The draconian Citizens United ruling declares that corporations are people. It allows them to donate as much as they want to any candidate or issue at any elections without immediately reporting. I attended the demonstration against the Citizens United ruling on January 20, 2012 reported by Deanna Pan in the Dispatch under the headline: “Occupy protesters pounce on Kilroy at rally.” “About a dozen members of the Occupy Columbus protest interrupted her speech------.“  Ms. Pan and I were standing near the four ruffians who shouted. As soon as they quit, Representative Kilroy continued her presentation.

When the Court makes law as it did in this case, a law passed by Congress and signed by the president supersedes the ruling. An example is the Ledbetter Law. It is easier to pass a law than to amend the U. S. Constitution, so I favor that action.  Kilroy co-sponsored a Bill to invalidate the Citizens United ruling in the last session of Congress. It passed the House of Representatives, which was controlled by Democrats, but it was blocked by Republicans in the Senate using the filibuster rule. It may be possible to pass such a law now because some Republicans are disenchanted with the Citizens United ruling. An example is the “Lunch Pail” Republicans in the Indiana House of Representatives who are working to prevent Governor Daniel’s attempt to pass a right-to-work law. Corporate PACs are providing large amount of money for ads to help Daniels pass the law.

It may be easier to pass a law requiring PAC’s to include in the ads what corporations are supplying the funds and a statement of their CEO that they approve the ad. That would be a deterrent.