Democratic National Committee Deputy Chairman Keith Ellison said he liked the concept of requiring corporations to renew their charters regularly by going through international "public representatives."
The remarks on corporate oversight from Ellison, who is currently running to be Minnesota's attorney general, came during an interview with far-left Rabbi Michael Lerner.
Lerner asked if the congressman agreed with an idea that corporations making more than $50 million should have to receive a new charter every five years. He said corporations would "have to prove a satisfactory history of environmental and social responsibility to a jury of ordinary citizens who get to hear testimony not only from the people where they are located, but anybody all over the world ... any community that has been affected by the operations of that corporation, get to testify before this jury ... [or] they can do it on the internet."
"And the corporations have to prove to the jury that they actually are working in an environmentally responsible and socially responsible way, or they face the possibility of losing their corporate charter," Lerner added.
Ellison responded positively to the proposal.
"Let me tell you this, I like the concept and here's why: a charter is in effect a public license to operate a corporate entity," Ellison said before defending limited scope licenses.
"We're in a world now where, you know, corporate responsibility I think is something we're in much greater need for," he added.
"I like the idea of limiting a corporate charter and time," Ellison repeated. "I like the idea of a corporation needing to make a case to a group of citizen jurors that its corporate charter should be renewed. I like that. I like the concept."
In his response, Ellison did not comment directly on the international aspect of this proposed "jury" as Lerner mentioned, which could potentially threaten national sovereignty.