Murray Hill PR Firm Plans (Satirical) Run For Maryland Congressional Seat

First Posted: 01-28-10 06:25 PM   |   Updated: 01-28-10 06:41 PM

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Corporations are taking note of the impact that the Supreme Court decision to remove limits on corporate campaign spending will have on federal elections. One is even taking matters a step further -- with tongue firmly in cheek.

On its website, the progressive PR firm Murray Hill has announced its satirical plan to run for Congress, in what it calls the "First Test of 'Corporate Personhood' In Politics."

From their press release:

"Until now...corporate interests had to rely on campaign contributions and influence peddling to achieve their goals in Washington. But thanks to an enlightened Supreme Court, now we can eliminate the middle-man and run for office ourselves."

Murray Hill Inc. is believed to be the first "corporate person" to exercise its constitutional right to run for office. As Supreme Court observer Lyle Denniston wrote on SCOTUSblog, "If anything, the decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission conferred new dignity on corporate "persons," treating them -- under the First Amendment free-speech clause -- as the equal of human beings."

Murray Hill agrees. "The strength of America," according to the firm's release, "is in the boardrooms, country clubs and Lear jets of America's great corporations. We're saying to Wal-Mart, AIG and Pfizer, if not you, who? If not now, when?"

Murray Hill's campaign announcement even comes complete with their first official campaign commercial.

Watch The Murray Hill Campaign Announcement:

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Corporations are taking note of the impact that the Supreme Court decision to remove limits on corporate campaign spending will have on federal elections. One is even taking matters a step further -- ...
Corporations are taking note of the impact that the Supreme Court decision to remove limits on corporate campaign spending will have on federal elections. One is even taking matters a step further -- ...
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- kucheka I'm a Fan of kucheka 4 fans permalink
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Careful, Murray Hill! This video is being posted everywhere. I didn't know it was tongue in cheek, and if I didn't run across this article, I would have walked away thinking Murray Hill was one of the bad guys!

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 10:26 AM on 1/29/2010
- kucheka I'm a Fan of kucheka 4 fans permalink
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...meaning, I didn't know it was produced by Murray Hill.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 10:58 AM on 1/29/2010
- jon86 I'm a Fan of jon86 28 fans permalink

Remember Stephen Colbert for President sponsored by Doritos? Also, has anybody seen Idiocracy...

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 09:40 AM on 1/29/2010
- FightTheLies I'm a Fan of FightTheLies 75 fans permalink

Loved that movie. I feel that the movie would come to life if left to the right wing uneducated Republicans and sponsored by people like Fuddruckers.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 09:50 AM on 1/29/2010
- Grunty1 I'm a Fan of Grunty1 245 fans permalink

Are we sure this is truly satrical? The bad thing is that someone will probably end up challenging this in court and this SC will rule that it IS legal!

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 09:27 AM on 1/29/2010
- William Klein - Huffpost Blogger I'm a Fan of William Klein 4 fans permalink
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Thanks for the coverage of our historic campaign. I'm the campaign manager and a Huffington Post blogger. I'll be putting up regular updates from the campaign trail here. Here are the first two:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-klein/supreme-court-ruling-spur_b_437871.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-klein/corporate-persons-get-sho_b_440468.html

Corporations are people too!

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 08:06 AM on 1/29/2010
- kmich718 I'm a Fan of kmich718 36 fans permalink
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Excellent! Please keep this going....I would love to see Murray Hill Corp the new senator from Maryland.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 08:38 AM on 1/29/2010
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Love it. This is great. Hope to see you on the Daily Show and Colbert.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 10:38 AM on 1/29/2010
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Are you really going to try to get on the ballot? I hope so.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 10:42 AM on 1/29/2010
- Billyguitar I'm a Fan of Billyguitar 5 fans permalink

Maybe a couple of corporations should apply for a marriage license for the purpose of adopting another corporation?

This corporate personhood and the SCOTUS decision need to go! Campaign finance should only be done publicly. No private money at all. A small tax would do it and get businesses meddling fingers out of our lawmaker's pockets.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 07:57 AM on 1/29/2010
- carlgt1 I'm a Fan of carlgt1 23 fans permalink
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they could be "male" corporations and test the gay marriage laws? I'd bet that "gay corporations" would be able to get gay marriage passed with their power & money; that real people couldn't get done!

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 08:46 AM on 1/29/2010
- New ArkayMI I'm a Fan of ArkayMI 4 fans permalink

I am sure GOP will come up Defense Of Corporate Marriage Act (DOCMA not to be confused with dogma) to make Gay corporations from getting married. Dems will try to keep government out of the company bed/boardrooms.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 12:46 PM on 1/29/2010
- Mahi Joe I'm a Fan of Mahi Joe 67 fans permalink

If George Orwell were still with us today he would be writting a number one selling sequel to his 1984 novel.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 07:42 AM on 1/29/2010
- carlgt1 I'm a Fan of carlgt1 23 fans permalink
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I've lurked on right-wing websites such as FreeRepublic, have you noticed that they love to quote George Orwell as if he would be on their side? A lot of stuff as if Obama is "Big Brother" and quotes taken out of context to support tea-partiers as heroic etc.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 08:47 AM on 1/29/2010
- Mahi Joe I'm a Fan of Mahi Joe 67 fans permalink

This is very timely since I am reading 1984 for the third time. I am beginning to think that the likes of hannity, limbaugh etc are the new and impoved "Thought Police".

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 09:01 AM on 1/29/2010
- Grunty1 I'm a Fan of Grunty1 245 fans permalink

One thing you will notice hanging out on this site: Rushpublican types LOVE to project their own failings onto others.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 09:29 AM on 1/29/2010
- waitforme I'm a Fan of waitforme 21 fans permalink

Perhaps after corporations run for office they could be investigated for unethical conduct and put in jail.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 07:35 AM on 1/29/2010
- fr33d0mhawk I'm a Fan of fr33d0mhawk 45 fans permalink

Whoever lives in the district of this PR firm, they need to vote them in office, just to show a message to the activist SC judges,all of whom hate America every bit as much asOsama Bin Lades does.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 07:35 AM on 1/29/2010
- kapalabhati I'm a Fan of kapalabhati 23 fans permalink
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Pretty funny.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 07:02 AM on 1/29/2010
- LibVikingWarrior I'm a Fan of LibVikingWarrior 157 fans permalink
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Retiring Senators

Ted Kaufman (D) of Delaware
Kit Bond (R) of Missouri
Sam Brownback (R) of Kansas
Mel Martinez (R) of Florida
George Voinovich (R) of Ohio

Democratic incumbents

Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas
Barbara Boxer of California
Michael Bennet of Colorado
Christopher Dodd of Connecticut
Daniel Inouye of Hawaii
Roland Burris of Illinois
Evan Bayh of Indiana
Barbara Mikulski of Maryland
Harry Reid of Nevada
Kirsten Gillibrand of New York
Chuck Schumer of New York
Byron Dorgan of North Dakota
Ron Wyden of Oregon
Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania
Patrick Leahy of Vermont
Patty Murray of Washington
Russ Feingold of Wisconsin

Republican incumbents

Richard Shelby of Alabama
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
John McCain of Arizona
Johnny Isakson of Georgia
Mike Crapo of Idaho
Chuck Grassley of Iowa
Jim Bunning of Kentucky
David Vitter of Louisiana
Judd Gregg of New Hampshire
Richard Burr of North Carolina
Tom Coburn of Oklahoma
Jim DeMint of South Carolina
John Thune of South Dakota
Bob Bennett of Utah


There are about TEN 10 Turncoat or Obstructionist senators we have a real shot at replacing !!

get out there ...canvass!...donate ....support ...call ...VOTE !!!


KEEP THE FAITH PROGRESSIVES!!! FIGHT!! DO NOT GIVE UP!!!

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 06:59 AM on 1/29/2010
- jon86 I'm a Fan of jon86 28 fans permalink

Dorgan is retiring. Get your facts straight. I'm not sure what your point is, but if you run more liberal candidates instead of the moderates who are in red states, you then lose that state to right-wingers.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 09:39 AM on 1/29/2010
- Mahi Joe I'm a Fan of Mahi Joe 67 fans permalink

I really hope this PR firm follows through and tries to place the company name on a ballot just to see the SCOTUS squirm. Many many laugh at this suggestion but it would result in bringing this ludicrious idea of treating a corporation like a person out in the open and force the courts to address this issue.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 06:23 AM on 1/29/2010
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Well, they won't. But wouldn't it be worth having someone in each state form a corporation (do it cheap on line) and then get the signatures to run for Rep or Senate.

I mean make a statement for real!

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 07:22 AM on 1/29/2010
- Mahi Joe I'm a Fan of Mahi Joe 67 fans permalink

Sometimes taking something to the extreme helps point out how ridiculous something really is. I seriously would like to see some corporation try to put their name on a ballot just to see how the courts would rule and if the courts would contridict their own rulings.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 07:37 AM on 1/29/2010
- Realization I'm a Fan of Realization 37 fans permalink

Actually, they should state their ultimate aspiration - being named as a Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. That would be after their political career, of course.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 07:51 AM on 1/29/2010
- qthedancer I'm a Fan of qthedancer 11 fans permalink
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Brave, courageous and bold...and funny!

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 04:29 AM on 1/29/2010
- jp5472 I'm a Fan of jp5472 29 fans permalink
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Beautiful!

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 03:38 AM on 1/29/2010
- 342HP I'm a Fan of 342HP 3 fans permalink
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Which District? I'm in if it's the 6th. Roscoe Bartlett needs to go.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 02:48 AM on 1/29/2010
- tralbry I'm a Fan of tralbry 34 fans permalink

I wonder if the Senator from Aetna is outraged over his future competition in Corporanetticut.

    Reply     Favorite     Flag as abusive Posted 02:01 AM on 1/29/2010
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