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Group takes aim at Citizens United

by Crispin Kott
April 2, 2016
in Politics & Government
0

There’s a revolution brewing at Inquiring Minds. Each Monday, a group called the Movement to Amend the Constitution meets there to talk about the Supreme Court Citizens United case that opened the flood gates of limitless political spending by corporations under the banner of free speech, and posits that corporations have the same rights as individuals.

“It’s trying to educate people about something called corporate personhood. Over the last 126 years the Supreme Court has actually granted a number of rights that really should be for human beings, like the right to free speech to corporations,” said Maggie Williams, the group’s chairperson. “There’s no legislation that says corporations have the same rights as people, but the Supreme Court has effectively given them more rights than what we have currently.”

The local group was founded this April as a loose affiliate of Move to Amend (movetoamend.org), a national movement formed to oppose Citizens United.

“There are a number of groups focusing on overturning Citizens United because they are objecting to how it affects election law,” Williams said. “For instance, if we try to regulate campaign financing, corporations have a right to free speech which supersedes our right to a clean election.”

The Saugerties chapter has a core group of five volunteers, who have circulated petitions and generated support from over 200 Ulster County residents. The ultimate goal, Williams said, is to build the movement to the point where local towns are involved.

“It requires a pretty big grassroots movement,” she said, adding that the group is encouraged by what’s happened elsewhere. “In Vermont, in about four months, they were able to get 56 towns to sign resolutions of support. We’re all volunteers, so we’re trying to do what we can do. It’s not going to effect this election season, but the goal is to get something done this year.”

Movement to Amend the Constitution meets at the Inquiring Mind bookstore in the village on Mondays from 5:30-7 p.m., and they’re also hosting a town meeting at the Frank D. Greco Senior Center on Wednesday, July 25 from 7-9 p.m. Williams said the group is hoping for a good local turnout, and she added that anyone can call her for more information at 845-246-1701.

Tags: citizens united
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Crispin Kott

Crispin Kott was born in Chicago, raised in New York and has called everywhere from San Francisco to Los Angeles to Atlanta home. A music historian and failed drummer, he’s written for numerous print and online publications and has shared with his son Ian and daughter Marguerite a love of reading, writing and record collecting.

 Crispin Kott is the co-author of the Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to New York City (Globe Pequot Press, June 2018), the Little Book of Rock and Roll Wisdom (Lyons Press, October 2018), and the Rock and Roll Explorer Guide to San Francisco and the Bay Area (Globe Pequot Press, May 2021).

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