Overcoming Bought & Paid for Government

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DC Community Celebrates Victory Over War Profiteer Northrop Grumman

Opinion by Code Pink
(April 22, 2010) in Politics / War on Terror

By the time you find the threat, we’ve already taken it out of the picture.
Northrop Grumman—the weapons profiteer with revenues of $34 billion–was all set to get a $25 million subsidy from the DC City Council to move their headquarters to DC. The legislation was originally sponsored by seven of the City Council’s 13 members and supported by Mayor Adrian Fenty, but the DC community mobilized against the corporate giveaway—and won!
The proposed taxpayer giveaway incensed small businesses, watchdog groups and peace activists, who formed a new coalition called CENTS—Coalition to End Needless Tax Subsidies. We held meetings with the mayor and council members, testified at hearings, held press conferences and educated the public. Our message was clear: no taxpayer giveaways to wealthy, outside corporations.
At CODEPINK, we targeted the seven members of the DC City Council who were promoting the subsidy. We generated over 1,000 emails or calls to each member!
With the public outcry, one by one, the council members began to change their minds. Just this week, Council Chair and mayoral candidate Vincent Gray remarked on all the messages he had received and said “You can stop. The deal is dead.”
Together, the domestic, fiscal, peace, and small business groups beat the corporate behemoth.
Moral: Working together, we can stop corporate giveaways and force our elected officials to invest in our communities.