[PAA-Discuss] CITIZENS 1, CORPORATIONS 0

[donald cook]

Hmm.  Humboldt County . . . Humboldt County.  Who do I know in Humboldt 
County, California?  Oh, yeah!  David Cobb.  This must be that project he 
was spear heading there!


From: ChasMauch at aol.com
To: Discuss at paa-tx.org
Subject: [PAA-Discuss] CITIZENS 1, CORPORATIONS 0
Date: Wed, 14 Jun 2006 09:30:18 EDT



CITIZENS 1,  CORPORATIONS 0
By John  Nichols           The Nation
June 6, 2006

In states across the country  Tuesday, primary elections named candidates 
for
Congress, governorships and  other important offices. But the most
interesting, and perhaps significant,  election did not involve an 
individual. Rather,
it was about an idea.

In Northern California's  Humboldt County, voters decided by a 55-45 margin
that corporations do not have  the same rights --- based on the supposed
"personhood" of the combines --- as  citizens when it comes to participating 
in
local political campaaigns.

Until Tuesday in Humboldt  County, corporations were able to claim
citizenship rights, as they do elsewhere  in the United States. In the 
context of
electoral politics, corporations that  were not headquartered in the county 
took
advantage of the same rules that  allowed individuals who are not residents 
to
make campaign contributions in  order to influence local campaigns.

But, with the passage of Measure  T, an initiative referendum that was 
placed
on the ballot by Humboldt County  residents, voters have signaled that they
want out-of-town corporations barred  from meddling in local elections.

Measure T was backed by the  county's Green and Democratic parties, as well
as labor unions and many elected  officials in a region where politics are 
so
progressive that the Greens ---  whose 2004 presidential candidate, David 
Cobb,
is a resident of the county and a  active promotor of the challenges to
corpporate power mounted by Democracy  Unlimited of Humboldt County and the
national Liberty Tree Foundation --- are a  major force in local politics.

The "Yes on T" campaign was  rooted in regard for the American experiment,
from its slogan "Vote Yes for  Local Control of Our Democracy," to the
references to Tuesday's election as a  modern-day "Boston Tea Party," to the 
quote from
Thomas Jefferson that was  highlighted in election materials: "I hope we
shall crush in its birth the  aristocracy of our monied corporations which 
dare
already to challenge our  government to a trial by strength, and bid 
defiance to
the laws of our  country."

Just as Jefferson and his  contemporaries were angered by dominance  of
   the affairs of the American  colonies by King George III and the British
business combines that exploited the  natural and human resources of what 
would
become the United States, so Humboldt  County residents were angered by the
attempts of outside corporate interests to  dominate local politics.

Wal-Mart spent $250,000 on a  1999 attempt to change the city of Eureka's
zoning laws in order to clear the  way for one of the retail giant's big-box
stores. Five years later, MAXXAM Inc.,  a forest products company, got upset 
with
the efforts of local District Attorney  Paul Gallegos to enforce regulations
on its operations in the county and spent  $300,000 on a faked-up campaign 
to
recall him from office. The same year saw  outside corporations that were
interested in exploiting the county's abundant  natural resources meddling 
in its
local election campaigns.

That was the last straw for a  lot of Humboldt County residents. They
organized to put Measure T on the ballot,  declaring, "Our Founding Fathers 
never
intended corporations to have this kind  of power."

"Every person has the right to  sign petition recalls and to contribute 
money
to political campaigns. Measure T  will not affect these individual rights,"
explained Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, a  resident of Eureka who was one of the
leaders of the Yes on T campaign. "But  individuals hold these political 
rights
by virtue of their status as humans in a  democracy and, simply put, a
corporation is not a person."

Despite the logic of that  assessment, the electoral battle in Humboldt
County was a heated one, and  Measure T's passage will not end it. Now, the
corporate campaign will move to  the courts. So this is only a start. But 
what a
monumental start it  is!

Sopoci-Belknap was absolutely  right when she portrayed Tuesday's vote as
nothing less than the beginning of  "the process of reclaiming our county" 
from
the "tyranny" of concentrated  economic and political power.

Surely Tom Paine would have  agreed. It was Paine who suggested to  the
   revolutionaries of 1776, as  they dared challenge the most powerful 
empire
on the planet, that: "We have it  in our power to begin the world over 
again.
A situation similar to the present  hath not happened since the days of Noah
until now. The birthday of the new  world is at hand, and a race of men,
perhaps as numerous as all Europe contains,  are to receive their portion of 
freedom
from the events of a few  months."

It is time to renew the American  experiment, to rebuild its battered
institutions on the solid foundation of  empowered citizens and regulated
corporations. Let us hope that the spirit of  '76 prevailed Tuesday in 
Humboldt County
will spread until that day when  American democracy is guided by the will of 
the
people rather than the campaign  contribution checks of the corporations 
that
are the rampaging "empires" of our  age.

John Nichols  is the Washington Correspondent for The Nation.

-------------- next part --------------
---------------
Progressive Action Alliance  http://progressiveactionalliance.org/
Discuss mailing list   Discuss at paa-tx.org
To subscribe, unsubscribe, access the archives, or change your options on 
this list, go to:
http://paa-tx.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_paa-tx.org

To reply only to the person posting this note, use "Reply".
To reply so that everyone on this list receives your note, use "Reply All".
Check the "To:" field in your message, before sending, to ensure it goes to 
the correct address.