Tackling “corporate personhood” and campaign finance locally

The Beaverton City Council voted on a resolution recommending an amendment to the US Constitution that would effectively overturn both the Citizens United Supreme Court Decision and the concept of “corporate personhood,” at its April 2 meeting. Due to the concerns of Councilor Ian King, the section of the resolution pertaining to corporate personhood was removed. King later abstained from the vote, which passed the measure with four in favor.

“Resolution 13080: A Resolution of the City Council of Beaverton, Oregon, Recommending an Amendment to the United States Constitution that Establishes that Statutory Entities Do Not Have Constitutional Rights and that Legislatures May Regulate Money that is Raised and Spent for Political Purposes.”

A request for this resolution from Beaverton Citizens for Fairness, a local advocacy group, prompted a discussion among Council members about how to handle citizen requests for action. At the March 19 meeting, Councilor Marc San Soucie asked the Council to place the group’s resolution on the agenda as an Action Item to deliberate and vote on at the next Council meeting. After discussion, there was majority consensus to place this on the April 2, 2013, Council meeting agenda.

Before the vote, San Soucie said, “they (Beaverton Citizens for Fairness) worked with a coalition to introduce a more narrowly focused resolution in Salem as House Joint Memorial 6. That is the basis for the resolution we're taking up Tuesday evening. I expect it to pass, but not unanimously.”

House Joint Memorial 6, sponsored by Representative Brian Clem (at the request of Marion County Move to Amend) [http://marionpolkmovetoamend.org/news/news-articles/68-house-joint-memorial-6-hjm-6] uses language similar to the Beaverton measure. The group’s website says, “Corporations are not people and should not enjoy the constitutional rights intended for humans; and money is property and not speech, so campaign finance and media domination by big corporations can be regulated.”

HJR 6 is currently sitting in the Oregon House Rules Committee. If you want to encourage your representatives to support this bill, visit the Marion Polk group’s website above to get more information.

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