Occupy Redlands Resolution Finally on Agenda

After five months of near-non stop pushing, Occupy Redlands is celebrating the announcement that their resolution denouncing Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission had finally earned a spot on the Redlands City Council agenda.

The resolution is scheduled for discussion during the communications section of the agenda Tuesday.

“We’re looking forward to having a continuing discussion with the council on this,” said Keith Jackson, a committee member with Occupy Redlands.

Occupiers have been after the council to address the issue. They have attended every City Council meeting since Dec. 20 and read the resolution aloud, according to an Occupy news release.

They had also addressed the issue during Coffee with the Council events.

The resolution is similar to the one passed by city leaders in Portland, Ore., in January. Occupy Redlands had reworked the resolution so it was specific to their city, Jackson said.

Occupiers say the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision - a Supreme Court decision that prohibits limits on independent spending for political purposes by corporations and unions – should be struck down because it grants corporations the same rights as people.

“We’d like for them to approve it, of course,” Jackson said. “But we’ve only asked that it be discussed.”

Occupy had gotten the support of several groups, including Citizens Action for Peace and the Redlands Good Neighbor Coalition.

A call to Mayor Pete Aguilar seeking comment was not immediately returned. But he and several council members told Occupiers he did not know that a resolution on the city level was appropriate.

“I have read it and my effort has been to share it with other members of the community that I respect and to get feedback from them,” Mayor Pro-Tem Paul Foster said during the March 17 Coffee with the Council.

“I’ve gotten some mixed feedback, some positive, some negative,” he said. “At this point I have to say I haven’t made up my mind yet entirely how I feel about it.”

“There’s no guarantee there will be an up or down vote,” Jackson said. “It’s under communications where it can be discussed. It could be tabled. We don’t know. But certainly having it on the agenda, we are happy about that.”