US News: Supreme Court Ruling Empowers Corporations More Than Labor Unions

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/laura-chapin/2010/01/22/supreme-court-ruling-empowers-corporations-more-than-labor-unions.html

January 22, 2010 05:11 PM ET | Laura Chapin | Permanent Link | Print

By Laura Chapin, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

DENVER--Coloradoans were treated to a lovely headline in Friday's Denver Post: "GOP to Sue Over Limits." Inspired by this week's Supreme Court decision abolishing the ban on corporate political advertising, state Republicans are now taking aim at a similar state ban.

When Colorado voters defeated Amendment 48, which would have created a new definition of "personhood" in the Colorado Constitution (defining a fertilized human egg as a "person"), little did they know the Supreme Court would create a new definition of "personhood" in the United States Constitution. As Justice Stevens put it in his dissent:

"The conceit that corporations must be treated identically to natural persons in the political sphere is not only inaccurate but also inadequate to justify the Court's disposition of this case… In the context of election to public office, the distinction between corporate and human speakers is significant. Although they make enormous contributions to our society, corporations are not actually members of it. They cannot vote or run for office.

Because they may be managed and controlled by nonresidents, their interests may conflict in fundamental respects with the interests of eligible voters. The financial resources, legal structure, and instrumental orientation of corporations raise legitimate concerns about their role in the electoral process. Our lawmakers have a compelling constitutional basis, if not also a democratic duty, to take measures designed to guard against the potentially deleterious effects of corporate spending in local and national races."

And these new corporate "persons" are wasting little time trying to overturn voter-approved limits in Colorado on campaign spending. Right now, direct corporation
or union spending is forbidden in state races, thanks to a ballot measure approved in 2002, the same year as the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law. The law also limits individual and PAC contributions to candidates to $400.

FULL story at link.