Common Cause Launches "Amend2012" to give Voters a Direct Voice in November on Overturning Citizens United

NEW YORK, NY (01/18/2012)(readMedia)-- Two years after the Supreme Court turned unlimited corporate money loose on our elections in the reckless Citizens United decision, Common Cause is launching a national campaign to help voters strike back.

The effort, Amend 2012, will give New Yorkers an opportunity to push back on corporate political spending, and build toward national referenda calling on Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to reverse Citizens United. New York is ripe for such a measure in light of Governor Cuomo's recent State of the State address in which he outlined an aggressive plan to reform the campaign finance system by instituting public financing of elections and lowering campaign contribution limits. Moreover, New York City is quickly becoming ground zero for reform. Common Cause/NY testified before the City Council which recently passed a resolution calling on Congress to begin the process of amending the Constitution to provide that corporations are not entitled to the entirety of protections or "rights" of natural persons, specifically so that the expenditure of corporate money to influence the electoral process is no longer a form of constitutionally protected speech.

"A huge majority of Americans reject Citizens United and want a government of, by, and for the people, not of, bought and paid for by the special interests," Robert Reich, chairman of Common Cause's National Governing Board, said Tuesday. "This campaign will help people make their voices heard at the ballot box, where the elected officials who must pass an amendment dare not ignore them."

Nationally, the campaign launches Wednesday with a new website, Amend2012.org, featuring a video with Reich using an animated whiteboard to explain the damage being done to our democracy by Citizens United, and urging citizens to get involved with Amend2012. The video was produced by The New Media Firm. The campaign will also rely on social media, using Facebook and Twitter to generate participation and enthusiasm.

In New York, Common Cause will work to get a other cities and counties to introduce and pass resolutions in support of a constitutional amendment to provide that corporations are not entitled to the entirety of protections or "rights" of natural persons.

Amend2012 provides a creative and ambitious addition to the constitutional amendment movement by giving voters a direct opportunity to make their voices heard NOW, during the 2012 elections, on the need to overturn Citizens United. The campaign aims to put "voter instruction" initiatives or referenda on the November ballot in as many states as possible. The measures would instruct Congress to adopt a constitutional amendment to make it clear that corporations are not people and authorize campaign spending limits.

"The Supreme Court misread the Constitution and ignored common sense in Citizens United," said Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY. "Most Americans are appalled by how big corporations and other special interests have hijacked our government and drowned out our voices by pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into campaigns from the courthouse to the White House. It's time to restore common sense to our elections and democracy."

The campaign will provide a roadmap and tools for citizens to push the issue onto the November 2012 ballot. Common Cause is actively exploring potential ballot campaigns in three states – Colorado, Massachusetts and Montana – where initiatives are permitted, and will work with allies and activists on the ground to assess options in an additional six states where it is still feasible to put an Amend2012 initiative on the fall ballot – Arizona, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio and Washington. In non-initiative states, Common Cause will work to get bills introduced in state legislatures and major municipalities that would refer an advisory question to the fall ballot.

Common Cause will tap its national network of thousands of volunteer activists to promote the campaign, reach out to allied groups, and use social media to recruit and organize citizens to circulate petitions and lobby legislators.

The Amend2012 strategy has the potential to re-engage disenchanted, drop-off voters, including many attracted by the "Occupy" movement or the Tea Party, and to inject issues of corporate control and big money in politics directly into the presidential and key congressional races.

"The Occupy movement, and the Tea Party before it, provides powerful evidence of the frustration Americans of all political stripes feel about our government's coziness with special interests and unresponsiveness to everyday citizens," said Susan Lerner, Executive Director of Common Cause/NY. "Amend2012 is a bottom-up grassroots strategy designed to give voters the tools they need to force the issue into the 2012 elections."

This week marks the second anniversary of Citizens United, which has sparked record spending in national politics, including hundreds of millions of dollars provided by undisclosed and virtually untraceable donors. The presidential race is expected to shatter all fundraising records, while Super PACs, born of the Citizens United decision, pose as independent but operate as subsidiaries of the campaigns and do the candidates' dirty work.

"We will not, we cannot, solve our nation's other critical problems until we rein in the power of these special interests," Edgar said.

Common Cause coordinates its constitutional amendment work with a broad coalition of reform groups, and has been involved in efforts in a number of cities that have already passed resolutions supporting a reversal of Citizens United, including New York, Los Angeles, Portland, OR, Boulder, CO and Missoula, MT.

For more information, or to request an interview with Robert Reich or Bob Edgar to discuss Amend 2012, please contact Mary Boyle at mboyle@commoncause.org or Susan Lerner at slerner@commoncause.org.

For more information, also visit www.Amend2012.org.