Kane Hall's Room 220 auditorium filled to capacity for the Citizens United public forum, 3/10/11
SEATTLE, March 11 — Last year’s Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC overturned more than a century of legal precedent, permitting corporations to dump unlimited amounts of money into political campaigns without disclosure. This turnabout was based on the dubious doctrine of “corporate personhood”: That corporations are (legally) persons and thus have free-speech rights under the First Amendment.
Last night, March 10, a SRO crowd flocked to UW’s Kane Hall to brainstorm strategy and tactics in the fight against this tortuous legal argument. The event, titled After Citizens United: Reclaiming Democracy for PEOPLE, was cosponsored by Washington Public Campaigns and the UW Law School. The program kicked off with a satirical look at the fallacious doctrine of rights for corporations trumping the rights of citizens, sung by the Raging Grannies. The colorful and humorous Grannies were warmly received by the 260-plus attendees filling the seats, crowding the aisles, and standing along the back of the auditorium. Lamentably, it appeared that few students were among the mostly middle-aged crowd, although UW student interns were among the event’s worker-bee organizers.
Craig Salins introducing the After Citizens United panel., 3/10/11
Craig Salins of Washington Public Campaigns welcomed the crowd to the event and introduced a short video about Congressmember Donna Edwards’ proposed 28th Amendment to the Constitution, which would reserve the rights of citizens to flesh-and-blood persons and remove such rights from artificial constructs (corporations). Salins and other panelists pointed to this as the best long-term solution to the problem undue corporate influence corrupting our democracy.
KCTS-TV’s Enrique Cerna moderated the panel discussion. In turn, he introduced Jeff Clements and John Bonifaz of Free Speech For People. The group’s legal counsel, Clements spoke first, pointing out the immediate and destructive effect of the Citizens United decision: more than $4B was spent on last year’s midterm election, hundreds of millions of it from corporations and corporate PACs, none of it traceable to its source. For all the spending and nonstop TV commercials, six out of ten voters stayed home on Election Day, turned off by the bombardment of negative ads. Clements cautioned that this spending will be dwarfed by what’s coming in the 2012 presidential year. The effect of all this money is to distort the political process, giving the very wealthy a louder megaphone than the far more numerous “little people” in the land. Rather than being a free republic of self-governing people, we are well along the road to corporate fascism, misled by smear campaigns, muddied issues, and distractions released by clever manipulators (Atwater, Rove, Gingrich) as part of a cynical electoral strategy.
John Bonifaz, president of the same group, continued with description of a counter strategy to nip the practice of Citizens United at its pernicious root. Here in Washington State, the legislature is debating adoption of a resolution calling on Congress to pass Rep. Edwards’ constitutional amendment and send it to the states for ratification. He pointed out that this is not a drastic or unusual procedure: excepting the Reagan and “W” years, the U.S. has adopted one constitutional amendment per decade, on average, in the period since the Civil War. Bonifaz pointed out that there is overwhelming popular support for pruning corporate influence — support that transcends party lines and labels. This was underscored by a recent study by Peter Hart showing greater than 70% approval.
- The Raging Grannies sing at the Seattle public forum on Citizens United, 3/10/11
Bonifaz recalled the example of “Granny D,” who walked from coast to coast at the age of 90 for campaign finance reform. “Granny D lived to be 100, and when she heard about Citizens United, she was ready to start walking all over again. Do this for Granny D!” he said, to cheers and prolonged applause.
The program also included concise presentations by Claudia Kauffman of MEDC of King County; Rabbi Alan Cook of Temple de Hirsch Sinai; Lynne Dodson, Secretary-Treasurer of the State Labor Council; and Steve Breaux, WashPIRG. Video of their talks will b e posted on the Washington Public Campaigns’ website. The evening concluded with questions from the audience, touching on the DISCLOSE Act which failed last year, the status of corporations in other advanced democracies (not allowed to be nearly as rapacious as in the U.S.), whether opponents of Citizens United need to unite under one organization (not necessary if the existing organizations work closely together), and tax policy (the overarching issue swept under the carpet in the present spate of faux-budget crises and union-busting activities in the state houses).
Next Steps:
A follow-up meeting will be conducted within the next few weeks and will be announced on Washington Public Campaigns and on The Ave. This will seek to grow a speakers’ bureau and advance the debate on CU through citizens’ education. In the meantime, be sure to call your state representatives in support of the resolution calling on Congress to pass the constitutional amendment. Call the Legislative Hotline to support SB5021 prior to Wednesday, 3/16, when it will be debated by the House Government Affairs Committee. Point out that it is the time for shared sacrifice, and that closing tax loopholes and making the wealthiest people and businesses pay their fair share will make the sacrifices less onerous for the remaining 98% of Washingtonians. Also, there will be a rally on March 17 by the Revenue Coalition, asking legislators for a plan how they intend to do this by April 1. A week of actions is planned around this demand.
On the Federal level, the Edwards constitutional amendment bill needs more cosponsors in the House, while Sen. Max Baucus‘ companion bill in the Senate needs support in order to come up for debate.
And of course, continue to stir the debate with friends and acquaintances, seeding it with common-sense arguments. An easy-to-understand introduction to these thorny issues is the 8-min. animated video The Story of Citizens United. The fullest explanation of the issue and its ramifications, plus the strategy to defeat Citizens United, can be found at the Free Speech for People website. This site includes powerful tools for contacting legislators, organizing events, etc. More information can be garnered from the Move to Amend site.