Oregon: The Portland City Council has passed a resolution rejecting the notion that corporations are people, and that money equals speech. The resolution is a rejection of the misguided Citizens United ruling issued by the U.S. Supreme Court two years ago.
On Thursday, Portland Mayor Sam Adams introduced the following resolution, which was passed unanimously by the Portland City Council:
Establish as a position of the Portland City Council that corporations should not receive the same legal rights as natural persons do, that money is not speech and that independent expenditures should be regulated (in political campaigns).
Already the effect of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United vs. FEC has been devestating. The decision allows for unlimited corporate spending in elections. Most observers agree the the decision threatens the American democracy; most obserers agree the effect of unlimited corporate money in elections is toxic and corrosive to the political process.
The Oregonian reports, the city attorney's office will "determine the legality and process of referring an advisory vote to the citizens of Portland on the issue of corporate personhood, and refer their findings back to Council for further consideration."
Rarely have so few imposed such damage on so many. When five conservative members of the Supreme Court handed for-profit corporations the right to secretly flood political campaigns with tidal waves of cash on the eve of an election, they moved America closer to outright plutocracy, where political power derived from wealth is devoted to the protection of wealth. It is now official: Just as they have adorned our athletic stadiums and multiple places of public assembly with their logos, corporations can officially put their brand on the government of the United States as well as the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the fifty states.
Progressives in Portland, and across the country, can take pride in the action taken by Portland Mayor Sam Adams and the Portland City Council. Money is not speech, and corporations are not people.
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