All Six Island Towns Vote to Reject Citizens United and Restore Free Speech

With the unanimous assent of the Aquinnah Town Meeting, voting to support Senate Bill 772 and reject the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling, all six island towns have now joined the call to the U.S. Congress to initiate a constitutional amendment.

Vineyard legislators Senator Daniel Wolf and Representative Timothy Madden, along with their Massachusetts colleagues, are working to pass a bill asking Congress to overturn the January 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court ruling. This ruling now allows corporations and lobby groups, through their SuperPACs, to spend unlimited and undisclosed amounts of money in support of their chosen candidates.  

Since the Citizens United ruling went into effect two years ago, election campaign spending by corporations has dwarfed the total of election campaign spending in any previous decade.

An ABC/Washington Post poll conducted in January 2010, and cited in Harvard’s  Kennedy School Review, showed that 80 percent of Americans disapproved of the Citizens United ruling, including 76 percent of Republicans.

In support of Senate Bill 772, The Martha's Vineyard Committee to Overturn Citizens United has worked with each of the island towns to present a measure at their annual town meetings offering island residents a chance to voice their opinions on the Citizens United ruling and the impact of big corporate money in elections.

On Saturday, May 12, island selectmen, county commissioners and the island voting public will recognize Senator Daniel Wolf and Representative Timothy Madden at a brief ceremony to be held outside the promptly at 10:45 AM. This ceremony recognizes their committed efforts in support of Senate Bill 772 - Restoring Free Speech.