People are asking us why we’re singling out Steve Wynn if we’re against casinos. Think of the NoWay2Wynn campaign as a protest movement against Citizens United. Steve Wynn – along with Sheldon Adelson and the Koch Brothers — is one of the poster boys for unbridled corporate spending on political campaigns. These four men have spent billions to drive an extremist agenda and warp the democratic process. They have done this with impunity since the Citizens United ruling in 2010. Legal efforts are under way to turn back the Supreme Court’s decision but in the meantime, there’s nothing quite like an old fashioned protest.
While the legal system sorts out the constitutionality of the Citizens United decision, Steve Wynn has provided the citizens of the Commonwealth with the opportunity to stand up and make a statement. In our consumer oriented economy, one of the most effective tools in the political activist’s arsenal is the boycott. Mozilla’s firing of Brendan Eich over his support of California’s Proposition 8 is only the latest example of how effective this type of campaign can be. A consumer boycott of Citizens United is unrealistic because the Koch Bothers’ holdings are too complex and diversified and you would have to fly to Las Vegas to boycott Adelson or Wynn. But when Steve Wynn decided to bid on a casino in Everett, he brought the whole issue to our backyard. Tweet to @NoWay2Wynn
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Citizens United created mega donors who think they can unilaterally influence the political system. Average working people opposed to Citizens United can do nothing to stop them. But the corporate Achilles heel will always be profit and brand protection. A boycott that that hits a mega donor’s bottom line and damages his brand will completely change the dynamic.
Steve Wynn’s name is a brand and in 2012 he re-branded himself as a Tea Party symbol. He became a Fox News talking head during the election cycle, he helped Karl Rove start his super PAC and he distributed a voting guide to his casino employees instructing them to vote for Mitt Romney. Preventing Steve Wynn from establishing a casino in Massachusetts will send a clear message to all the mega donors that their actions have consequences.
Join the NoWay2Wynn boycott movement; help us stop Steve Wynn. Click Here
PS
You think this is just an academic argument?
Guess who paid for this attack ad against Elizabeth Warren? http://ow.ly/wUiiY
Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS a super PAC that Steve Wynn is a founding member of.
Your post makes sense to me as someone who has opposed the wrong-headed actions of our Governor and democratic leadership on Beacon Hill that brought us the casino mess. While I support your bringing the issue of Citizens United into the ongoing debate about casinos, I would suggest that this is not about Steve Wynn or the casino in your backyard. This is about regressive taxation, shifting wealth from poor/middle class to uber-wealthy…..it is about political gimmickry by those who promised that “Together We Can” put aside cynicism and grow civic engagement – of and for ordinary folks who will never have billions of dollars and fleets of lobbyists to influence their will upon others and our society.
Singling out one location or one owner or one proposal continues to miss the mark.
The law is flawed in it’s entirety and needs to be repealed.
Fix the casino mess – Vote YES in November to Repeal.
And, get active with repealthecasinodeal.org and help with round #2 of the signture drive to get The People to the ballot.
Steve Wynn is a perfect example of the wealthy big business owners who now pour their money into politics to promote their conservative values. Meanwhile, Chip Tuttle and Mohegan Sun don’t exactly shy away from dumping their millions of dollars into lobbyists to create direct lines to our political leaders.
As much as I’m all for booting Wynn, I think the bigger problem is the value system that comes with the big money in the casino industry. For them, all that matters in the world is money in their own accounts. Whether its the wealthy MA and CT crowd, like Chip Tuttle or Gary Loveman, or the Vegas crowd like Stevie Wynn and Sheldon Adelson, they have made it clear personally and professionally that supporting big business and the .001% at the expense of the local economy and small businesses is their top priority.