The Sitka assembly will not just be tackling local revenue issues when it meets in regular session Tuesday night (7-10-12). The final item on the agenda is a resolution in support of an amendment to the United States Constitution limiting so-called “corporate personhood.”
Assembly member Mim McConnell said she was approached by a local activist group, Alaskans Against the Corporate Abuse of Power, to sponsor the resolution. She agreed, for more than political reasons.
“It’s also personal. I don’t agree with the decision made by the Supreme Court regarding corporate personhood, and I think that people need to rise up and change it in any way that they can, legally.”
The resolution condemns the Court’s 2010 ruling in Citizens United, which held that political spending is a form of protected speech under the First Amendment – and extended that protection to corporations and unions.
McConnell hopes the assembly moves the resolution forward to the Alaska Legislature, and that the legislature will move it to Congress. She thinks big changes can have small beginnings.
“It’s exciting that our assembly can have an impact at a national level. This is the kind of thing that gives me hope. I like that this is on our agenda right after deciding if we should spend money on a copier.”
A new printer for the Sitka Police Department is item “C” on tonight’s agenda. Amending the US Constitution is item “J.”
Assembly member Mike Reif is co-sponsor.
The Sitka Assembly meets at 6 PM in Harrigan Centennial Hall. KCAW will carry the meeting live beginning at that time.
