Above: President Andrew Jackson says, "Not To Be Used For Buying Elections" - Amend the Constitution
A new and improved initiative to get big
money out of politics has Washington Coalition to Amend the Constitution (WAmend) organizers in
Olympia motivated, once again, to start the signature collection process. The
group had its first public strategy meeting Thursday evening.
The Move to Amend organization seeks to
overrule the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision which declared in Citizens United v Federal Election
Commission that a corporation is a person and unlimited campaign money is
free speech. If successful, it would make Washington State the 17th state to
ask that Congress pass a 28th Amendment to overrule the decision.
Formerly called I-1329, the new
initiative is easy to understand, say WAmend organizers. The new initiative
language stills needs a number, and is expected to soon be approved by the
state Attorney General and Secretary of State.
“The new language is better because it
is far shorter – fewer words than the old 1329, by more than half. Our aim in
penning this new version is to minimize, or avoid altogether, language which
could be misinterpreted, polarizing or partisan. The new language takes into
consideration language which has been successfully passed in over one dozen
states,” says Michael Savoca, acting chair of the Olympia Chapter of WAmend.
“We endeavored to craft language that
would unite people on both the left and the right,” says Savoca, who
participated in the initiative’s rewrite, a process that took WAmend steering
committee organizers about three months.
Savoca intends to hold monthly meetings
and coordinate volunteers to collect the estimated 300,000 signatures needed
for the initiative’s placement on a statewide ballot.The deadline to collect signatures is at the end of December.
New Initiative Strategy
In early January, Fix Democracy First!
and Move On organizers showed the movie Pay
to Play, a film about the corrupting influence of money in politics, which
successfully galvanized a standing room only crowd at downtown Olympia’s Traditions
Fair Trade to begin focused, local organizing efforts.
Activists took time to examine its efforts
and discuss lessons learned from the last signature gathering process. The
campaign fell short, generating about 175,000 signatures: there was little time
for volunteers to gather enough signatures and little to no money to advertise
or pay signature gatherers.
Unlike the last initiative, which went straight
to the voters, this year’s strategy for success means that this initiative, when
certified as having enough signatures, will be submitted to the Legislature at
its regular session in January of 2016.
Signature gathering will take place
during all of 2015, from April until December. Activists are
ready to start gathering signatures as soon as possible, says Savoca.
An over-simplified explanation of the new strategy process means that the Legislature can pass it as written, bring it to a vote, or change it.
After the initiative is submitted to the
Legislature, the Legislature can take one of three options:
• The Legislature can adopt the
initiative as it has been proposed by the public and in this case it becomes
law without it a vote by the people;
• The Legislature can reject the
proposed initiative or refuse to act on it and in this case the initiative must
be placed on the ballot for the state’s next general election;
• The Legislature can approve an amended
version of the proposed initiative and this this case both the amended and the
original versions of the bill will appear on the state’s next general election
ballot.
Above: Jennifer Sprague, Olympia, collected thousands of signatures for last year's initiative to the people to overturn the Citizens United U.S. Supreme Court ruling. She's ready to do it again this year!
Efforts United
Olympia WAmend activist Jennifer Sprague
collected thousands of signatures for last year’s initiative. She said she
found it easy and fun.
“I collected 200 signatures in one
afternoon before the Procession of the Species,” said Sprague.
Savoca and Sprague encourage activists
to track several pieces of state legislation this session that affect campaign
finance reform.
A rally held January 21 at the State
Capitol marked the fifth year anniversary of the Citizens United decision. Several statewide organizations participated,
including WashPIRG, Fix Democracy First! (formerly Washington Public Campaigns),
WAmend, and the Backbone Campaign.
Representative Andy Billig (D-3) spoke
to his proposed legislation, SB5153, that would serve to increase transparency
in elections by requiring greater reporting of who gives to political
campaigns.
Senate Joint Memorial 8002, sponsored by state
Senator Bob Hasegawa (D-11), urges Congress to pass a U.S. Constitutional
Amendment to overturn Citizens United. It has 12 co-sponsors.
Sprague says she asked Representative
Sam Hunt (D-22) to co-sponsor the Senate’s companion bill, HJM 4004, and is
pleased that he has done so. A first reading of the bill occurred February 2
and was referred, subject to approval, to the State Government Committee. Hunt
is chair of the House State Government Committee. HJM 4004 has 34 co-sponsors,
including Representative Chris Reykdal (D-22).
Koch
Brothers Threaten Washington State Senator Murray
In an email sent yesterday to
constituents, Washington State Senator Patty Murray said the Koch Brothers are
planning to go after her Democratic seat and spend a billion dollars up front
to buy her office.
“You and I now have an opponent in my
re-election campaign: the Koch brothers. There wasn't a flashy press conference
or anything, but a week ago, at a secretive meeting in California, the Koch
brothers announced that they are going to spend nearly $900 million on the next
election…and some of that money is going to be heading to Washington State.
“….David and Charles Kochs' names won't
actually be on the ballot in Washington state, but their fingerprints are going
to be ALL over this election. With close to $1 billion to spend, and only nine
incumbent Democratic senators, they're sure to spend millions to try to repeat
their 2014 success,” says the Murray email.
Olympia activist Bev Bassett received
Murray’s email. Wearing several buttons, saying No Oil Trains, Bassett attended
the WAmend meeting Thursday night. She said she worked “half-assed and
half-hearted” on last year’s campaign. This time, she will work harder to
collect signatures for the initiative.
Citing the interconnectedness of all
local issues, Bassett said, “Big money clouds everything. It makes our
politicians answerable to corporations, not us….Now, Patty Murray is not
perfect, I'll be the first to say, but she is not as bad as, say, Mitch
McConnell, who is completely owned by the wealthy interests.
“….So many times in my lifetime I have
looked at our political situation and thought, ‘It could not be worse.’ And now,
it’s worse. I believe that we no longer have the luxury of prioritizing any
issue below the issue of big money in politics. It has already cost us most of
our democracy, and what little we have left of it is circling the drain. So,
while we still have a Constitutional framework to work with to make positive
change, I am working with WAmend,” said Bassett.
Move to Amend organizers will meet
monthly, and will host an upcoming event, “Challenging Corporate Rule and
Creating Democracy,” with national spokesperson David Cobb on Thursday,
February 12, 7:00 p.m., at Traditions Fair Trade, 300 5th Avenue, in
downtown Olympia.
For
more information about the Washington State Legislature, specific bills and
members, go to www.leg.wa.gov.
For
more information about the initiative or future Olympia area meetings, contact
Michael Savoca at (360) 951-6518 or go to www.WAmend.org.
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