An Amherst organization is behind a newly proposed constitutional amendment put forth by U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern that would reduce the influence wealthy donors and large corporations have on elections in the United States.

The proposed joint resolution, known as The Free and Fair Elections Amendment, would limit the amount a person could contribute to any individual political congressional or presidential campaign to $100, and limit the amount of total spending in an election cycle by an individual to $1,000. In addition, it would ban any corporation or related entity from spending any amount of money to influence an election.

The text of the amendment was developed by Free Speech For People, a nonprofit organization led by John Bonifaz, a lawyer and activist based in Amherst. The organization was formed in the wake of Citizens United v. FEC, the Supreme Court case that determined that corporations, labor unions and nonprofits could essentially spend unlimited amounts of money on political candidates and campaigns on First Amendment grounds.

“Too often, the case is that big money donors have their voices heard over the voices of ordinary voters and people across the country,” Bonifaz said in an interview. “The [Citizens United] ruling has been a disaster for the promise of democracy in this country, and it must be overturned with this kind of bold constitutional amendment.”

Should the amendment ever take effect, it would require Congress to enact legislation to limit the amount that candidates may spend on their own campaigns and to provide public funding for any candidate who qualifies for a congressional or presidential ballot. Failure to enact any such legislation within a year of the amendment’s passing would result in members of Congress losing all financial compensation.

According to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that publishes campaign finance data, the 100 largest individual donors spent a combined $1.3 billion on campaigns and candidates in the latest election cycle in 2022. The amount given along party lines was fairly even, with around $6 billion going to Democrats and $7 billion to Republicans. McGovern himself raised around $1 million in the last election season, an amount consistent with previous election years in which he ran.

In an interview, McGovern, who has long advocated for campaign finance reform, said that the time to reduce the amount of money in politics is now.

“People ask me all the time, how come big pharmaceutical companies can charge so much for lifesaving drugs, or why can’t we protect communities from the pollution of certain corporations?” McGovern said. “Well, at the end of the day, you can trace it to the fact that big money is playing a bigger role in policy than regular people.”

Trying to get such a constitutional amendment approved will certainly be an uphill battle. It requires two-thirds approval in both the U.S. House and Senate, and needs to be approved by 38 of the 50 states. The last constitutional amendment to be passed was in 1992, more than 30 years ago, and the one before that was in 1971, more than 50 years ago.

In a divided Congress, with Republicans controlling the House and Democrats the Senate, both by slim majorities, such a battle is likely to be even tougher. Free Speech for People is also looking for U.S. senators to sponsor the bill. But Bonifaz says that no matter the challenge, he hopes the amendment will spark a national debate about the influence money has over politics.

“Overwhelmingly, the polling on this has shown that the American people across the political spectrum want to overturn Citizens United and support a constitutional amendment to do so,” he said. “It really is a question of building the grassroots movement to make clear to the U.S. Congress that this is what the people want.”

McGovern agreed with the sentiment, saying that it was time to start building political support to get such an amendment passed.

“To be considered a serious candidate, you have to raise millions and millions of dollars, all that time chasing money, trying not to offend big corporate donors,” he said. “It has a negative impact on policy. And quite frankly, we should want our elected officials to spend more time listening to people and doing the people’s business.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.

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