From The Director Daniel,  | The advent of super PACs, with their mega-millions from just a fraction of a percentage of the voting population, is raising important concerns about our democracy.
And while Illinois PIRG advocates have been exposing their role in the election, we also have other tools to combat the influence of big money in politics. While expensive ad campaigns are indeed a powerful tool, they lack the impact of a face-to-face conversation.
Keenly aware of that dynamic, our citizen outreach staff will be going across the state, knocking on thousands of doors to educate the Illinois public and mobilize support for our campaigns.
This kind of broad outreach is particularly important for our Stop Subsidizing Obesity campaign. The idea of "farm subsidies" conjures images of the small family farmer for many, but the truth is that the vast majority of agricultural subsidies go to Big Ag, and a considerable portion subsidize the junk foods that are fueling our obesity epidemic.
No politician, regardless of his or her place on the political spectrum, wants to be seen supporting these wasteful subsidies. But if the debate continues below the radar, they have no incentive to oppose Big Ag. Our canvassers are bringing this issue into the light so that the public can hold politicians accountable, because in the light of day, we can make sure they do the right thing.
Sincerely,
Brian Imus
Illinois PIRG State Director
Top Stories |  PUBLIC OUTREACH—We're getting the word out about junk food subsidies—through the media and through our citizen outreach project. So far, more than 72,000 people have signed our petition to end junk food subsidies. | IL Taxpayers Against Junk Food Subsidies This year, many of the wasteful junk food subsidies that we've campaigned long and hard against are scheduled to expire with the 2008 Farm Bill—but industry lobbyists are urging Congress to renew them. To win, we must continue to generate opposition against these subsidies.
We're on the right track. In the last year, with our national federation, Illinois PIRG's citizen outreach staff have brought this issue to the public's attention. Nationwide, we've spoken to more than 800,000 people about the need to end junk food subsidies. Even Big Ag's champions have acknowledged the public outcry against the worst of these programs, as they're trying to continue the same bad policies under new names.
"We're starting to see the writing on the wall for these corporate giveaways, but the special interests' lobbyists are working overtime to keep the gravy train flowing," said Illinois PIRG Policy Analyst Mike Russo. "This fall, Congress is going to need to decide whether to listen to Big Ag, or to the thousands of Americans who want to see these subsidies gone."
We Can Beat Big Ag
Our tax dollars should only go to things that serve the public good, yet we're handing out taxpayer subsidies to big agribusinesses to help subsidize junk food. Huge, profitable corporations like Cargill and Monsanto are pocketing tens of billions in taxpayer dollars, and turning subsidized crops into junk food ingredients—including high-fructose corn syrup.
No one in Congress wants to be seen standing up for taxpayer giveaways to junk food, and with public concern about obesity and federal spending at an all-time high, with your continued support we can finally beat Big Ag and end subsidies for junk food.
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Illinois Earns "B-" For Online Budget Transparency For three years, Illinois PIRG Education Fund has been grading how well our state government—and others across the country—disclose spending information online.
This year, we found that 46 states (including Illinois) now provide an online database of government expenditures with "checkbook-level" detail, a major increase from 32 states two years ago. Illinois is considered an "advancing" state.
According to Celeste Meiffren, Field Director for the Illinois PIRG Education Fund, "Citizens expect information to be at their fingertips the way they can view their cell phone minutes or the location of a package. Putting spending information online helps hold governments accountable and allows taxpayers to see where the money goes."
Creating or improving online transparency is typically done with little upfront cost.
In fact, states with top-flight transparency websites actually save money for taxpayers, while also restoring public confidence in government, and preventing misspending and pay-to-play contracts.
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New Report: Auctioning Democracy The presidential race had barely gotten off the ground when it became clear that 2012 would be the year of the super PAC. The millions of dollars raised and spent by these strange and powerful court-created entities have created a kind of parallel campaign.
By the end of Florida's GOP primary, outside groups driven by super PACs had outspent candidates on TV ads. Restore Our Future, a pro-Romney super PAC, ran more than 12,000 ads in Florida alone.
A new report jointly written by Illinois PIRG Education Fund and Demos analyzes the funding sources behind super PACs.
A Tool For Special Interests
Our findings confirmed what many have predicted in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission: Since their inception in 2010, super PACs have been primarily funded by a small segment of very wealthy individuals and business interests, with a small but significant amount of funds coming from secret sources.
"Super PACs represent much of what is wrong with American democracy rolled neatly into one package," explained report author and Illinois PIRG Democracy Advocate Blair Bowie. "They are tools that powerful special interests can use to work their will by drowning out the voices of ordinary Americans in a sea of sometimes secret cash."
Key Findings
Some of the most striking findings in the report are:
• In 2010 and 2011, 17 percent of all super PAC money came from for-profit business treasuries.
• Since 2010, 6.4 percent of the itemized funds raised by super PACs was "secret money," not feasibly traceable to its original source. A month-to-month analysis of spending in 2010 and 2011 suggests that the months leading up to the 2012 election will see an unprecedented surge in secret money.
• Of all itemized contributions from individuals to super PACs, 93 percent came in contributions of at least $10,000, made by 726 individuals. More than half of itemized super PAC money came from just 37 people giving at least $500,000 each.
Ultimately, the people must act together through Congress and the state legislatures to amend our Constitution to make it perfectly clear that the First Amendment is not—and never was—intended as a tool for use by wealthy donors and large corporations to dominate the political process. In the meantime, federal agencies, Congress, the President, state legislatures and municipalities should act to minimize the impact of special interest money in politics.
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Congress: Close Tax Loopholes This spring, Illinois PIRG Education Fund took a hard look at the lobbying activities of profitable Fortune 500 companies that exploit tax loopholes and distort the tax code to avoid billions of dollars in taxes.
The report we published, "Representation without Taxation," showed how corporations exploit loopholes and special provisions in the tax code to avoid paying taxes. We found that a "Dirty Thirty" of these corporations spent more on lobbying than they paid in income taxes between 2008 and 2010.
All told, these companies made more than $163 billion in profits while paying zero dollars in federal income taxes and collecting a total of $10.6 billion in various tax rebates. Meanwhile, they collectively spent more than $475 million in lobbying expenses over that three-year period.
Illinois taxpayers and small businesses must pick up the tab when major corporations avoid their taxes. Spread out over every individual tax filer in the country, the taxes avoided by the Dirty Thirty break down to an average of $481 per taxpayer.
Illinois PIRG recently joined our national federation in Washington, D.C., to meet with our representatives and build support for the CUT Loopholes Act, which would close the most egregious offshore tax loopholes and end many of the tax shell games played by America's largest corporations.
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 | Be an advocate for Illinois' future with Illinois PIRG's Planned Giving Program. You can be remembered as someone who cared enough to leave a legacy of activism on behalf of Illinois' consumers and to ensure the future health of our state's democracy by making a bequest to Illinois PIRG Or Illinois PIRG Education Fund. For information, call: 1-800-841-7299, or email plannedgiving@illinoispirg.org. | News Briefs | 
130,000 SIGNATURES—Illinois PIRG Higher Education Advocate Rich Williams delivered 130,000 petitions calling on Congress not to double the student loan interest rate. | Students Tell Congress: Don't Double My Rate With the student loan interest rate set to double this July for almost 8 million loan borrowers, Illinois PIRG and our coalition partners delivered more than 130,000 petitions to Congress urging a different plan.
"Our message is simple," said Rich Williams, Illinois PIRG's higher education advocate, "don't double student debt rates."
Sen. Jack Reed (R.I.) and Rep. Joe Courtney (Conn.) have written legislation to prevent rates from doubling, and President Obama has proposed a 1-year freeze on interest rates in his budget request to Congress, a step in the right direction to make interest rates on student loans more responsive to trends in the economy.
If Congress does nothing, the average subsidized Stafford Loan borrower would have $2,800 in increased debt over a 10-year repayment term. Some would even see interest balloon to $11,000 over a 20-year repayment period.
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Push For "Regulatory Reform" Puts Lives At Risk A new report by Demos and Illinois PIRG Education Fund found that Americans' lives, health and livelihoods would be put at risk if so-called "regulatory reform" proposals now being considered by the U.S. Congress become law.
For every year the government does not implement new rules to ensure safer produce, 380,000 preventable illnesses will happen in Ohio alone.
For every year insurance companies are allowed to deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, more than 65,000 cancer patients in Ohio will be denied health insurance.
"This report demonstrates that the 'regulatory reform' proposals being considered by Congress are a serious threat to Americans," said Nasima Hossain, Illinois PIRG's public health advocate.
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Young People Now Drive Less Illinois PIRG Education Fund and the Frontier Group found that Americans have been driving less since the middle of the last decade, and increasing their use of transportation alternatives.
This trend away from driving is even more pronounced among young people. The average young person (age 16-34) drove 23 percent fewer miles in 2009 than the average young person in 2001. The report also notes that a growing number of young Americans do not have driver's licenses; from 2000 to 2010, the share of 14- to 34-year-olds without a license increased from 21 percent to 26 percent.
According to the report, between 2001 and 2009 the annual number of miles traveled by 16- to 34-year-oldson public transit such as trains and buses increased by 40 percent.
"America's transportation preferences appear to be changing. Our elected officials need to make transportation decisions based on the real needs of Americans in the 21st century," concluded Phineas Baxandall, the report's co-author.
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CFPB Moves To Hold Credit Bureaus Accountable The new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has proposed to hold credit bureaus responsible for their mistakes.
According to Illinois PIRG Education Fund research nearly one-quarter of credit reports were found to have serious errors. Even if you've never missed a payment, an error on your credit report can mean you're denied for a loan or pay higher interest rates. Yet, credit bureaus have never once been held accountable for their mistakes.
Illinois PIRG helped deliver more than 10,000 consumer comments to the CFPB on this issue.
The CFPB will finalize its credit bureau proposal in July. We will watch closely as it does so and work to ensure that lobbyists for the major credit bureaus do not weaken it.
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