In a bipartisan condemnation of the Supreme Court’s 5-4 Citizens United decision, the Stamford, Connecticut Board of Representatives has passed a Resolution calling for Congress to pass and send to the States for ratification a Constitutional amendment reversing the decision.
The vote of the city’s governing Board was 26 for, 5 against, and 5 abstentions. Stamford, a city with numerous corporate headquarters, has joined nearly 300 cities and towns across the country in demanding a Constitutional amendment to confirm that corporations do not have the same rights as people under the Constitution, and that the American people have the authority to address unlimited spending in elections.
Here’s an earlier post with some background:
Updated with this piece from the Stamford Advocate, July 6. A full vote of the Stamford Board of Representatives on a resolution calling for a Constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United is expected soon.
Stamford, Connecticut is a wonderful city on the shores of Long Island Sound in Fairfield County. Over the past two or three decades, Stamford has been both fortunate and smart in transitioning in difficult economic times from a somewhat industrial center to a center for the service economy, finance, the arts and more. A significant part of that success has focused on persuading corporate managers to locate headquarters and corporate offices in Stamford.
Now, the Stamford Board of Representatives is considering joining the movement of millions of Americans, hundreds of cities and towns, and increasing numbers of States to pass a resolution condemning the Citizens United case, and calling on Congress to send a Constitutional amendment to the states for ratification. In many ways, affirmative action by Stamford on this resolution can show the nation what is at stake and how we can be smart in fixing our current crisis of American republican democracy.
All over the nation Americans are passing Amendment resolutions to reject “corporate rights” in our Constitution. These show that we are fully capable of recognizing that corporations, as both tools of state policy and property of owners/shareholders, have a very productive role to play in the economy to marshal investment, ideas and labor into productive economic activity, but that Americans are not forced to accept the political equality of corporations and human beings.
Many, many people in Stamford now are working to overturn Citizens United, and to come together despite political differences to support both a strong American economy and a strong republican democracy of people. And nowhere has the local media been as clear and focused on such a critical story as the Stamford Advocate and its city editor, Angela Carella. Check out these stories (and then join the work wherever you are):
June 12, 2012 - Founding fathers worried about corporate clout
June 9, 2012 – Push is on for a revolution by resolution
