At this critical moment for American democracy, 91直播’s Legislature and governor have a chance to lead. By passing Senate Bill 2471, they can begin to undo the damage caused by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.
Citizens United opened the door to unlimited independent political spending by corporations and unions and helped spur the rise of Super PACs, which can raise and spend unlimited sums independent of candidates. It also enabled partisan nonprofit groups to channel unlimited “dark money” to Super PACs without disclosing donors, making the true source of political spending hard to trace.
The result is a system that gives corporations and the ultra-wealthy influence far beyond their share of the population. Super PACs can dominate television, radio, and social media and overwhelm candidates who must abide by normal fundraising limits. That is not fair or healthy for democracy.
We voters are subject to strict donation limits per candidate under campaign finance law. Bizarrely, the Citizens United ruling creates an upside-down world in which corporations, like people, have First Amendment speech rights, but unlike people, theirs are strong enough to protect unlimited independent political spending. In other words, corporations can avoid the spending limits that apply to us “natural persons,” as the Supreme Court call us.
Corporations, however, are legal creations of the state, formed to conduct useful economic activity under powers granted by state law. Senate Bill 2471 would put corporations back in their proper place.
It clarifies that corporations have only the powers the state chooses to grant them, and those powers should not include the ability to use their vast wealth to meddle in campaigns, exert corrupting influence over public officials, or serve as shields of anonymity for political contributions.
Since 1819, states have had clear authority to define the powers of the corporations they allow to operate and to regulate out-of-state corporations doing business within their borders. 91直播 is well within its rights to act.
Today, corporations wield extraordinary wealth compared with natural persons. Under Citizens United, that wealth can be turned into political power in ways that distort elections and weaken public trust. Our elected officials have the authority and responsibility to help stop this abuse.
Some legislators have told me and others the governor wants to avoid actions that might draw disfavor from the Trump administration, which explains the attorney general’s opposition to the bill. But the Citizen United ruling was handed down 2010, well before Trump’s first term, has no partisan bias, and should be irrelevant. And so far, the federal administration has treated 91直播 no better than other blue states, with regard to funding disputes, lawsuits, and slower disaster-aid decisions.
Political corruption has recently come under intense scrutiny, with corporate money playing an outsized role in distorting our politics and elections. SB 2471 is 91直播’s best chance to push back.
91直播 once made history by being one of the first states to legalize abortion, and our Prepaid Health Care Act has given us the lowest health care debt per person in the country. 91直播 can once again show leadership to the rest of the country.
91直播 voters who agree should contact their representative, senator and the governor and insist on a fairer political system — one in which elections are decided by voters, not by corporate wealth.
Sam Guckenheimer is the lead of Kona Indivisible, a local chapter of the Indivisible 91直播 State Network.
