MONEY IS NOT SPEECH. Across from Pioneer Courthouse in Portland,
about 150 gathered on a rainy Friday Jan. 20 to protest corporate money in
politics. Two years prior, a 5-4 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
corporate political spending is protected by the First Amendment. (Photo by
Jessika Brandt )
Citizens United gives rise
to a citizens movement
Up to 80 percent of
Americans oppose
the Supreme Court
decision.
By DON McINTOSH
Associate Editor
Two years after the U.S. Supreme
Court took the lid off, corporate money
in politics is surging, but so is a citizens
movement to counteract it.
On Jan. 21, 2010, the Supreme
Court struck down limits on independ-
ent corporate (and union) political
spending — in a case called Citizens
United vs. FEC. The decision provoked
an immediate reaction, with polls show-
ing two weeks later that 80 percent of
Americans opposed the ruling. Though
Citizens United also removed restric-
tions on independent political spending
by unions, AFL-CIO president Rich
Trumka condemned the decision for
further tilting the playing field in favor
of corporations.
But since Occupy Wall Street ap-
peared in late 2011, a counter-move-
ment has gained traction, declaring that
money is not speech, and corporations
are not people.
On Jan. 18 the national public inter-
est group Common Cause launched
Amend 2012, an online campaign call-
ing for a constitutional amendment to
overturn Citizens United. A two-minute
video from former U.S. Secretary of
Labor Robert Reich makes their case.
And on the eve of the decision’s sec-
ond anniversary, a group called Move
to Amend — formed to overturn Citi-
zens United — held rallies Jan. 20 at
federal courthouses in 130 cities, in-
cluding Portland.
“Citizens United is one more step
for corporations to be able to dominate
elections,” says David Delk, an Execu-
tive Board member of AFSCME Local
PAGE 12
3135 in Portland. Delk works for a pub-
lic housing agency, enforcing require-
ments that contractors doing work for
the agency pay their workers the pre-
vailing wage. But in his free time for the
past 15 years, he’s led a local chapter of
the grassroots group Alliance for
Democracy, whose purpose is to end
corporate dominance of politics and the
economy. It’s a big task, Delk admits,
and it starts with education.
Most people — real people — don’t
think of corporations as persons. But
the idea dates back to 1886, when the
U.S. Supreme Court decided in Santa
Clara vs. Southern Pacific Railroad that
the word “person” in the 14th Amend-
ment could refer to corporations.
Now, a growing number of munici-
palities are calling for a constitutional
amendment to eliminate “corporate per-
sonhood” by clarifying that Constitu-
tional rights are for people, not for cor-
porations.
When the question goes before vot-
ers, it appears to be a no-brainer: Meas-
ures calling for a constitutional amend-
ment to clarify that corporations don’t
have the same rights as citizens passed
last year by 75 percent in Missoula,
Montana; 74 percent in Boulder, Col-
orado; 84 percent in Madison, Wiscon-
sin; and 78 percent in Dane County,
Wisconsin.
City councils have followed suit.
Duluth, Minnesota and Los Angeles,
California passed resolutions in De-
cember. The New York City Council
passed one Jan. 4.
Portland passed its version Jan. 12,
sponsored by Mayor Sam Adams. It di-
rects the City’s federal lobbyist to call
for a constitutional amendment to re-
verse the impact of Citizens United. [It
passed 3-0; Commissioners Dan Saltz-
man and Nick Fish were absent.]
“Corporations are not people, they
are legal entities created by our laws to
(Turn to Page 10)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
FEBRUARY 3, 2012