Northern Illinois PDA & Occupy Protest Corporate Money in Government
Submitted by Illinoisnoki1 on Thu, 01/24/2013 - 13:15
Send to friendStaff Report, Rock River Times, January 24, 2013
Saturday, Jan. 19, Progressive Democrats of America-Northern Illinois and Occupy Rockford co-hosted a community forum on the Supreme Count's Jan. 21, 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision and the role of money in politics.
In the picture are (in no particular order): John Galbo, Howard Waitzkin, Maurice Gianesin, Edward Klein, M.L. Wright, Bill Weiss, John Lamar, Ron Johnson, Mike Schlossmann, Sabrina Roberts, Judith Wrzesinski, David Soll, Dale Dunnigan, Jessica Muellner, Elizabeth Lindquist, and Lynn Wilson. |
Jan. 21 was the third anniversary of the landmark Citizens United ruling in which the United States Supreme Court held that the First Amendment prohibited the government from restricting independent political expenditures by corporations and unions.
The local forum was held at the Rockford Public Library East Branch and had close to two dozen in attendance. Attendees learned about the history of the decision and different ways to combat its effects. The group discussed efforts to amend the Constitution, such as Move To Amend. The amendment would declare that corporations are not people and money is not speech. The Anti-Corruption Act was also discussed. This legislation would seek to reverse the effects of Citizens United and establish a new clean elections system for Congress, without actually amending the Constitution.
More about Move to Amend and the Anti-Corruption Act can be found at MoveToAmend.org and AntiCorruptionAct.org, respectively.
Following the forum, the group headed to the Stanley J. Roszkowski U.S. Courthouse at 327 Church St. in downtown Rockford to join other groups across the country for a day of action to protest the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision.
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