April, 19 2012, 12:39pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, National Field Organizing Director, 707-269-0984, info@movetoamend.org
Ashley Sanders, Salt Lake City Move to Amend Coordinator, 801-916-6307, sanders.ashley@gmail.com
Salt Lake Move to Amend Organizers Project Victory in Corporate Power Ballot Initiative
WASHINGTON
11,400 Salt Lake City voters have signed a petition asking for a Constitutional Amendment that would say corporations are not people and money is not speech. Organizers from Move to Amend Salt Lake say the signatures will be sufficient for the issue to be placed on the November ballot, the first successful ballot initiative drive in city history. About 7,200 valid signatures are required for the effort to be placed on the ballot.
In just two months, volunteers initiated roughly 20,000 conversations with Utahns about corporate abuses and the need for people to take control of the government away from corporations.
"This campaign took a massive amount of effort and teamwork, but that's what it takes for people to untangle the corporate stranglehold on our government," says campaign coordinator Ashley Sanders. "We're taking a moment to celebrate, but the campaign to win voter approval in November has just begun. The social movement of American people to amend the Constitution will be successful and Salt Lake City is making a huge contribution to this history in the making."
Endorsements of Move to Amend Salt Lake's efforts have been received from Utah AFL-CIO, the Sierra Club of Utah, Streamline Industries, Dolcetti Gelato, Earth Goods General Store, Free Speech Zone, Peaceful Uprising and many more.
Move to Amend is a national campaign that has seen many victories in recent months. In March, 64 towns in Vermont endorsed the idea of a constitutional amendment that says corporations are not people and money is not speech. Ninety-one cities nationwide this year are also working on the same campaign.
As a result of this effort, voters in Salt Lake City in November will be asked to endorse the following initiative:
1. Only human beings, not corporations, are endowed with constitutional rights, and
2. Money is not speech, and therefore regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the People of Salt Lake City, hereby instruct our state and federal representatives to enact resolutions and legislation to advance this effort.
A recording of Move to Amend Salt Lake April 16 press conference can be found here: https://movetoamend.org/ashley-sanders-speech-announcing-victorious-slc-ballot-signature-drive
For more information on the local campaign, go to https://movetoamend.org/ut-salt-lake-city.
For more information on the national campaign, go to https://MovetoAmend.org.
MovetoAmend.org is a coalition supported by hundreds of organizations and tens of thousands of individuals dedicated to ending the illegitimate legal doctrines that prevent the American people from governing ourselves.
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