My apologies for duplicate postings.
Tom Mathews,
Sierra Club, Iowa Chapter Corporate Accountability issue chair

Subj:    Enron Update
Date:   02-05-03 12:53:46 EDT
From:   [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]

Dear Citizens,

We have good news and bad news.

The bad news is that the few "Enron reform" bills that have passed in
Congress to date are an insult to the word "reform." In April, the House of
Representatives passed:
1)  A pension bill (H.R. 3762) that would tighten a few rules governing
401(k) plans but make other rules worse for workers; and
2)  An accounting bill (H.R. 3763) that would make a few cosmetic changes to
rules governing the accounting industry but would punt most of the "reform"
responsibility into the lap of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Better bills may be passed in the Senate with enough public pressure. But it
will be a tough battle.

The good news is that Enron has provided a concrete example for what many of
us have been saying for years: corporations have too much power and their
unregulated influence harms most citizens while benefiting a few.

And while many wonderful nonprofit groups are working on campaigns to get
corporations out of politics and bring democracy back to the people, they can
only do so much.

Without your voice on the grassroots level, these efforts will not go far
enough. Elected officials need to be told over and over again that sham
reform is not acceptable!

So, let's let 'em hear it!

Here are four concrete things that you can do:

1)  Get informed: Visit Citizen Works' web site and sign up for the Corporate
Reform Weekly, an e-mail newsletter to keep you in the loop on how
legislators and activists are responding to Enron and what you can do to
help.

2)  Get on the phones with your elected officials and tell them that you are
not satisfied with the legislation that has been passed so far in response to
Enron. Tell them you want real reforms, not sham reforms. Tell them you want
pension reforms that actually ensure a decent retirement for America's
workers. Tell them you want accounting and securities reforms that truly
eliminate the conflicts of interest that riddle the industries. Tell them you
want reforms that enact real penalties for white-collar criminals who make
millions through fraud while workers and investors lose everything. Tell them
you want an end to foolhardy energy deregulation. Tell them you want a real
crackdown on corporate tax-avoidance and meaningful protections for
whistleblowers.

3)  While you are on the phone,  be part of the Give it Back campaign by
asking your elected officials to give any Enron contributions they received
back to the workers and shareholders who were burned by Enron's fraud. This
is the first step in a long-term campaign to get corporations out of politics
and get publicly-funded elections.

4)  Keep talking. Tell everybody you know why the system needs to be
reformed, why we need to get corporations out of politics. Write letters and
op-eds for your local papers.

Working together, we can build formidable momentum for corporate reform. By
being silent, we accomplish nothing.


IN OTHER NEWS:

Citizen Works is forging ahead with creating a newsletter, Citizens Working.
This won't be your ordinary newsletter. Instead of just writing about our
work, like most nonprofits, we want to write about YOU.

We want to hear what you are doing at the state and the local level, what
great campaigns and actions you are working on. We want to share this
information with other citizens and activists on this list to offer real,
inspirational examples of how change happens at the local level.

Please update us on your activities by e-mailing Lee Drutman at
[log in to unmask] and you may well wind up in the newsletter.



ON TELEVISION:

If you work on toxics, green building, environmental, labor, health or
corporate accountability issues: Don't miss BLUE VINYL, an entertaining and
eye-opening documentary about the environmental and public health hazards of
the world's second-highest selling plastic. The award-winning BLUE VINYL airs
on HBO this Sunday, May 5, at 10 p.m. EST (after Six Feet Under).  Citizen
Works' Charlie Cray, director of the National Campaign for Corporate Reform,
is featured. To learn more about the ongoing consumer and education campaign,
see www.MyHouseIsYourHouse.org.

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