Correction appended
Marlena Luhr is sick and tired of Super PACs.
Luhr, a sophmore in the School of Public Affairs, created a petition to end Super PACs called “Stop Super PACs,” which she hopes to send to the White House if it gains enough signatures.
“It is not right to have Americans in the dark about who is funding their candidates and for candidates to outsource their campaign fundraising to corporations,” she said.
The Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission Supreme Court decision allowed corporations to use treasury funds to contribute to political advertising through Super PACs, which may raise and spend unlimited amounts of money with limited oversight.
"Luhr hosts the petition on the White House’s “We The People,” an application that allows activists to gather support and signatures for their cause of choice. Once the petition gains 25,000 signatures, the Obama Administration will issue a response."
Luhr said an official response would bring national attention to the opinion of ending Super PACs.
“With all the noise nonprofits have been making about this issue, a response [from the White House] would not go unnoticed,” Luhr said.
The petition calls for a constitutional amendment that would require any organization that produced campaign ads to limit their spending to $5,000 per election cycle.
Luhr came up with the idea last year when she joined the AU chapter of the Roosevelt Institute, a nonprofit organization devoted to developing progressive ideas and bold leadership. The Roosevelt Institute staff encouraged her to publish her thoughts in their 10 Ideas Journal.
Getting a response from the White House is tough, since petitioners need to raise 25,000 signatures in 30 days.
Luhr is working with student-led organizations at 12 other schools, including Columbia, Tufts, Wake Forest, Michigan State and Georgia Tech University.
However, her biggest help has come from Scranage. Both Scranage and the Roosevelt staff helped contribute to writing the policy, Luhr said.
Scranage, a sophomore in SPA, is Luhr’s lead contributor on the petition and helped refine her vision.
AU’s Roosevelt Institute chapter held an event Feb. 6 in Butler Boardroom showing two documentaries about the Supreme Court decision in order to raise awareness about the case. A student discussion followed the showing.
A previous version of this article inaccurately said Luhr got the idea to use the "We the People" application from Scranage.
