August 19, 2011 •
Boulder Rolling Forward With Ballot Measure Against Corporate Personhood
Voters in Boulder, Colorado will have the opportunity to vote whether they support corporate personhood on the November 1, 2011 ballot.
By a 6 – 3 decision, the Boulder City Council approved placing a resolution on the ballot calling for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution declaring only human beings, not corporations, are entitled to constitutional rights and money is not speech, and therefore regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech.
The ballot measure is in response to the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court Citizens United decision, where the ability of the government to limit corporate and labor union independent expenditures was ruled unconstitutional.
“I think it’s a real threat to our government,” said councilman Ken Williams, “and whatever we can do to change that, I think we should.”
If approved by voters, Boulder would join a growing list of localities that have passed similar resolutions.
Photo of the Flatirons by Aza Toth on Wikipedia.
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