Democratic State Lawmakers Ask Congress To Overturn Citizens United

State lawmakers and Common Cause Connecticut hold a press conference about Citizens United. (Amanda Falcone)

State lawmakers stood with campaign finance reform advocates at a press conference Wednesday, calling on Congress to pass a constitutional amendment that would overturn a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that says  government cannot restrict political donations made by corporations and unions.

The ruling is known as Citizens United.

“Money screams in an election,” said state Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, the co-chairwoman of the legislature’s government administration and elections committee. “It screams so loudly that it drowns out the voice of the people.”

Seeing the need for campaign finance reform on the national level, Slossberg, along with committee co-chairman Rep. Russ Morin, D-Wethersfield, recently wrote a letter to Connecticut’s congressional delegation, asking members of the delegation  to support a constitutional amendment that would overturn the court ruling. The pair asked all state representatives and senators to sign the letter, but only 86 representatives  and 22 senators did so. They were all Democrats.

On the state level, Connecticut has already changed its campaign finance laws. It passed a landmark campaign finance reform law in 2005, and that law is meant to limit the influence of special-interest money on politics and government. It makes grants of public money available to those running for the state legislature or statewide office.

In attempt to garner support for national campaign finance reform, Cheri Quickmire, executive director of Common Cause Connecticut, told the crowd that gathered for Wednesday’s press conference that money is not speech.

“We believe our elections are no longer fair and our democracy threatened,” she said.

Common Cause is a nonprofit organization that works to improve the way government operates.