Supreme Court Ruling Makes Clean Elections Work Even More Important

On January 21, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in the Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission case that has serious implications for our democracy.

The Court ruled that corporations now could spend unlimited amounts of money from their corporate treasuries for the purpose of influencing elections. The decision vacates a hundred years of precedent in which there have been limits on corporate expenditures for the purpose of electing or defeating a particular candidate.

The Court did uphold the disclosure provision, requiring corporations making independent expenditures to identify themselves. But that can easily be subverted by pooling contributions through another known entity like the Chamber of Commerce. Office holders may well fear that if they make a "false move" or act independently, there will be a corporation just waiting to spend millions to defeat them.

Following the Supreme Courts decision, many democracy-promoting groups like Public Campaign have renewed their call for public financing at all levels.

It is hoped that this decision will lead to increased interest in the Fair Elections Now Act (FENA), a national public campaign financing proposal based on the successful programs in states like Maine and Arizona. FENA already has 126 co-sponsors in the House.

Our work on public campaign financing has never been more important. You can find links to our West Virginia legislation and updates on our local and national progress at the WV Citizens for Clean Elections website: www.wvoter-owned.org.

If youd like to be on our e-mail update list, contact Carol Warren at peacelovemom@gmail.com.