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MINUTES <br />Eugene City Council <br />McNutt Room —City Hall <br />777 Pearl Street—Eugene, Oregon <br />February 8, 2012 <br />Noon <br />COUNCILORS PRESENT: George Brown, Pat Farr, Betty Taylor, Andrea Ortiz, George Poling, <br />Chris Pryor, Alan Zelenka. <br />COUNCILORS ABSENT: Mike Clark. <br />Her Honor Mayor Kitty Piercy called the February 8, 2012, work session of the Eugene City Council to <br />order. <br />A. WORK SESSION <br />Resolution 5055 Requesting that the United States Congress Refer to the States an <br />Amendment to the US Constitution Declaring that Corporations Do Not Possess the <br />Constitutional Rights that Natural Persons Possess <br />Mr. Zelenka presented proposed Resolution 5055, which advocated for a constitutional amendment to <br />overturn the United States Supreme Court decision in Citizens United versus the Federal Election <br />Commission. He expressed support for such an amendment as restoring the voice of the people, which <br />was being crowded out by the voices of the very wealthy. Mr. Zelenka asked the council to postpone <br />action on the resolution until February 15, 2012. <br />Mr. Farr believed the council was elected to make decisions for Eugene and when it diverged from that <br />mission it confused the citizens. He did not support the resolution. <br />Mr. Brown did not object to the suggested delay. He supported the resolution. Mr. Brown asked why the <br />resolution mentioned unions. He did not believe the magnitude of union campaign contributions was at <br />the same scale as that of corporations. <br />Speaking to Mr. Brown's concern, Mr. Poling recalled he had e- mailed the council earlier in the week <br />requesting that the resolution be modified by the inclusion of unions and special interests. He said the <br />Supreme Court's decision was specific to those groups and Mr. Poling thought because of that the <br />revision was warranted. He believed money had a negative influence on campaigns at all levels and <br />suggested the council schedule a discussion on local campaign financing. <br />Speaking to a concern voiced by Mr. Poling about the need for uniform campaign contribution limits for <br />all elections, City Attorney Glenn Klein anticipated that the United States Congress would establish <br />uniform limits for federal elections in all states and states would determine what, if any, limits to adopt <br />for state and local elections. <br />Mr. Pryor concurred with the revisions suggested by Mr. Poling and supported language that mirrored the <br />Supreme Court's decision to the degree possible. He questioned the inclusion of Section (L), which <br />MINUTES— Eugene City Council February 8, 2012 Page 1 <br />Work Session <br />