New York, NY— Congressman Charles Rangel today thanked the New York City Council for approving a resolution that calls for a constitutional amendment to overturn the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling.  The Council approved the resolution during its session on January 4, 2012.

The New York City Council vote is part of a citywide effort to bring attention to this issue.  New York localities spotlighted this issue on June 14, 2012 during Resolutions Week. The Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling gave corporations, wealthy individuals and outside influences the power to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns. Since the Supreme Court’s decision Super PACs and corporations have spent record amounts of money in elections nationwide. Corporate spending has soared the 2010 election cycle by 427%, reaching totals of $294.2 million. The decision allows for outside organizations to have an impact on who is elected to our local offices.

“The Supreme Court decided that corporations have the same free speech rights as individuals, which is entirely untrue,” said Rangel.  “This is the fundamental problem with our politics and it’s great to see state and local governments standing up against special interest’s control over our elections.  It is my belief that government is to represent individuals.”

Rangel welcomed the groundswell of support from hundreds of elected officials and organizations for reversing this ruling.  Members of Congress have introduced 20 constitutional amendments to reverse Citizens United, as have 21 state legislatures and more than 150 cities.

As of May 23, 2012, 555 groups organized as Super PACs have reported receiving $216,143,964 and spending $112,737,727 in the 2012 election cycle.   Overall spending in the 2012 election is predicted to reach up to $8 billion.

“The Citizens United decision is simply a threat to our democracy, with absolutely no grounds of justification. Our local elections should only be driven by voters who fall within its district. I find it unacceptable and troubling that organizations have the ability to decide the turnout of our local elections. I am proud that the New York City Council has acted in favor of the people by approving this resolution. ” concluded Rangel.