Corporate Personhood Challanged on Ballot

As of now, Montana voters will be able to vote in the coming election on whether or not the state should take a position that corporations aren't people and that money isn't political speech.

The ballot measure is known as initiative I-166 and opponents of the measure, like Republican Senator Dave Lewis say the wording of the measure is too vague and could be economically dangerous.

State Senator Dave Lewis on why I-166 should be removed from the ballot:

Lewis says that if the measure is trying to target the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizen's United decision then it is asking the state to do something unconstitutional. Opponents of the ballot initiative are currently asking the Montana Supreme Court to Remove the measure from November's ballot.

The Following text is from the policy section of initiative I-166:

(1) It is policy of the state of Montana that each elected and appointed official in Montana, whether acting on a state or federal level, advance the philosophy that corporations are not human beings with constitutional rights and that each such elected and appointed official is charged to act to prohibit, whenever possible, corporations from making contributions to or expenditures on the campaigns of candidates or ballot issues. As part of this policy, each such elected and appointed official in Montana is charged to promote actions that accomplish a level playing field in election spending.

(2) When carrying out the policy under subsection (1), Montana’s elected and appointed officials are generally directed as follows:

(a) that the people of Montana regard money as property, not speech;

(b) that the people of Montana regard the rights under the United States Constitution as rights of human beings, not rights of corporations;

(c) that the people of Montana regard the immense aggregation of wealth that is accumulated by corporations using advantages provided by the government to be corrosive and distorting when used to advance the political interests of corporations;

(d) that the people of Montana intend that there should be a level playing field in campaign spending that allows all individuals, regardless of wealth, to express their views to one another and their government; and

(e) that the people of Montana intend that a level playing field in campaign spending includes limits on overall campaign expenditures and limits on large contributions to or expenditures for the benefit of any campaign by any source, including corporations, individuals, or political committees.