Jacksonport Signs On For Referendum Opposing Citizens United

On Sept. 26, Jacksonport became the 10th of Door County’s 19 local municipalities this year to pass a resolution supporting campaign and election finance reform. The resolutions ask the Door County Board of Supervisors to support a statewide referendum that would let residents vote as to whether Wisconsin should become the 20th state calling for an amendment to combat unlimited outside money in our elections. The goal is to overturn the 2010 Supreme Court 5-4 ruling referred to as Citizens United. That ruling said money is speech, allowing corporations and unions to spend unlimited sums in support of candidates. The Jacksonport resolution, along with the others, also calls upon Door County’s State Representative Kitchens and Senator Lasee to support the bills that are already sitting in legislative committees and which call for the referendum to be on the state ballot in November 2018. The first step is to get the bills out of committee so they can be publicly discussed by the legislature. The 10 municipalities that have now passed local Resolutions so far represent 62.5 percent of Door County’s population according to the 2010 census. The municipal vote totals so far are 43 Yes and 1 No (with two absences). Door County United to Amend said it will continue working to approach the other nine towns and villages to consider the resolution. They will also continue outreach presentations throughout the county to inform voters about the problems caused by the billions of dollars that have poured into our recent elections and urging voters to speak up, speak out and vote on this issue. For more information contact: Jim Black, [email protected] (Sister Bay) or Dan Powers, [email protected] (Sturgeon Bay).