On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 11:41 AM, Sean Parnell <sparnell@campaignfreedom.org> wrote:

It took a bit of digging, but this appears to be the constitutional amendment that is being proposed:

Amendment XXVIII

Section 1.  The sovereign right of the people to govern being essential to a free democracy, the First Amendment shall not be construed to limit the authority of Congress and the States to define, regulate, and restrict the spending and other activity of any corporation, limited liability entity, or other corporate entity created by state or federal law or the law of another nation.

Section 2.  Nothing contained in this Article shall be construed to abridge the freedom of the press.

No need to rehash here the arguments that I think we’ve all heard numerous times, I’ll just note that this amendment would, among other things, mean that Congress could make it illegal for the Sierra Club (501(c)4) to lobby on climate change legislation, or for the Heritage Foundation (501(c)3) to release a policy study on taxes, or for the National Education Association (501(c)5)to spend money opposing a school voucher initiative.

 

But otherwise, this totally respects the First Amendment.

 

Oh, the bit about a “free democracy” might be a little problematic, particularly given that Art. IV Sec. 4 guarantees a republican form of government. It could of course just be meaningless boilerplate, but given the similar construction to the 2^nd Amendment and the controversy that has caused, well, it looks like it’s just inviting trouble.

 

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

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From: election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu [mailto:election-law-bounces@mailman.lls.edu] On Behalf Of Craig Holman
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 12:22 PM
To: election-law@mailman.lls.edu
Subject: [EL] Press Release: Story of Citizens United

 

Colleagues:

Below is today's press release providing a brief video that discusses the constitutional amendment campaign by Public Citizen, People for the American Way and Free Speech for People to address the Citizens United decision.

I like it -- a little animation can say a lot.


PUBLIC CITIZEN PRESS RELEASE:

Contact:
ALLISON COOK, Story of Stuff Project
213.507.4713, allison@storyofstuff.org
ANGELA BRADBERY, Public Citizen
202.588.7741, abradbery@citizen.org

VIRAL VIDEO: Story of Stuff Project takes on corporate political influence in new online movie, joins calls for constitutional amendment

The Story of Citizens United v. FEC: Why Democracy Only Works When People Are in Charge

Washington, D.C. - March 1, 2011 - The crisis of corporate influence over American democracy is the latest subject of award-winning Internet filmmaker, Annie Leonard, who on March 1st will release The Story of Citizens United v. FEC, an animated short.

Leonard, who directs The Story of Stuff Project, was inspired to make the film by the disastrous 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC that permitted corporations to spend freely to influence American elections. The 8-minute film, available on March 1st at www.storyofcitizensunited.org, places corporate influence--not bad politicians--at the heart of Americans’ low confidence in the political process.

The movie explores the history of the American corporation and corporate political spending, the appropriate roles of citizens and for-profit corporations in a democracy and the toxic impact the Citizens United decision has already had on our political process. It ends with a call to amend the U.S. Constitution to confirm that people--not corporations--make the decisions in a democracy.

“Getting corporations out of our democracy is critical to making progress on a huge range of issues that we Americans care about, from good jobs to clean air to safe products,” said Leonard. “Unless we act, those concerns will take even more of a backseat to the concerns of Walmart, Exxon, and Dow than they do now.”

A Hart Research Associates poll released in January found that nearly four in five Americans (79 percent) support the passage of an amendment that would overturn the Citizens United decision and make clear that corporations do not have the same rights as people, thus giving Congress the authority to limit the amount of money corporations can spend on elections. The Story of Citizens United v. FEC is being released to support the growing movement for a constitutional amendment.

“A year after the Supreme Court’s abominable Citizens United decision, we have overwhelming evidence of the damage done to our democracy - and clear signals of worse threats to come,” said Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, and a content advisor on the movie. “In the 2010 elections, corporations and the super rich funneled a reported $300 million through so-called ‘independent’ organizations to run attack ads and advance corporate agendas. And 2010 was just practice for 2012. If we are going to rescue democracy and re-establish the principle that corporations shouldn’t be able to buy elections, we must have a constitutional amendment to overturn the heinous Citizens United decision.”

On the evening of release, The Story of Stuff Project will hold over 500 house parties around the country for participants to learn more about the Supreme Court’s decision and to organize in support of a constitutional amendment.

The Story of Citizens United v. FEC companion website (www.storyofcitizensunited.org) will serve as an interactive launch pad for information and activism. The site offers viewers additional educational resources, including an annotated script and FAQs, as well as ways to get involved in the constitutional amendment campaigns of Public Citizen, Free Speech for People and People for the American Way.

Kicking off Season Two, The Story of Citizens United v. FEC is the first in an anticipated series of three new movies from The Story of Stuff Project in 2011. Season Two will tell the stories behind The Story of Stuff-what makes our economic system tick, who pays, who benefits and how can we turn it around. The Project’s three Season One movies-The Story of Bottled Water, The Story of Cosmetics and The Story of Electronics-have together been viewed more than 2.3
million times online. The original film The Story of Stuff, released in December 2007, has been viewed more than 15 million times.

 

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
Holman@aol.com

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