The tens of millions of dollars spent by the opposing sides in the Central Maine Power energy corridor referendum (“Energy companies keep pouring millions into battle over power line corridor,” Oct. 5) are a textbook example of the toxic influence of unrestrained corporate spending on our elections.
Ideally, the voters of Maine would debate this question on our own before settling it at the ballot box. Instead, we are flooded by messaging paid for by out-of-state corporations like Hydro-Quebec and NextEra Energy Resources – artificial entities with zero stake in the outcome beyond their own financial bottom lines.
What’s worse, even if Maine passed legislation regulating corporate influence on our elections, it would be subject to potential nullification by the courts, based on the precedent of the United States Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which ruled that corporations have a First Amendment-protected “free speech” right to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections.
The only solution to this madness is a constitutional amendment affirming that artificial entities are not entitled to the constitutional rights of natural persons, and granting Congress and the states full authority to regulate election-related expenditures. HJRes. 48, introduced in Congress, proposes this amendment. Rep. Chellie Pingree is already a cosponsor of HJRes. 48, but Rep. Jared Golden is not. Mainers who prefer elections free from domination by corporate special interests should thank Rep. Pingree and ask for Rep. Golden’s support for this critical democracy reform.
H. Landis Gabel
Portland
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