Residents help petition for constitutional amendment

A group of residents, tired of corporate money influencing state and national elections, is working to gather signatures for a proposed 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Specifically, the amendment seeks to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United vs. F.E.C., which ruled political spending is protected speech under the First Amendment and the government cannot keep a group or corporation from spending money in an election. While those groups cannot directly contribute to a campaign, they can utilize other means, such as political action groups and advertisements, to influence voters.

For Green River's Mike Masteron, he became involved in a state-wide push after attending the National Democratic Convention in Philadelphia. While there, he met Kenneth Chestek, the chairman of Wyoming Promise, a group working within the Cowboy State to promote and support a 28th amendment. Masterson and his wife Cathy Denman would later become Sweetwater County's team leaders for Wyoming Promise after the Wyoming Democrats' meeting in Sheridan.

Friday evening, Masterson and other volunteers stood on the street near Evers Park to speak with people and gather their signatures on a petition supporting a ballot initiative on the 2018 ballot. Masterson said a ballot initiative is the most likely of the two methods available to overturn the Citizens United ruling, the other being replacing members of the U.S. Supreme Court.

"That's not going to happen anytime soon," Masterson said.

Masterson believes an amendment to limit what he calls "nonhuman spending" in campaigns is needed in order to give individual citizens more power in elections, believing it would help level the playing field in national politics.

In an open letter to Wyoming's congressional delegation, Chestek cites opinion polls claiming 76 percent of Americans think wealthy people and companies groups have too much influence in elections, with 80 percent polled believing wealthy special interest groups have too much power and influence in elections.

"Bloomberg conducted a poll in 2015 that showed that 78 percent of Americans had an unfavorable view of the controversial Citizens United vs. F.E.C. decision," Chestek wrote.

Chestek states bills proposing a 28th amendment are in judiciary review in both chambers of Congress. Chestek urges Sen. John Barrasso, Sen. Mike Enzi and Rep. Liz Cheney to support the measures already in Congress.

"Any of these bills would propose an Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would effectively overturn the disastrous Citizens United case and allow for meaningful campaign finance reform," Chestek wrote. "This movement isn't just happening elsewhere across the country, it is also happening here among your constituents."