Renee Landers spoke to a gathering of 34 members and guests, including Senator Pat Jehlen, at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the League of Women Voters of Winchester on June 8, 2010 at the Imari Restaurant.  A professor at Suffolk University Law School, Landers specializes in constitutional and health law and frequently appears on CNN and NPR.  Her topic for the evening was “Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission:  AFirst Amendment ‘Fig Leaf’ for Buying Elections”.  Renee gave many facts on the increasingly exorbitant amounts spent on campaigns at the presidential and congressional levels:  for example, the biggest spenders are the winners in 86% of Senate and 98% in House elections.  She also supplied amounts given to candidates by corporations, such as the pharmaceutical, petroleum and auto industries.

In the Citizens United decision, the Supreme Court disregarded legal precedent to take a judicially active stand removing restrictions on the freedom of speech on corporations to set new precedent allowing unrestricted corporate contributions in candidate elections.  At issue was whether the non-profit corporation Citizens United could air via video-on-demand a critical film about Hillary Clinton, and whether the group could advertise the film in broadcast ads featuring Clinton’s image, both in apparent violation of the McCain-Feingold Act.  Professor Landers argued that treating corporations as natural citizens with the ability to make political contributions has the potential to destroy the political process because of the vast assets corporations have.  If the Supreme Court continues to take a judicially active role rather than limiting itself to narrow precedents, the Court may disregard precedents in other areas such as abortion and may no longer support protection of the health of the mother.  While Roberts is on record supporting narrow decisions to uphold precedents, it appears that the Court may be moving to be more judicially active.

The business meeting got underway at approximately 6:45 pm with Marilyn Mullane as moderator.  Opening statements were made on the importance of a strong Steering Committee with the goal of 10 members to maintain our current level of activities.  Chris Nixon, a recently elected member of the School Committee, mentioned how helpful the League’s candidate debates were to his election and how much he appreciated the Leagues’s role in involving voters in the local elections.  He spoke about Winchester citizens contacting him to volunteer to work on his campaign after watching the School Committee debate.  He also encouraged the League to parlay our debate success to educate Winchester voters about the League’s programs.  Marilyn Mullane spoke on how the League organizes drives for voter registration of high school seniors.  Judie Muggia spoke about the League’s transition from elected officers to a Steering Committee in order to spread the work among the members and make loads lighter.  She encouraged attendees to consider volunteering for the Steering Committee, indicating that members going off the Committee will be mentors to help new members.

Treasurer Elizabeth Ghoniem’s report highlighted that our recent Jimmy Tingle fundraiser cleared $8,500 net income. 

FY11 Steering Committee members are:  Meredith Conway, Jean Herbert, Gloria Legvold, Susan Lewis and Jo-Ann Michalak.  Meredith Conway was elected Treasurer by unanimous vote. 

Two Door Prizes of autographed copies of Renee Landers book were given to the winning ticket-holders: Peg McKenna and Donna Denio. 

-Jo-Ann Michalak