Overthrow Citizens United

Hello, my name is Bill Cash and I’m a Madison resident at 586 Opening Hill Rd. I’m working with members of the Connecticut Green Party to encourage the town of Madison to pass a resolution to request Congress to pass a Constitutional Amendment to overthrow the Supreme Court decision Citizens United which gave corporations personhood with all the rights of citizens. They are now dumping unlimited amounts of money into our political system and I feel it is drastically undermining our Democracy. 

I’ve approached our First Selectman Filmore Mcpherson about the matter and here is his response to me:

Bill, I would want to study this a bit more.  I’m not sure the Town needs to get involved in national constitutional issues.

Fillmore

I believe it would be helpful if more Madison residents approached him. Here is his email address:  mcphersonf@madisonct.org

Here’s a copy of what I sent to him:

Hi Fillmore. My name is Bill Cash. Recently both New Haven and New London have passed resolutions calling for a constitutional amendment to overthrow Citizens United. What do we have to do to have Madison follow suit? I''m also approaching the Democrats on this issue.

Here is the wording for the New London resolution.

WHEREAS, the city of New London celebrates freedom of speech as a voice for each person.

WHEREAS, the city of New London has grave concerns about the health of our country following the United State Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling regarding the constitutional rights of corporations.

WHEREAS, the city of New London finds leadership is best when it engages citizens, not money.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT:

Section 1.  The city of New London is calling for an amendment to the Constitution to provide that the rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons only.  Artificial entities, such as corporations, limited liability companies, and other entities, established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign state shall have no rights except as legislated by the People; and, the judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment. 

Section 2.  Furthermore, the city of New London is calling on Congress to begin the process of amending the Constitution for said purpose.

I believe these huge unlimited amounts of money are corrupting our system. 

I also approached the Democratic Town Committee and received this response from Deb Heinrich:

Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Bill.  We have not discussed this in our town committee meeting so I cannot tell you right away how we stand, but I have room for this discussion on the July agenda and will bring it up for discussion then and get back to you with an answer.  With regard to having the state pass it, you may wish to speak with Sen. Meyer.  He can be reached at edward.meyer@cga.ct.gov.

My best,

Deb

Chair Madison Democratic Town Committee

I also approached Ed Myer and Noreen Kokoruda. Senator Myer did not respond but here is Noreen’s response.

Dear William:  I would like to see a law addressing the legality of businesses being able to advocate for or against any candidate.  These PACs along with all other special interests should not be part of our election process at all.

I appreciate your input and desire to make the election process more fair and equitable and hope you will continue to contact me at any time regarding this or any other matter of interest or concern to you.

There are 5 CT towns that have passed these resolutions just this month:
----Hartford
----New Haven
----Middletown
----West Haven
----New London

I’d appreciate any support you can give me on this issue.

Bill