CAMDEN — Citizens are asking Camden leaders to help overturn a 2010 Supreme Court decision governing corporate and union donations to political campaigns. The citizens have submitted a petition to the Select Board to consider at its Jan. 8 regularly scheduled meeting, when the board will also review a legal settlement with town land owners, and resume discussion of its own code of conduct.

The petition's goal is to amend the U.S. Constitution to temper unlimited corporate spending in elections. Various organizations around the country are picking up steam to support seven bills that seek a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's landmark Citizens United vs. FEC (Federal Elections Commission) decision.

Camden's Select Board is being asked to support a resolution that states: "Shall the town vote to ask the Maine Legislature and Maine's Congressional delegation to support a U.S. Constitutional amendment that states that money is not speech and that corporations are not persons under the U.S. Constitution." The petition was canvassed by Camden resident Barbara Melchiski in November.

Residents of Monroe passed a Local Self-Governance Ordinance June 14, 2010, stating that "no corporation doing business within the Town of Monroe shall be recognized as a 'natural person' under the United States or Maine Constitutions or laws of the United States or Maine."

The town of Freedom also passed a nonbinding vote last March to send a letter to Barack Obama urging the repeal of the Citizens United vs. FEC decision.

The Citizens United vs. FEC Supreme Court decision ruled that the First Amendment allows unrestricted political donations by corporations and unions to campaigns. The decision essentially limited the 2002 Campaign Reform Act, which banned soft money contributions to parties, which were previously free of regulations applied to candidate contributions.

Six years later, the Citizens United vs. FEC case arose when Citizens United produced a 90-minute documentary, Hillary: The Move, focusing on Hillary Clinton's record in the Senate, her role as First Lady, and her run for president. Citizens United wanted to air the film, thought to be in violation of the 2002 Campaign Reform Act, and the Supreme Court subsequently ruled 5 to 4 that the Act violated the First Amendment.

That decision has been controversial since it was and there are growing efforts to overturn it.

The Select Board will convene at 6:30 p.m. in the Washington Street Meeting Room, and will also discuss a proposed legal settlement between the town of Camden and C. Edward and Sylvia Libby. The town has maintained that a series of land transfers on Start Road beginning in June 2010 raised noncompliance questions with state and municipal subdivision laws. The Libbys, according to the agreement that is on file at the Camden Town Office, have maintained that any technical noncompliance was unintentional. Since then, the town and the Libbys have crafted an agreement that specifies:

1) The town won't take enforcement action against the Libbys or their successors;

2) No building permits or other approvals will be denied;

3) The Libbys will pay $1,000 in attorneys fees related to the 2012 review of the issue;

4) The Libbys are to pay a civil penalty to the town of $2,000 "relating to the premature offering of lots for sale in violation of subdivision law...."

In other business

The Select Board will appoint a citizen to serve out a term on the Five Town CSD Board of Directors and School Administrative District 28 that had been vacated by Robert Lawson. Lawson was chairman of the Five Town CSD, which governs Camden Hills Regional High School, but stepped down when he took a job that requires extended time spent out of Maine. Gretchen Richards, of Rockport, is the current chairman of the board.

Camden citizens who submitted interest in serving out the term include John Lewis, David Lyman, Lynda Chilton and Dale Landrith, Sr.

Landrith said in his application letter that, being retired, he has time to give back to the community, and has run for election to a school board position in the recent past. He also said he has attended many school board meetings over the past few years and is familiar with some of the processes and people.

Lewis said he served on the boards and was chairman of the CSD for two years. He said he has a great interest in all levels of education, and in public education in particular. "I am interested in efficient use of resources to provide the best balance of rigorous academic and practical technical education of our children."

Chilton said she has sat on a variety of boards, teaches religious education for the middle school at Our Lady of Good Hope in Camden, has been active in raising funds for sports teams, and has been "involved in making our community and schools the very best they can be."

Lyman said his expertise is in alternative education, program and curriculum design, new technologies, public relations and leadership. He founded the Maine Photographic Workshops in Rockport in 1973 and said he has been "instrumental in the development of the 'Transformational Education Experience."

The Select Board will hear a report from the Comprehensive Plan Committee, and review a letter concerning the 2013 Walk for National Multiple Sclerosis on April 27, from 9 a.m. to noon. The walk is five miles (or one) and starts and ends at the St. Thomas Episcopal Church, with approximately 150 people expected. The funds raised go toward supporting national research and providing programs to approximately 19,000 people in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.

And, the board will resume its discussion of its own code of conduct.

And, the board will resume discussion of its own code of conduct.

The Select Board began talking about the crafting of a code of conduct for itself in November.

Lynda Clancy can be reached at lyndaclancy@PenBayPilot.com; 706-6657