On the second anniversary of a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, Spokanites organize to register dissent on the flood of corporate money and influence in American politics.
Spokane Riverkeeper Bart Mihailovich and former Center for Justice executive director Breean Beggs are among those scheduled to appear Friday afternoon at a City Hall event marking the second anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United. Citizens United, of course, was the January 21, 2010 ruling that now bars government from placing limits on independent spending for political purposes by corporations and unions. It was immediately denounced in a New York Times editorial as a “disastrous decision” that “strikes at the heart of democracy.
Mihailovich and Beggs will join former Spokane Mayor Mary Verner, Envision Spokane’s Brad Read, small business owner and political activist John Waite, Peace & Justice Action League of Spokane director Liz Moore, United Food and Commercial Workers union leader Larry Hall, Walter Kloefkorn from Spokane Moves to Amend, and Kirk Smith, a local political consultant.
The City Hall forum, entitled “Occupy City Hall,” will begin at 3 p.m. and be introduced by veteran local activist and former Congressional candidate Bart Haggin. The session is being billed as an opportunity for community members to have an open floor to express themselves about the local “Occupy” and/or weigh in on a proposed motion “to reject the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.”
The panel will respond to citizen comments.
The session is hosted by Occupy Spokane and Spokane Moves to Amend and is co-Sponsored by the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane. It will be preceded by a reception in the Chase Gallery, just outside the council chambers.
Earlier Friday, there is a peaceful, public demonstration slated for the Federal Courthouse on 916 W. Riverside. This “Occupy the Court”event is open to all who want to participate and will begin at 11:30 a.m. For more information you can visit the Facebook event page at http://www.facebook.com/events/268626706529705/
Bart Mihailovich & Tim Connor, for the Center for Justice
