This letter by Stephen Griffith was published May 31, 2025, in the Miami Valley Today (Troy, Ohio).

To the editor:

Since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision held that corporate political contributions were the same as speech and were protected by the First Amendment, massive amounts of the “dark money” have flowed through Political Action Committees to political parties and candidates. These contributions are made to influence the actions of politicians of both parties.

These donations are made by corporations and industry groups far removed from the Miami Valley, but they have local consequences. One alarming example concerns the more than $21 million in contributions made by the owners, employees, and family members of employees of Mountaire Corp., one of the largest chicken producers in the nation, in the 2024 election cycle. These contributions resulted in the Trump administration withdrawing a planned USDA effort to limit the amount of salmonella contamination in processed poultry.

As a result, we will all be potentially exposed to higher Salmonella levels in our food. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that there are 1.35 million Salmonella infections annually, with some 420 deaths. Yet, dark money political contributions succeeded in preventing regulations that would protect all of us. We need to act to amend the Constitution to eliminate this type of blatant political influence on the part of corporations under the guise of free speech. Move to Amend is working to gain support for this amendment and to return the control of politics to the people.

Write or phone your Senators and Congressmen and urge them to support House Joint Resolution 54, the We the People Amendment to correct this situation and end the treatment of corporations as individuals.

Stephen Griffith

Troy