Fresno Says End Corporate Rule - Legalize Democracy!

About 100 people held a candlelight vigil at the Federal Court house in Fresno today in opposition to the US Supreme Court’s decision that granted corporations the same rights as people have and allowing them to define their unlimited corporate money in political campaigns as free speech.

The National action, taking place in over 100 cities across America, has been called by the Move to Amend campaign (http://www.MoveToAmend.org) and is supported by other national organizations like Public Citizen, Common Cause, People for the American Way, Democracy for America and others.

The U.S. Supreme Court in a 5 to 4 decision in January of 2010 upheld “Corporate Personhood” asserting that the 1st and 14th Amendment gives rights to corporations as people and their money can be considered free speech. Thus, this ruling, often referred to as “Citizens United” opened the floodgates to unlimited, often anonymous, corporate spending on elections and the creation of Super PACS with hundreds of millions of dollars for the purpose of tilting the results of elections in a manner that drowns the voices of citizens. Special interest groups can now spend as much money as they wish to influence legislation or to support or attack candidates for election. Because the US Supreme Court made this ruling, now only a constitutional amendment can change this status and definition. Poll after poll in the last 2 years has shown that more than 75% of Americans across party lines oppose this decision.

An example of special interests money in our elections is being seen in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries going on right now. In early December, the super PAC, Restore Our Future, run by former Romney staffers and larger donors, spent an estimated $3-4 million on negative ads against Gingrich and Gingrich’s poll popularity was down to 13 % from 26%, earlier in that month. Jonathan Hart, of FOX News, reported that the Super PAC is credited with halting Newt Gingrich in Iowa. Congress can no longer make laws limiting campaign spending and does not have the power to override this decision by the Supreme Court. Only a Constitutional Amendment or the Supreme Court can overturn its own decision.

A local coalition of diverse groups that include the Volunteers for Change Fresno, the Social Justice Committee of the Unitarian Church, the Social Justice Task Force of Wesley United Methodist Church, PEACE Fresno, the Fresno Chapter of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, the Central Valley Progressive PAC, the Yosemite Area Move to Amend, The Sierra Progressives Chapter of PDAmerica, Democracy for America, Daily Kos, Occupy Merced and Friends of Sen. Bernie Sanders are some of the organizations sponsoring this event.

“We recognize that amending the Constitution to restore the power of the people over corporations will not be easy, but we know correcting the Supreme Court is imperative to the progress of our nation,” stated David Cobb, a lawyer with Move to Amend.

To date, over 130,000 people and hundreds of organizations have signed an online petition supporting a constitutional amendment at http://www.MoveToAmend.org. Some of the cities and states which have already passed a resolution are New York City, Los Angeles, Boulder Co, Missoula, MN and the state of Montana.
For more information, email movetoamendfresno [at] hotmail.com or call Linda Traynor (559) 435-7520 traynor27 [at] gmail.com .