CITY OF SEATTLE
RESOLUTION _________________
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A RESOLUTION supporting Washington Initiative Measure 735, and urging Seattle voters to vote "Yes" on Initiative 735 on the November 8, 2016, general election ballot.
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WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court in its Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission and Buckley v. Valeo decisions construed the spending of money by individuals, corporations, and special interests in elections as protected free speech under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; and
WHEREAS, the Citizens United decision has allowed unlimited donations to go through super political action committees (PACs), giving the nation's wealthiest individuals and corporations undue influence over the outcome of elections and the policies of elected officials; and
WHEREAS, OpenSecrets.org, maintained by the Center for Responsive Politics, reported that super PACs raised $828,224,700 and spent $609,417,654 during the 2012 presidential campaign; and
WHEREAS, The New York Times reported on the electoral spending plans of Charles and David Koch in January 2015, noting that the "Koch Brothers' Budget of $889 Million for 2016 [Was] on Par With Both Parties' Spending"; and
WHEREAS, The Washington Post reported on April 15, 2016, that 50 "mega-donors and their relatives" donated 41 percent of all money raised until February by super PACs for the 2016 presidential election; and
WHEREAS, an August 2016 study by the Wesleyan Media Project found that "there has been a vast increase in the volume of advertising sponsored by outside groups between 2000 and 2016," and that "outside groups aired more ads in the 2012 presidential general election than in any previous presidential election"; and
WHEREAS, Time reported in October 2014 that "Since the mid-1980s, the amount dumped on elections by campaigns and outside groups, as measured by the Federal Election Commission, has grown 555 percent-faster than even the alarming increases in the...
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