PACs, as well as unions – will no longer be entitled under law to undermine our elections with unlimited contributions.   It would accomplish this by simply clarifying that the rights protected by the Constitution belong only to human beings, and not to artificial entities established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign state.

Occupy Petaluma joins many other Occupy groups, as well as many city and county governments throughout the 2^nd congressional district and throughout the nation in supporting Move to Amend.

All nine respondents to the survey agreed that the influence of money in politics is a problem. The seven candidates who responded in the affirmative to the question “would you introduce Move to Amend’s version of an amendment into Congress” differed somewhat on how explicitly they support the principles behind Move to Amend (at least in these responses), and what further steps they would take to limit the influence of big money on politics.  A close reading of the responses of Solomon, Adams, Clarke, Huffman, Lewallen, Renée and Caffrey is recommended.  Please see “Campaign Finance / Corporate Personhood” in the menu of ten topics.

For a quick analysis of how the 5 amendment that have been proposed into Congress compare to that of Move to Amend  click here.

To read the full text of all 6 amendments please visit us at: http://www.occupypetaluma.com/national-campaign-finance-reform-move-to-amend/