Articles & Written Materials

Citizens in Humboldt County, California Offer New Model to Challenge Corporate Campaign Contributions

(This article was re-printed in The Journal for the Democratic Revolution, a publication of Liberty Tree: Foundation for the Democratic Revolution and Justice Rising, a publication of the Alliance for Democracy)

A recent poll of voters in Northern California's Humboldt County found that 78% think that corporate financial contributions to the electoral process make political corruption more likely. And 72% did not think that non-local corporations should be able to financially contribute to local elections.

However, any attempt by Humboldt voters or other communities to act on these sentiments would violate current Supreme Court decisions regarding "corporate Constitutional rights." These so called "rights" allow the wealthy elite to shape the politics of communities where they are invested in exploiting - but where they rarely reside. Under current judicial interpretation of the Constitution, money is considered speech and limiting a corporation's paid-for "free speech" is considered an infringement of its "rights."

In spite of what Supreme Court precedent dictates, 64% of Humboldt voters believe that "A state or city should be able to ban non-local corporations from contributing financially to local elections."

This community knows from direct experience that corporate involvement in local politics spells trouble. In 2002 newly elected District Attorney Paul Gallegos filed a fraud lawsuit against the infamous Maxxam Corporation. Shortly thereafter the company launched an aggressive recall campaign, pouring more than $300,000 dollars into the effort. After months of valiant organizing, Humboldt County celebrated a people's win by loudly rejecting the corporate-financed recall. However, it has been hard to savor the $250,000 spent, and thousands of hours of organizing invested - just to keep a public official they had already elected.

What if there was a law on the books that prohibited corporations from making financial contributions to the electoral process? Many state constitutions once prohibited corporate campaign contributions, but these laws were whittled away by corporate lawyers.

Judicial interpretations of the Constitution currently prohibit such laws, even though they are obviously essential for protecting communities. However, all democratic movements have at one time faced this dilemma. In the words of abolitionist Fredrick Douglas, "Power concedes nothing without a demand." It is up to us to force the courts to rectify the situation when democracy and justice are deemed "unconstitutional." Just as the movement for women's suffrage and the civil rights movements worked to drive people's rights into the constitution, we need to drive our right for local democracy into the constitution - and drive corporations out.

To that end a group of Humboldt County citizens are currently collecting signatures to run a county-wide ballot initiative entitled the "Humboldt County Ordinance to Protect Our Right to Fair Elections and Local Democracy." The initial language was drafted by Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County, a local organization dedicated to challenging corporate power at the grassroots level. The campaign is being run by a coalition of community organizations and individuals, including many labor unions, environmentalists, peace groups, elected officials, prominent Green Party members, and the Humboldt Democratic Party.

If the initiative passes, it will prohibit non-local corporations from participating in countywide elections. Local corporations are defined as those that have all employees and shareholders (owners) living in the county, as well as the corporate headquarters and primary place of business in the county. Under the law, a "local corporation" cannot be owned by another corporation. The Humboldt Coalition for Community Rights is looking forward to running this initiative in the June 2006 election. In the first six weeks of petitioning the group has already collected over two-thirds of the necessary signatures!

What if communities all across the United States ran similar initiatives in concert with Humboldt County? If we act in solidarity, we can change national policy from the ground up, through the use of municipal civil disobedience against unjust and undemocratic laws. In fact, this might be our only hope to reclaim our elections from corporations.  

Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County (DUHC) educates citizens about the illegitimate seizure of our authority to govern ourselves. They design and implement grassroots strategies that exercise democratic power over corporations and governments. They seek to create a truly democratic society by provoking a non-violent popular uprising against corporate rule in Humboldt County that can serve as a model for other communities across the United States. For more information visit www.DUHC.org or call (707) 269-0984. To learn more about this ballot initiative contact the Humboldt Coalition for Community Rights at www.VoteLocalControl.org or (707) 444-0407.