Cleveland Heights Voters Will Weigh-In On Citizens United Ruling

Cleveland Heights voters will decide whether they support or oppose the controversial Citizens United Supreme Court ruling at the ballot box in November.

The Cleveland Heights City Council voted this week to send a ballot issue to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections opposing the Citizens United ruling, which loosened corporate spending restrictions on election issues.

The ballot issue was championed by the local chapter of Move To Amend, a local chapter of a national effort to repeal the Supreme Court Ruling.

After the vote, residents who participated in the move to amend petition drive applauded and waved American flags. Then they posed for a quick photo with city council members, who have supported their efforts.

"It's critical our elected officials hear directly from we the people in Cleveland Heights that corporate rule and influence due to political money from a wealthy few must end, " said Greg Coleridge, a Cleveland Heights resident who coordinates the Ohio Move to Amend group, in a news release.

Move To Amend has spent much of the summer gathering petitions, which they into the city in early July. They collected 2,241 certified signatures, enough to have the item on the ballot, said Finance Director Tom Raguz.

The ballot language calls for Congress to amend the Constitution to establish that "corporations are not people and money is not speech."

If passed by the voters in November, the ballot issue would require Cleveland Heights to hold an annual public hearing in which residents can discuss the impact of corporate money on the latest election.

After the public hearing, the city of Cleveland Heights would send a letter to the Ohio congressional delegation informing them that Cleveland Heights residents oppose Citizens United and call on a Constitutional amendment.