GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
www.GP.org
Thursday, June 1, 2006
Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@greens.org
Greens lead in Humboldt County, California ballot measure to limit the power of corporations over local politics
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Measure T, to be decided in a June 6 popular vote, would repeal corporate 'personhood' and target companies like Wal-Mart
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Greens call such initiatives a major step in the ongoing movement for democracy and civil rights
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders in Humboldt County, California are promoting a ballot initiative that will sharply limit the political power of corporations.
Humboldt County voters will decide on Measure T, titled 'Ordinance to Protect Our Right to Fair Elections and Local
Democracy,' on June 6.
"This is a historic effort to restore democracy to the people of Humboldt County," said David Cobb, the Green Party's
nominee for President of the United States in 2004 and Humboldt resident. "We hope that people in states, counties, cities,
and towns all across the U.S. see Measure T as a model for similar ballot initiatives to end the domination of our political
system by powerful corporations."
If passed, Measure T will:
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prohibit non-local corporations from making political contributions in Humboldt County elections.
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challenge the status of corporations as 'persons' with vested constitutional rights. The ordinance provides that "only natural
human persons possess civil and political rights, and corporations are creations of state law and possess no legitimate civil
or political rights."
The initiative asserts that "courts have illegitimately defined corporations as 'persons' and this doctrine illegitimately denies the people of Humboldt County the ability to exercise our fundamental political rights." And to add teeth, the initiative provides that "no corporation shall be entitled to claim corporate constitutional rights or protections in an effort to overturn this law."
"Citizens all across America are fighting powerful developers, HMOs, drug companies, banks, chain stores, and other corporate lobbies who use money to get their way in city hall," said Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, campaign manager for Measure T and Executive Director of Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County <http://www.duhc.org>.
Ms. Sopoci-Belknap was the first Green elected to the Humboldt Bay Water District in 2004. "Here in Humboldt, the Wal-Mart Corporation in 1999 paid for a ballot initiative to overturn portions of the area's zoning laws and then spent $250,000 on the campaign. In 2003, Maxxam Corporation invested $300,000 to fund a campaign to recall newly-elected District Attorney Paul Gallegos after he filed fraud charges against the company. In both cases, these bullies used paid petitioners to try to hijack the citizen's initiative process."
Greens note that corporate 'personhood' was enacted by a series of late 19th century Supreme Court decisions, beginning with Santa Clara County v. the Southern Pacific Railroad (1886), that in effect granted the recently passed 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection to corporations.
"Since the 14th Amendment was passed by Congress to protect newly freed slaves, and Jim Crow segregation laws were being implemented during this period, the Supreme Court effectively transferred 'personhood,' equality, and legal protection from African Americans to corporations," said Jody Grage, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. "Greens thus see the repeal of corporate personhood as a major and necessary step in the movement for civil rights, which is still not over."
The influence of corporate lobbies can be seen, say Green Party leaders, in numerous laws and policies that have benefited corporations and hurt Americans -- the refusal to take steps against global warming or to enact a single-payer national health insurance program; a prescription drug bill that enriches drug companies at the expense of older Americans; the resulting windfall profits from the Iraq War for defense contractors, oil companies, and profiteering firms like Halliburton.
"The Green Party, consistent with its fight against the corporate erosion of democracy, refuses all corporate donations. It's why corporations and the corporate-controlled Democratic and Republican parties see the Green Party as such a threat," said Laura Wells, Green Party candidate for State Controller of California <http://www.laurawells.org>.
MORE INFORMATION
Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1711 18th Street NW
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
Humboldt Coalition for Community Rights: Yes on Measure T
http://www.votelocalcontrol.org
"A New Populist Uprising"
By David Cobb, The Progressive Populist, June 1, 2006
http://www.populist.com/06.10.cobb.html