Heather Sturgill, a volunteer with Move to Amend Miami County, Ohio, made the following statement at the May 6 Troy City Council meeting:
So I haven't lived here long, but one of the things that I really like about the people that I've met so far, is the strong sense of fairness. If people recognize that something seems unfair they want to get involved and make it right.
And I know this isn't a specific local city issue. But, here's where people go to learn about things and get involved in things. So, I want to draw your attention to the fact that some companies are exploiting something called "corporate personhood."
Back on May 10th of 1886 the Supreme Court established that, under the 14th Amendment, a corporation is a person with “equal protection of the laws” in the case called Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad.
Since that time corporations have pushed that concept to the point that they're now getting all of the Rights and benefits of "personhood." But, my problem is that they're not having to face any of the consequences.
The biggest case in point is First Energy (now called Energy Harbor). The actions of people on behalf of that company caused the biggest bribery scandal in Ohio history. And, only flesh and blood people have faced the consequences of that; a couple of employees and some elected officials have gotten, or might get, some jail time.
But the company has still been free to operate business as usual, and even be awarded sweetheart aggregation contracts ...including from Troy.
There isn't corporate jail, or corporate death penalty, anything like that. The most that ever happens to corporations is a fine, and quite frequently that's just rolled into the cost of doing business, and sometimes even taken off of their taxes as an expense.
And while this isn't directly a city issue, we can spread the word about supporting the “We the People Amendment.” At the Federal-level it's House Joint Resolution 54, and at the State level it's called House Resolution 56.
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