33 to go!

...................................................................................................................................................................
Vermont Calls to Take Money out of Politics
By Steph Machado, May 2, 2014

The Vermont Legislature became the first to pass a resolution calling for a Constitutional Convention to change the country's campaign finance laws.

The effort is focused around overturning Citizen's United, a 2010 decision that equated money with free speech, allowing for an influx of money into political campaigns.

A more recent decision, known as the McCutcheon decision, struck down overall limits of campaign contributions.

There are only two ways to overturn a Supreme Court decision: Congress needs to pass a constitutional amendment, or a coalition of at least 34 states need to form a convention.

"The fact is that because of the Citizen's United decision, because of McCutcheon, and other Supreme Court decisions, there's really no other way to resolve this problem," said State Sen. Ginny Lyons (D-Chittenden), who sponsored the resolution.

Lyons says she wants it to be more clear that states have the right to their own campaign finance laws. Vermont recently passed a campaign finance law that was seven years in the making.

Vermont was the first state to pass such a resolution, so 33 others need to join in.
...................................................................................................................................................................