EVENT ADVISORY: Laboratories for Corruption: How Special Interests Are Driving Harmful State Policies

Washington, D.C. — States have long been lauded as “laboratories of democracy,” where new ideas and practices can be tested and refined. Often, state laboratories serve as models for implementing affirmative policies that better people’s lives and make government more efficient. But this is not always the case. Some states have been used as testing grounds for policies that skew political and economic power toward corporations or billionaires and away from everyday Americans.

Many harmful state policies—such as irresponsible tax cuts, deregulation, and attacks on unions and essential workplace protections—are byproducts of corporate lobbying and conservative special-interest groups whose main purpose is to help the rich and powerful exploit the lawmaking process for their own benefit. Now, these groups are looking to spread their influence across the country and to the federal level.

Please join the Center for American Progress for a discussion on how corporations and special-interest groups promote state policies that make corporations and wealthy donors richer while hurting American families. The discussion will also examine how lawmakers backed by these groups further corrupt democratic processes in order to maintain power and keep harmful policies in place.

Press are welcome to RSVP by following this link.

WHO:
Introductory remarks:
Winnie Stachelberg, Executive Vice President for External Affairs, Center for American Progress