Taking on the money power.

• Author: Rothschild, Matthew
• Position: Comment - Corporate donations and compaign funds - Column

March 12, 2013, may go down in our history as a momentous day. For it was on this date that Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Representative Ted Deutch of Florida introduced "The Democracy Is for People" amendment.

Section I states that only "natural persons" may "make contributions and expenditures to influence the outcome of public elections." This would eliminate all spending by corporations, nonprofit groups, unions, and so-called dark sources.

Section II gives Congress and state legislatures the right "to protect the integrity and fairness of the electoral process, limit the corrupting influence of private wealth in public elections, and guarantee the dependence of elected officials on the people alone."

The amendment is an attempt to nullify the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision of 2010, which asserted that money is speech and that the government couldn't regulate independent expenditures.

"The American people want ... a complete reversal of Citizens United," said Deutch. "The Democracy Is for People Amendment will stop corporations and their front groups from using their profits and dark money donations to influence our elections."

Joining Deutch in the House as original co-sponsors were Representatives Judy Chu, David Cicilline, Peter DeFazio, Rosa DeLauro, Keith Ellison, Eliot L. Engel, Alcee L. Hastings, William Keating, Eleanor Holmes Norton, George Miller, Jim Moran, Ed Perlmutter, Chellie Pingree, Charles Rangel, John Sarbanes, Jan Schakowsky, Kurt Schrader, Louise Slaughter, Henry Waxman, and Peter Welch.

Unfortunately, at press time, no Democratic Senators had signed on as co-sponsors. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts should be naturals, as should Barbara Boxer of California, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Al Franken of Minnesota, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii, and Patrick Leahy of Vermont. Time to climb aboard this train.

Said Senator Sanders: "What the Supreme Court did in Citizens United is to tell billionaires like the Koch brothers and Sheldon Adelson, 'You own and control Wall Street. You own and control coal companies. You own and control oil companies. Now, for a very small percentage of your wealth, we're going to give you the opportunity to own and control the United States government.' That is the essence of what Citizens United is all about. That is why this disastrous decision must be reversed."

Activists who have been working on this issue...