The Citizens United Working Group of Occupy Boston will host a Community Gathering and forum Monday, January 2nd at the Community Church, 565 Boylston Street in Boston. This event is the kick off to a month-long campaign designed to inspire and educate the greater public about corporate influence over public policy.  The program will begin at 7:30, but guests are invited to arrive early for refreshments and social networking.  Featured speakers include MA Sen. Jamie Elderidge, who has introduced many of the bills that support campaign finance reforms in the State House, and Arthur Macewan from Dollars and Sense and author of the Wealth-Power Connection.

Macewan will address the larger problem of corporate personhood and the myriad of problems it has created with respect to money in politics.  Sen. Elderidge will be there to discuss some of the related bills and resolutions that he is sponsoring in the State House.  This event is open to the public.  The speakers will be followed by a facilitated open discussion geared toward building a vision for what steps we can take to solve these problems.  Getting corporate and special interest money out of politics is an important issue for people across the political spectrum.  Everyone is encouraged to attend and participate in building a unifying strategy to affect change.

The goal of the evening is to introduce people to the campaign finance issues surrounding the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Citizens United vs FEC. Among the issues discussed will be the idea of Corporate Personhood, which as a result of several misguided court decisions prior to Citizen’s United, has given corporations rights and protections that the Founders intended only for people. Corporate Personhood has come at a terrible cost to our democracy–especially with regard to the financing of elections and the influence of money in politics.

In addition, campaign financing and fundraising have become huge distractions for our elected officials. In order to raise enough money to be competitive, candidates are forced to pander to big money corporate donors, lobbyists and PACs which often puts them directly at odds with wishes of the people they are supposed to represent. The Citizen’s United decision, in which the Supreme Court ruled that corporations have a First Amendment right to spend unlimited — and unreported — amounts of money to influence elections, has further undermined democracy.

Getting corporate and special interest money out of politics is a unifying issue for people across the political spectrum. Fixing this problem is essential if we want our representatives to be responsive to the 99% and not just their deep-pocketed corporate backers.

This Community Forum on “Citizens United vs FEC” is part of a month-long educational campaign that will culminate with a two-day “Rally & Summit to Unite Citizens for Democracy” on January 20 and 21. The rally will bring together organizations that have been working specifically on these issues for years, like the Coffee Party, Free Speech for People, Move to Amend and Rootstrikers, along with groups like the MA League of Women Voters and the Nurses Union that also want to have a voice in this debate. For more information about any of these events, email citizensunited@occupyboston.org or occupybostonmedia@gmail.com.