Miami Valley Today
March 1, 2025
By Deb Hogshead
Guest columnist
January 21 was the 15th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, a ruling that opened the floodgates of big money into political campaigns. At the Troy City Council meeting that night, I made a statement explaining why we need to close those floodgates and end the misguided doctrine that a corporation is a person with the same inherent, inalienable constitutional rights as you and me.
Since then, we’ve seen two very significant things happen.
First, we’ve seen how $288 million can buy a seat in the White House and a platform to speak from the Oval Office.
Second, we’ve seen the We the People Amendment get re-introduced in Congress as House Joint Resolution 54. The proposed amendment requires the regulation of campaign spending and makes clear that constitutional rights belong to natural persons only.
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Dayton Daily News | January 21, 2025
Heather Sturgill is a resident of Troy, OH and volunteers with the local “Move to Amend.” (CONTRIBUTED)
January 21 marks 15 years since the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, which equated corporate political spending with free speech and reinforced the notion of “corporate personhood”. This ruling has had profound impacts, granting corporations outsized influence over our political landscape. Recent events underscore the dangers of equating corporate rights with individual rights, particularly when such actions undermine public welfare.
News articles about ByteDance, being forced to sell TikTok over national security issues underscores these risks. But TikTok isn’t the only foreign owned company in the US. According to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, as of January 2023, 252 Chinese companies were listed on the top three U.S. stock exchanges. This figure excludes smaller private businesses and companies with over 50% foreign-owned stockholders.
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Kent City Council's 2024 Democracy Day event will focus on the proposed 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Democracy Day will be at 6 p.m. Oct. 2 in City Council Chambers at the main fire station at 320 S. Depeyster St. The event will be broadcast on the city's YouTube channel.
The meeting will take place in conjunction with Kent City Council's meeting.
This is the ninth year the event has taken place. It allows area residents to express their views on the proposed amendment. According to Move to Amend,
the amendment would include these provision
- The rights and privileges outlined in the Constitution of the United States are for people only.
- Entities such as a corporations or limited liability companies shall have no rights under the Constitution and are subject to regulation by the people.
- Federal, state, and local government shall regulate contributions and expenditures, including a candidate's own contributions and expenditures, to ensure that all citizens, regardless of their economic status, have access to the political process.
Kent voters in 2015 approved a ballot initiative for City Council to schedule Democracy Day every election year. Nearly 30 cities in Ohio also have approved resolutions calling for “We the People” constitution amendments and public hearings, including Akron, Canton and Cleveland. Democracy Day is part of the national Move to Amend movement to approve the 28th Amendment to the Constitution.
Any person wishing to be heard on the subject matter of the political influence resulting from campaign contributions by corporate entities should plan to give a 3- to 5-minute talk and submit a copy of the talk to the Clerk of Council at the public hearing. People also can attend and listen to the speakers.
For details on the amendment, go to movetoamend.org.
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https://www.scriptype.com/2023/04/19/city-fulfilled-democracy-day-obligations-in-2021-law-director-says/
April 19, 2023
by Melissa Martin
March 7 city council meeting
Brecksville City Council and the city’s legal department said there will not be a city-sponsored Democracy Day in 2023, even though the ballot issue, approved by voters in 2012, specified a 10-year term.
The determination was made March 7 after city resident Bob Belovich questioned council and the administration about city ordinance 129.03. The ordinance stipulates the “biennial public hearings will continue for a period of 10 years through February 2023, or until a constitutional amendment reflecting the principles set forth in section 129.02 is ratified by three quarters of the state legislators.”
Democracy Day is a biannual public hearing before city council and the mayor. It examines the impact of political contributions of corporations, unions, PACS and super-PACS on the city.
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Miami Valley Today, January 20, 2024
To the editor:
January 21 is a good day to reflect on the state of our democracy. Why? Because it’s the 14th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.
The court’s 5-4 decision upheld two misguided notions: The first, that a corporation has inherent, inalienable constitutional rights same as you and me. The second, that money spent on political campaigns is protected speech.
These interpretations of the U.S. Constitution thwart democracy in two ways: First, something created on paper through a state charter often has more power than flesh-and-blood people (think companies given the right to dump fracking wastewater in communities where residents object). Second, those with the most money have greater access to lawmakers and influence over laws and policies that affect our wallets, let alone our health (think Akron-based FirstEnergy Corporation, the company behind the largest public corruption scandal in Ohio history).
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Dayton Daily News | Jan 20, 2024
The 2024 election money train is on the move. I receive emails every day asking for money from candidates near and far. How about you? Of course the dollars that you and I send in are only a small portion of the money being contributed to candidates. Of greater concern is the money given by corporations, trade associations, political action committees, unions—all attempting to have influence over their chosen candidates.
Jan. 21 is the 14th anniversary of Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, the Supreme Court ruling that is widely recognized as ushering in all this money. After Citizens United, we saw the creation of SuperPACs and “dark money”— donations that are made in secret— making it almost impossible to follow the money.
History tells us that this problem started long before Citizens United. In 1886, the Supreme Court gave standing to the Southern Pacific Railroad Company under the 14th Amendment. Later decisions added the 4th Amendment, the Commerce Clause, the 1st Amendment and more. Political spending became a form of free speech in 1976, thus protecting corporate entities from spending restrictions.
Move to Amend is an organization dedicated to ending corporate constitutional rights and money as a protected form of speech. We have legislation in the U.S. House to amend the Constitution, the We the People Amendment, HJR 54. Ask your representative to co-sponsor. Learn more about our efforts and sign our petition at movetoamend.org/motion.
- Mary Sue Gmeiner, Dayton
https://www.daytondailynews.com/ideas-voices/letters-to-the-editor-jan-20-2024/PCVNB7SQEZF4JFYJRH7K2I5RGI/
Chronicle Telegram: Elyria and Lorain County Ohio
January 13, 2024
The anniversary of the Citizens United vs. FEC decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is coming up on Jan. 21. It will be 14 years since that damaging ruling was made.
Citizens United is simply the latest in a long line of anti-democratic Supreme Court decisions that have empowered the super rich and corporations to trump the ability of we the people to make decisions protecting our lives, communities and the natural world. What’s needed is not simply a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizen United, but rather the proposed We the People Amendment that would abolish the bizarre constitutional doctrines of “money equals speech” and “a corporation is a person.”
We need to put the people back in we the people. The We the People Amendment (House Joint Resolution 54) has been introduced in Congress. Please encourage U.S Rep. Bob Latta, R-Bowling Green, or your representative to co-sponsor it.
Kathleen Hazelton
Oberlin
City of Kent
Wednesday October 4, 2023
City Council Committee Meetings
320 S. Depeyster Street, Kent, OH 44240
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkZhOfiR7lE
MINUTES
Democracy Day Public Hearing
At 6:00 p.m. Mayor Fiala called the Democracy Day Public Hearing to order.
Present: Mr. Jack Amrhein, Mr. Michael DeLeone, Mr. John Kuhar, Ms. Gwen
Rosenberg, Ms. Heidi Shaffer Bish (6:16 p.m.),Mr. Roger Sidoti, Mr. Robin
Turner
Also Present: Mr. Jerry T. Fiala, Mayor, and President of Council; Mr. Dave Ruller, City
Manager; Ms. Hope Jones, Law Director; Ms. Bridget Susel, Community
Development Director; Ms. Melanie Baker, Service Director; Mr. Jim Bowling,
City Engineer; Ms. Joan Seidel, Health Commissioner; Ms. Rhonda Hall,
Budget and Finance Director; Mr. Nick Shearer, Chief of Police; Ms. Suzanne
Stemnock, Director of Human Resources; Ms. Amy Wilkens, Clerk of
Council
Absent: Mr. Garret Ferrara, Ms. Tracy Wallach
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SUMMARY OF TESTIMONIES SHAKER HEIGHTS DEMOCRACY DAY
September 11, 2023
With passage of Issue 95 in Shaker Heights in November 2016, the voters of Shaker Heights supported a 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution saying that money is not speech and that corporate entities do not have constitutional rights which were intended for natural persons only. Passage of the issue also established a biannual public forum called Democracy Day where individuals could speak before the mayor and city council of Shaker Heights about how money in politics and the construct of corporate personhood are undermining our democracy with the purpose of informing our state and congressional legislators of the will of Shaker Heights voters to establish the We the People Amendment.
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Updated: Sep. 19, 2023, 7:23 p.m. | Published: Sep. 19, 2023, 6:21 p.m.
By Thomas Jewell, special to cleveland.com
https://www.cleveland.com/community/2023/09/biennial-shaker-heights-democracy-day-rules-again-in-23-letting-off-a-little-corporate-steam.html
About 10 people spoke at Shaker Heights Democracy Day Sept. 11, including Sheila Smith with the League of Women Voters, shown here at the podium. Smith and the league urged support of the "Citizens, Not Politicians Amendment" aimed at putting an end to gerrymandering in Ohio.Tom Jewell/Special to cleveland.com
SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- City Council hosted its biennial Democracy Day earlier this month -- which Shaker residents overwhelmingly voted into existence back in 2016 -- seeking to reverse the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens vs. United ruling.
This in turn led to the “Move to Amend” initiative, seeking a return to the days when corporations were not considered people and money was not equivalent to free speech -- meaning that political campaign contributions could again be regulated.
It’s an opportunity to speak out in recognition of our democratic heritage and principles,” protesting the landmark 2010 decision “as well as other rulings opposed to our democracy,” Mayor David Weiss said before turning the floor of council chambers over to Organize Ohio Executive Director Larry Bresler, serving as emcee.
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