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{{Short description|National liberal consumer and public activist group in United States (1980s -1990s)}}
'''Citizen Action''' was a national liberal consumer and public activist group that was active in the United States during the 1980s and 1990s. State-level affiliates have continued on in [[Connecticut]], [[New York (state)|New York]], [[Ohio]], and [[Wisconsin]]. The affiliates of Citizen Action are part of the [[People's Action]] national network.

==History==
The origins of the group lies in various state-level organizations founded by veterans of [[Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)|Students for a Democratic Society]] and the [[Indochina Peace Campaign]].

In 1980 a national organization called Citizen Action was formed as a federation of state groups in Ohio, Oregon, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Illinois, with a national office in Washington, D.C.<ref name="tap-judis">{{cite news | url=http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=activist_trouble | title=Below the Beltway: Activist Trouble | author=Judis, John B. | author-link=John Judis | publisher=[[The American Prospect]] | date=January 1, 1998}}</ref> Its first president was [[Heather Booth]] and its first executive director was Ira Arlook.<ref name="tap-judis"/> Some of the affiliates had their own history, with [[Connecticut Citizen Action Group]] being founded by [[Ralph Nader]] in 1970. [[Ohio Citizen Action]] was founded in 1975 as the Ohio Public Interest Campaign. The Citizens Action Coalition of Indiana was founded in 1974 and made its name in dealing with utility company rates and associated investigations.<ref name="bg97">{{cite news | title=Scandal Unravels Liberal Consumer Group | author=Lewis, Diane E. | newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]] | date=December 6, 1997 | page=F1}}</ref>

The national group experienced various changes in membership during the 1980s due to financial and organizational ups and downs, but saw its role as putting pressure on the political system for policy issues it was concerned about.<ref name="tap-judis"/> By the early 1990s the group had affiliates in 34 states.<ref name="casper">{{cite book | title=Lost in Washington: Finding the Way Back to Democracy in America | url=https://archive.org/details/lostinwashington0000casp | url-access=registration | first=Barry M. | last=Casper | publisher=[[University of Massachusetts Press]] | year=2000 | isbn=1-55849-247-X | pages=[https://archive.org/details/lostinwashington0000casp/page/242 242–246]}}</ref> Its policy specialist Cathy Hurwit was a well-known figure in discussions about [[health care reform in the United States]], and the group was a strong advocate for [[single-payer health care]].<ref name="tap-judis"/><ref name="casper"/> Group funding often came from labor unions such as [[AFSCME]], [[Communications Workers of America|CWA]], and [[ILGWU]].<ref name="casper"/>

With the advent of the [[Clinton administration]] in 1993, the group began changing from being a nonpartisan grassroots organization to being a direct player in [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] politics.<ref name="tap-judis"/><ref name="bg97"/> Citizen Action argued publicly for single-payer health care, but behind the scenes worked to support the managed competition proposals of the [[1993 Clinton health care plan]] as the only feasible approach.<ref name="tap-judis"/> This created some unhappiness among members and aligned organizations.<ref name="casper"/>

The national group got heavily involved in the [[1996 United States presidential election|1996 U.S. elections]], including staging a $7 million education and get-out-the-vote drive.<ref name="tap-judis"/><ref name="nyt103097"/> The effort was successful in putting many [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] congressional candidates on the defensive.<ref name="nyt103097"/> However, this emphasis was to the dissatisfaction of some of its state affiliates; following the election, the Ohio and Indiana affiliates withdrew from the organization, taking away some 650,000 of the national group's 2 million members.<ref name="tap-judis"/> A director for Ohio Citizen Action said, "what happened was a very old story: an office in Washington which was set up to serve the interests of states grew up to think it had created the states."<ref name="tap-judis"/>

In 1997, Citizen Action got caught up in the [[Teamstergate]] affair, due to reports that the group was involved in improperly funding the 1996 reelection campaign of [[Teamsters]] president [[Ron Carey (labor leader)|Ron Carey]].<ref name="bg97"/> Federal investigators found that Carey's advisers created an illegal contribution scheme in which the union gave $475,000 to Citizen Action; in return, Citizen Action and some of its donors gave more than $100,000 to a direct-mail firm under contract to the Carey campaign.<ref name="nyt103097">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/10/30/us/link-to-teamsters-inquiry-forces-a-liberal-group-to-close-its-national-office.html | title=Link to Teamsters Inquiry Forces a Liberal Group to Close Its National Office | author=Greenhouse, Steven | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | date=October 30, 1997}}</ref>

Financial contributions collapsed, and in late October 1997, the Citizen Action national office in Washington shut down and all 20 employees were laid off.<ref name="bg97"/><ref name="nyt103097"/> Liberals mourned the loss of the national organization, although the individual state affiliates carried on with more than 400 employees among them.<ref name="nyt103097"/>

In late 1999, [[Heather Booth]] founded a new national organization, [[USAction]], that has purposes and structure somewhat similar to Citizen Action.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.usaction.org/site/pp.asp.126.html | title=Statement From the President | author=McNary, William | publisher=USAction | accessdate=September 12, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627093640/http://usaction.org/site/pp.asp.126.html | archive-date=June 27, 2009 | url-status=dead }}</ref> USAction includes some of the same state affiliates, which carry on the "Citizen Action" name.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.usaction.org/site/pp.asp.112.html | title=USAction Affiliates | publisher=USAction | accessdate=September 12, 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090526235502/http://www.usaction.org/site/pp.asp.112.html | archive-date=May 26, 2009 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

==External links==
*[https://citizenactionny.org/ Citizen Action of New York]
*[https://www.ohiocitizen.org/ Ohio Citizen Action]
*[https://www.citizenactionwi.org/ Citizen Action of Wisconsin]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Consumer organizations in the United States]]
[[Category:Government watchdog groups in the United States]]
[[Category:Political advocacy groups in the United States]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1980]]
[[Category:Organizations disestablished in 1997]]

Citizen Action - Revision history

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