By Khalida Sarwari
Following the lead of Mountain View and Los Altos Hills, the Campbell City Council passed a resolution at its Aug. 7 meeting in support of a U.S. constitutional amendment abolishing “corporate personhood.”
The 4-1 council vote came after a lengthy discussion where several members of a group called Santa Clara County Move to Amend voiced its opposition to the corporate personhood issue. Councilman Jeff Cristina dissented.
The matter was brought back to the council after a May 15 meeting when the council considered adopting a resolution calling for a constitutional amendment in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Commission.
That case addressed the extent to which the rights afforded under the Constitution should apply to corporations and whether expenditures of funds to influence an election should be considered a form of protected speech.
“Citizens United is terrible,” said councilman Jason Baker. “I didn’t see any corporations walk to the podium tonight–because they can’t.”
Baker called the “Citizens United” ruling a “threat to our Constitution.” He and other members of the council agreed that it is an issue that must be tackled at the local level. Meanwhile, Cristina voted against the resolution, stating that he was not in favor of a resolution identical to one passed in June by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which held that “corporations should not receive the same legal rights as natural persons do, that money is not speech and that independent expenditures should be regulated.”
“I do believe that corporations given this power do have an ability to control different political campaigns, which I do not like,” said Cristina. “At this point in time I am not willing to get behind this.”
More than a dozen people addressed the council, speaking in favor of the resolution. Some held up “Move to Amend” signs.
“This is a fundamental issue to representative democracy,” said Carrie Hamilton, a member of Santa Clara County Move to Amend and former resident of Campbell. “We are literally losing our democracy.”
Harvey Secks, a medical doctor, declared corporations “soulless and heartless” entities.
“It is your obligation. How do you like that? A doctor telling you what to do–to speak up and voice your opposition to this really insane idea passed by supposedly learned, legal minds,” said Secks.
Acknowledging a Move to Amend petition that has already gathered roughly 80 signatures from Campbell residents in support of a Constitutional amendment, councilman Evan Low called their efforts “democracy in action.”
“Using money to buy elections is disturbing, truly disturbing,” he said. “This is symbolic, yes, but it has meaning to people.”
Supporters of corporate personhood argue that the basis for allowing corporations to assert protection under the Constitution is that they are organizations of people and as such should not be deprived of their rights when they act collectively.
Campbell council votes to support amendment abolishing ‘corporate personhood’ in the U.S.
