City Council votes 6-3 to put referendum on November ballot

By Laura Snider Camera Staff Writer

Posted: 08/16/2011 10:55:27 PM MDT

The City Council voted 6-3 to put the referendum on the November ballot after hearing from more than 30 members of the public who supported the ballot measure. The council meeting was also packed with more than 100 people who held up yellow signs reading “yes” in support of letting voters weigh in on the issue.

“It will get to the point when corporations will have more rights than you and me based solely on the fact that they can buy them,” Joe Illingworth told the council members. “If we don’t take a stand here and now, it may get to the point that we are never able to turn the tide on this issue.”

The referendum comes in the wake of the Citizens United decision made last year by the U.S. Supreme Court. That decision removed the government’s ability to limit “independent expenditures” from companies to advocate on behalf of a candidate or issue. A corporation can also now establish a political action committee and make unlimited corporate contributions to that committee.

The Boulder chapter of a national group called Move to Amend first approached the City Council about six months ago to put the referendum on the ballot.

“Wow. What an outpouring of emotion and feeling and sincere interest in making changes, which I don’t think anybody in the room would deny we need at the highest level,” Councilman Ken Wilson told the crowd before he voted in favor of putting the referendum on the ballot. “My family and I were very, very disappointed in the Citizens United decision. I think it’s a real threat to our government, and whatever we can do to change that, I think we should.”

Read the entire article, Here.

Congratulations to Move to Amend for initiating and organizing around this effort!

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