Warren Mass
The New American
July 2, 2014
Senate Joint Resolution 19, which has been cosponsored by 43 senators, proposes an amendment to the Constitution “relating to contributions and expenditures intended to affect elections.” On May 14, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.; shown) threw his weight behind the resolution, saying: “We’re going to push a constitutional amendment so we can limit spending because what is going on today is awful.”
However, the resolution is not the only threat to the freedom of speech necessary to support our traditional electoral process. A number of organizations, including Call a Convention and Wolf-PAC., are working to convince state legislators to apply for an Article V constitutional convention. Among the amendments such groups seek to propose is one that would "end corporate personhood and publicly finance all elections in our country.” The goals of these organizations dovetail neatly with the objective of S .J. Res. 19, as both the resolution and the Article V groups seek to amend the Constitution to negate the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision, which ruled that the First Amendment prohibits the federal government from restricting political campaign financing by corporations, associations, and interest groups.
In that May interview, Reid revealed what motivated him to get so strongly behind the resolution, introduced in the Senate by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and in the House by Rep. James McGovern (D-Mass.) The Nevada senator had become disenchanted with the electoral process. In 1998, Reid barely won reelection (428 votes) in a race against Republican Rep. John Ensign and blamed “corporate money” spent on the campaign for the closeness of the vote, after he had easily won reelection in 1992.
