OP-ED: Do the Right Thing on SB307 This Week

By Bob Perry, Ellen Read, and Jonah Minkoff-Zern

The people of New Hampshire and across the nation are outraged at corporate and wealthy interests, including individuals from the left and the right, spending billions of dollars to control the politics of our state and our nation. They are understandably opposed to having no right as a state to prevent this money from flooding our elections. 

That's why when polled, they support a constitutional amendment to get big money out of politics by a 3 to 1 margin across party lines. And that's why 54 New Hampshire towns have called for you, the New Hampshire Legislature, to join 16 other states and call for a constitutional amendment.

These individuals did not call for a study committee. They called for action from the Legislature.

SB 307 was written with a clear directive: The New Hampshire Legislature calls for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and related cases. It then creates a study committee to review the 16 different amendments that have been introduced in Congress to decide which ones of those, if any, are the right ones to recommend to the New Hampshire delegation (they can be viewed at united4thepeople.org). 

SB 307 was not written to do what the Senate amendment does: simply study the issue. There is no doubt among the people of New Hampshire and our nation that our democracy is severely corrupted by the influence of big money and that the only way to reduce that influence is for a constitutional amendment to allow government regulation. There is no other way to address this problem, as there is no other way to undo what the Supreme Court has done in releasing a flood of money into our elections with Citizens United  v. FEC and more recently McCutcheon v. FEC. 

Let's not fool ourselves into thinking that this amendment would attack or undermine the First Amendment. It would make clear that our founders intended to protect speech, not money that amplifies that speech. Further, even if campaign spending were a form of speech, our nation allows all sorts of regulation of speech. I cannot come into a legislator’s office with a megaphone and yell until she or he listen to me. I can't get up and interrupt a Senate session. I cannot yell "fire" in a crowded theater. I am not free to threaten any one. And the ultra-wealthy and mega-corporations should not and cannot spend literally billions of dollars to buy influence and power over our nation. That is not a democracy. In fact, a Princeton study just showed that we are now literally living in an oligarchy.

This week, when SB 307 comes to conference committee, New Hampshire senators should heed the will of the House who voted by a two to one margin, the 12 senators who voted for language calling for a constitutional amendment, the hundreds of New Hampshire residents who organized and passed 54 town resolutions, and so many others to be heard. This has not been such a partisan issue in other states, such as Maine, which passed a resolution with overwhelming bipartisan support and was sponsored by a Republican senator who is passionate enough about the issue to have written New Hampshire legislators testimony asking for their support. It is not a partisan issue when New Hampshire residents are polled or when they vote in town meetings. There is no reason this should be a partisan issue in the New Hampshire Senate.

This week’s conference committee should vote for language that calls for a constitutional amendment to get big money out of politics and restore democracy to the people. There have been hearings, marches, town meeting discussion and overwhelming votes, op-eds and letters to the editor. There has been ample time to study. It is time to act. 

Sincerely,

Rep. Bob Perry, Strafford

Ellen Read, Newmarket 

Jonah Minkoff-Zern, Campaign Director, Public Citizen’s Democracy Is For People Campaign