Boise News

Idaho State Politics

Idaho State Rep. Cronin Will Introduce Memorial Urging Congress to Negate Supreme Court Decision

By Jill Kuraitis, 1-27-10

Rep. Brian Cronin

Last week’s U.S. Supreme Court decision which struck down campaign finance reform legislation troubles Idaho state representative Brian Cronin, D-Boise.

Next week in the House State Affairs committee, Cronin will introduce a memorial protesting the decision and urging Congress to take steps to again limit corporate money in campaigns.

House State Affairs chair Rep. Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, has agreed to hear Cronin’s presentation in committee.

The 5-4 Supreme Court decision did away with several controls and prohibitions on corporate political contributions. The majority opinion states that legislative measures to control corporate spending infringes on corporate First Amendment free speech rights.

The decision now allows corporations and unions to spend unlimited treasury funds on independent campaign expenditures.

A memorial is a non-binding recommendation to a legislative body or government. It carries no force of law, but Cronin thinks it’s important.

Past memorials in the Idaho legislature include 2009’s House Joint Memorial #2, which congratulated the Idaho National Laboratory on its 60th anniversary.

“The decision is a GO sign for a huge flow of special interest money into campaigns,” said Cronin. “It’s so fundamentally wrong for our democracy that we need the words for protest, which is why I wrote the memorial.”

Cronin’s memorial includes these words:
WHEREAS, many corporations are international in their governance and as such, corporate entities have within their power the ability to influence an election to benefit and further the interests of an overseas nation that is not friendly to the United States; and

WHEREAS, all citizens, regardless of wealth, should have an equal opportunity to influence elections and public policy and to run for public office.

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the dissenting opinion, which says the decision is “profoundly misguided.”

Cronin agrees.

“Teddy Roosevelt was the first president to recognize the difference between individual and corporate contributions,” Cronin said. “He was behind the Tillman Act of 1907.”

A 1907 U.S. Senate report on the Tillman Act said, “The evils of the use of corporate money in connection with political elections are so generally recognized that the committee deems it unnecessary to make any argument in favor of the general purpose of this measure. It is in the interest of good government and calculated to promote purity in the selection of public officials.”

The majority opinion, however, takes a different view.

“Speech is an essential mechanism of democracy, for it is the means to hold officials accountable to the people,” wrote Justice Kennedy in the majority opinion. “Political speech must prevail against laws that would suppress it, whether by design or inadvertently.”

The date for Cronin’s presentation of the memorial has not yet been scheduled. Committee schedules are generally published a day or so in advance, and can be found on the legislature’s website.

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