SCARBOROUGH — Scarborough may join a
growing list of Maine towns calling on a constitutional amendment that would,
in effect, overturn a controversial Supreme Court decision related to campaign
finance.
In the 2010 case Citizens
United v. Federal Elections Commission, in which the conservative advocacy
group was banned from showing or advertising its film "Hillary: The
Movie" within 30 days of the 2008 Democratic Party primary, the court
ruled that First Amendment guarantees to free speech prevent the government
from limiting independent political expenditures by corporations. The decision quickly
gave rise to a rallying cry among detractors of the decision: “Corporations are
not people.”
That is, in effect, what a
resolution on the agenda for Wednesday’s Scarborough Town Council meeting asks
municipal leaders to declare. If adopted, the resolution will be forwarded to
the president, Maine’s Congressional delegation and the Maine Legislature,
urging each to seek an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, “to clearly state
that corporations are not human beings and do not have the same rights as
citizens.”
Sam Kelly, owner of MBI
Trailers on Commercial Road, said he and a small group of like-minded local
residents “pushed for several months” to get the resolution in front of the
council. Chairman Ron Ahlquist did not return a message requesting comment by
press time. However, Town Manager Tom Hall acknowledged Monday that Ahlquist
was “hesitant” at first, until hearing of similar resolutions adopted by other Maine
towns.
“I, too, scratched my head
as to why it’s a local issue,” said Hall, “but once I saw the resolution I had
a better sense. But it was really after doing some research into what other
towns have done this that Ron [Ahlquist] consented to permit it on the agenda.”
The Waldo County town of
Monroe was first in that regard, adopting a measure denouncing the Citizens
United decisions in 2010, soon after it was announced. Then, in January,
Portland got the ball rolling on demanding a constitutional amendment. Since
then, it’s been joined by nine other municipalities, including Bangor, Bar
Harbor, Fairfield, Freedom, Great Pond, Leeds, Newcastle, Waterville and
Winslow. Meanwhile, eight other communities have taken Monroe’s tact, by
formally denouncing the ruling without actually calling for a rewrite of the
Constitution.
“I think all of these
resolutions follow a similar tone and tenor,” said Hall, noting that the
Scarborough resolution is cribbed from the one Fairfield adopted.
“There’s no shame in plagiarism,”
he joked. “It’s all perfectly legal in this business.”
According to Kelly, the
drive to adopt a similar measure in Scarborough began with a Let’s Talk
American discussion group he leads on the first Thursday of every month at the
Scarborough Public Library, a group that generally involves 20-30 people.
“We just feel the Citizens
United decision was lousy,” said Kelly. “I don’t know of a single person that
likes or defends it. It’s a terrible, horrible decision. All it does is bring
in anonymous money to influence elections.”
“It’s pretty clear that
corporate money has crept into the elective process at all levels,” said Hall,
citing a prediction of $1 billion in spending this cycle by various political
action committees, including the so-called “Super PACs” that arose following
the Citizens United decision. That’s up from $300 million in the 2010 midterm
elections, according to the Sunlight Foundation.
Kelley said the hope is to
turn back the clock on spending by independent groups in U.S. elections.
“We’re just one tiny little
cog in a movement that’s going on all across the country to try and get it
overturned, because, all of a sudden, you’ve got money coming into political
campaigns that you don’t know where it’s coming from, because corporations do
not have to say who is behind their funding," he said. "It's
completely anonymous. It could be foreign money for all we know.”
A constitutional amendment
can be proposed by a two-thirds vote on both houses of Congress or in a
Constitutional Convention called by two-thirds of the states. It then has to be
ratified by three-fourths of the states, although Congress can set the method,
either by state legislatures or special state conventions. Either way, Kelly
admits, it’s a long road to changing the law of the land. The goal he says, is
to get enough towns backing the measure to build a critical mass sufficient to
push politicians to action either on the state or federal level.
So far, nine state
legislatures have called for a constitutional convention to reverse the
Citizens Untied decision, including California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland,
Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont.
“It’s a long, difficult,
tedious process,” said Kelly. “We’re talking years. But you’ve got to start
someplace.”
A CLOSER LOOK
The following Maine municipalities have reportedly passed resolutions calling for the passage of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC Constitutional Remedies or to otherwise declare that “corporations are not people.”
January – Portland
February – Great Pond, Waterville
March – Bangor, Freedom
April – Fairfield
May – Bar Harbor, Winslow
June – Leeds, Newcastle
In addition, the following municipalities, while not specifically calling for a constitutional amendment, have passed resolutions denouncing the Citizens United decision either at the council/selectboard level, or at town meeting: Arrowsic, Bethel, Liberty, Monroe, Mount Desert Island, Shapleigh, Southwest Harbor, Vassalboro.
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