Legislation

How Big Corporate Money Buys Elections, Rams Through Legislation, and Betrays Our Democracy (2002)

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• published: 29 Oct 2015
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Mark J. Green (born March 15, 1945) is an author, former public official, public interest lawyer and a Democratic politician who lives in New York City. He worked with Ralph Nader from 1970 to 1980, eventually as director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch, and is the former president of Air America Radio (2007–2009). He has written, co-written or edited 22 books, including two bestsellers, Who Runs Congress? (1972) (co-written with James Fallows) and The Book On Bush (2004) (co-written with Eric Alterman). He has also collaborated on several books with consumer advocate Ralph Nader (The Closed Enterprise System, 1972; Monopoly Makers, 1974, Verdicts on Lawyers, 1975, Taming the Giant Corporation, 1976, The Big Business Reader, 1980). His most recent book is Change for America: A Progressive Blueprint for the 44th President, co-edited by Green and Michele Jolin, a transition policy book for President Obama, co-produced by the New Democracy Project and the Center for American Progress Action Fund.[1] He was a Visiting Scholar at NYU College and Law School from 2002-2006 and writes regularly about public affairs for the "Huffington Post." He is the host of the nationally syndicated radio show, Both Sides Now, which is aired on 60 stations and recorded at WOR710 AM in New York City. The weekly program rotates such regular panelists as Arianna Huffington, Ron Reagan, Eliot Spitzer, Bob Shrum, Jonathan Alter as well as Mary Matalin, Erick Erickson, David Frum, Torie Clarke. Green was New York City Consumer Affairs Commissioner from 1990 to 1993 and was twice elected New York City Public Advocate, in 1993 and 1997. He also won Democratic primaries for the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate, and Mayor of New York City and in each case lost in the general election. Additionally, he has lost campaigns to be the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, the Democratic Nominee for New York Attorney General, and the Democratic Nominee for New York Public Advocate eight years after finishing off two terms in that position. From 1990 to 1993, Green was Consumer Affairs Commissioner of New York City. He was elected the first New York City Public Advocate in 1993,[6] and re-elected in 1997. In that office, Green led investigations of HMOs, hospitals, and nursing homes which led to fines by the New York State Attorney General. A 1994 investigation on the Bell Regulations ("Libby Zion Law") -- limiting resident working hours and requiring physician supervision—and follow-up study prompted the New York State Department of Health to crack down on violating hospitals. He also led an effort against tobacco advertising aimed at children, enacting a law banning cigarette vending machines and released a series of exposés and legal actions against tobacco advertising targeted at children—concluding that R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company was engaged in "commercial child abuse"—which culminated in a 1997 Federal Trade Commission decision that ended the Joe Camel ads. As Public Advocate, Green first proposed the 311 complaint help line that Mayor Bloomberg later implemented. He wrote laws that matched small donations w/ multiple city funds, created the Voter Commission, upheld the legality of the Independent Budget Office, barred stores from charging women more than men for the same services, and that prohibited companies from firing female employees merely because they were victims of domestic violence. He started the City's first web site, NYC.Gov that he later gave to City Hall where it is still the main portal for City government. One of his most high-profile accomplishments was a lawsuit to obtain information about racial profiling in Rudy Giuliani's police force. As Green told the Gotham Gazette, "We sued Mayor Giuliani because he was in deep denial about racial profiling. [After winning the case, we] released an investigation showing a pattern of unpunished misconduct ... [and] the rate that police with substantiated complaints are punished went from 25 percent to 75 percent." Green was one of the first public officials to draw attention to racial profiling by the NYPD, which, until 2001, made him an enemy of Mayor Giuliani and one of the most popular white politicians among New York City African Americans. Green ran for the U.S. Senate again in 1998, when D'Amato was seeking a fourth term. Green finished third in the Democratic primary behind the winner, Congressman Charles Schumer, and 1984 Democratic vice presidential nominee Geraldine Ferraro. Despite Green's personal ties to Nader, he did not support Nader's presidential campaigns. In the 2000 campaign he praised Nader's work as a consumer advocate but he endorsed Democratic nominee Al Gore. In 2004, Green was co-chair of the New York presidential campaign of Senator John Kerry. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_J._Green