The creative way Colorado can work around Citizens United to keep big money’s corporate influence out of politics (Opinion)

One of the greatest threats facing our democratic republic is the influence the wealthiest have in our politics The painful reality is that given the importance of campaign donations far too multiple politicians focus on the demands of the wealthy sparse and powerful companies and not on the requirements of the people who voted for them The Supreme Court s Citizens United affair deserves much of the blame for the cascade of big money in our politics But we don t have to wait for the Court to overrule the opinion to fix this trouble Instead we can address it by taking action here in Colorado In Citizens United the Court overruled decades of precedent and struck down a federal prohibition on corporate independent expenditures to help candidates opening the floodgates to corporate money in elections An analysis by Tom Moore of Outside Spending figures from Open Secrets located the consequence was immediate and dramatic with informed independent expenditures of outside groups explod ing by more than -fold from to from million to billion Citizens United ushered in a massive stream of high-dollar donors routing their money through shadowy dark money groups to give unlimited funds to advocacy or oppose candidates for population office And candidates have taken notice The pharmaceutical industry like other industries invests heavily in campaign spending building political influence to protect its profits The industry has for example blocked policies that would make it easier for generic drug companies to enter the region and offer cheaper prescription drugs That s part of the reason Americans pay more than any other nation for prescription drugs The impact of big money in elections not only means higher prices for prescription drugs but also that corporate landlords are given more freedom to mistreat tenants conditions protections are shelved and tax breaks go to the wealthy scarce and not those who need them majority The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg famously reported that if she could overturn one Supreme Court decision it would be Citizens United She was right the decision was based on the deeply flawed logic that money is speech and corporations are people And years after the decision it s clearer than ever that Citizens United is doing real damage to our republic with massive amounts of campaign spending often by unknown groups We don t have to wait for the Supreme Court to overturn Citizens United to fix the mess we are in Citizens in Montana are now advancing a ballot initiative to get corporate money out of politics While the measure cannot overturn Citizens United it proposes the next best step removing corporations authority to engage in political sessions in the first place Defining in state law what corporations are allowed to do is not a new principle it has existed in American law since the dawn of our republic Colorado should join Montana and advance a similar concept to change Colorado law And it can be done by a bill from the legislature amending our laws to make it explicit that corporations are not human beings and therefore do not possess the rights of human beings Colorado s law listing out corporate powers granted by the General Assembly sets out a range of powers corporations wield like the ability to sue and be sued to lend money to dissolve and so on And it provides corporations the same powers as an individual The legislature not only has the constitutional authority to modify these powers but it has done so often like it did in and Multiple say that they are fighting to defend democracy Words alone aren t enough however We must show Coloradans working hard to make ends meet that their democracy works for them To do that we must reduce the influence of big money in our politics so that elected executives work for the people not special interests The promise of American democracy as President Abraham Lincoln put it is a governing body of the people by the people and for the people That s worth fighting for Even if this measure will face challenges as it largest part certainly will in court we are committed to defending the principle that the people should decide elections not deep-pocketed companies and billionaires Related Articles Denver prosecutors add forgery charges to former lawmaker s legal woes in fake letters occurrence In Colorado governor s race two heavy-hitting Democrats cleared the primary field But the fight s just starting Voters approve Denver s ban on flavored tobacco products Denver campaign to save flavored tobacco ban gets million more from Michael Bloomberg Political groups educator unions pour more than million into DPS school board poll Phil Weiser is Colorado s Attorney General Javier Mabry is a member of the Colorado House of Representatives Sign up for Sound Off to get a weekly roundup of our columns editorials and more To send a letter to the editor about this article submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail