With our democracy under threat from growing corporate wealth and authoritarianism, New Yorkers are organizing to protect free and fair elections. But attacks on our democracy by powerful, unaccountable forces extend beyond the ballot box.

We’re seeing an increase in dark money transferred from corporations to shadow entities, allowing big business and billionaires to lobby government officials behind the scenes. Known as astroturf groups, these secretly funded entities operate with little transparency and are designed to mislead lawmakers and the general public into thinking there is more grassroots support for a cause than there actually is.

Take Amazon, which is opposing the City Council’s Delivery Protection Act (Intro 518), legislation that would require the company to take responsibility for its drivers and treat them as employees. Since the bill was re-introduced in February, Amazon has funneled $5 million to a........

© NY Daily News