For immediate release: June 23, 2016
Contact: Doug Jambard-Sweet 419-351-2958,
KAPTUR SIGNS ON: CORPORATIONS ARE NOT PEOPLE
& MONEY IS NOT SPEECH!
Pictured: a portion of the Ohio Move to Amend delegation meeting with Sherrod Brown's Legislative Aide, Kia Hamadanchy. Pictured l to r: Justin Hamlin, Doug Jambard-Sweet, Mary Sue Gmeiner, Kia
Hamadanchy, Greg Coleridge, Frank Hribar, Lucas Stoyanoff, Eddie Smith, and Carole Jambard-Sweet
On May 9th, over 60 Move to Amend activists took to Capitol Hill to lobby with our senate and congressional representatives for the We the People Amendment to the Constitution (HJR 48) to make clear that Constitutional Rights belong to human beings, not corpora- tions, and that spending money in elections is not free speech1. The Ohio delegation met with several congressional representatives in small groups and formed a larger delega-
tion to meet with Senator Sherrod Brown's Legislative Aide.
Highlighting Toledo voters' successful passage of a ballot initiative supporting the We the People Amendment on March 15, 2016, members of the Ohio delegation successfully lob- bied Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-9) to co-sponsor HJR 48. Ms. Kaptur is one of six new cospon- sors who have signed onto HJR 48 as a result of Move to Amend's Lobby Day and subse- quent efforts. Other new co-sponsors include Ed Perlmutter (D-CO), Jim McDermott (D- WA), John Conyers Jr (D-MI), Beto O'Rourke (D-TX), and Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA).
The May 9th Lobby Day effort was the culmination of the Inaugural Move to Amend National Summit in Washington D.C. at which Move to Amend activists from around Ohio joined Move to Amend affiliate members from across the country for an intensive
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weekend of workshops and training. In the Summit opening remarks, our leadership
team unveiled our 10-Year Strategic Plan to Pass the "We the People" Amendment, which would establish that corporations do not have the constitutional rights of natural persons and that money is not speech and can be regulated for the purposes of campaign financing.
Since its formation in 2009 in anticipation of the 2010 Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court ruling, Move to Amend has been leading the grassroots charge to reverse the court-created illegitimate doctrine of corporate constitutional rights. Move to Amend has grown from the ground up to now over 50 local affiliates across the country including six affiliates in Ohio. In addition to our efforts to connect the use of corporate constitutional rights to the myriad injustices communities face every day, Ohio affiliate volunteers have sparked the passage of 12 municipal council resolutions and eight successful ballot measures across Ohio in support of the We the People amendment and are currently working on four new ballot initiatives for 2016.
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The following Ohio municipalities have, to date, passed Move to Amend Amendment resolutions: Athens, Oberlin, Barberton, Fremont, Lakewood, South Euclid, Dayton, Can-
ton, Oxford, Lorain, Bedford Heights, and Oakwood Village.
The following Ohio municipalities have, to date, enacted Move to Amend Amendment bal- lot initiatives: Brecksville, Newburgh Heights, Defiance, Cleveland Heights, Chagrin Falls, Mentor, Kent, and Toledo.
Petition campaigns are currently underway in Cleveland, Newark, Shaker Heights and South Euclid.
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