Subject: Re: [EL] 12 Months After: The Effect of Citizens United
From: Bill Maurer
Date: 1/19/2011, 12:58 PM
To: Sean Parnell <sparnell@campaignfreedom.org>, "election-law@mailman.lls.edu" <election-law@mailman.lls.edu>

What about for-profit press corporations?  Are they people?  And what is the “press”?  Will we have a commission that determines whether an association of people is sufficiently “press-y” to qualify for personhood?  And is the ability to vote the standard by which personhood is determined?  The New York Times does not vote and it influences election outcomes. 

 

From: election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu [mailto:election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu] On Behalf Of Sean Parnell
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 9:07 AM
To: election-law@mailman.lls.edu
Subject: Re: [EL] 12 Months After: The Effect of Citizens United

 

Ran across the following in the Public Citizen report:

 

“Corporations are not people. They do not vote, and they should not be able to influence

election outcomes. It is time to end the debate about the freedom of speech of for-profit

corporations by amending the Constitution to make clear that for-profit corporations do

not have the same First Amendment rights as people and the press.”

 

p. 27-28

 

Wondering how “Corporations are not people” apparently morphs into ‘For-profit corporations are not people.’ Are nonprofit corporations people then? And of course there’s the union issue, most of which aren’t incorporated – are unions people? So confusing…

 

Sean Parnell

President

Center for Competitive Politics

http://www.campaignfreedom.org

http://www.twitter.com/seanparnellccp

124 S. West Street, #201

Alexandria, VA  22310

(703) 894-6800 phone

(703) 894-6813 direct

(703) 894-6811 fax

 

From: election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu [mailto:election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu] On Behalf Of Craig Holman
Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2011 11:18 AM
To: election-law@mailman.lls.edu
Subject: [EL] 12 Months After: The Effect of Citizens United

 

Colleagues:

Public Citizen has just released a report documenting the aftermath of the Citizens United decision on its one year anniversary --

Excerpted press release and link to the report follows:

A year has passed since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, and the damage is clear, according to a new Public Citizen report.

 The tally:

* Outside groups are making record expenditures (more than four times as much spent in the 2010 midterm election cycle as in the last midterm election cycle in 2006);

* Congressional staffs and lawmakers are intimidated by corporate lobbyists like never before;

* Laws designed to protect the political system from the corrupting influence of money have been rendered dead in 24 states; and

* Power has shifted in dozens of congressional seats in races won with the help of undisclosed outside money.

 

The 76-page report, “12 Months After: The Effects of Citizens United on Elections and the Integrity of the Legislative Process,” reveals a year’s worth of damage done by the court’s decision is available at: http://www.citizen.org/12-months-after.

 

 

Craig Holman, Ph.D.

Government Affairs Lobbyist

Public Citizen

215 Pennsylvania Avenue NE

Washington, D.C. 20003

TEL: (202) 454-5182

CEL: (202) 905-7413

FAX: (202) 547-7392