Public Hearing on Reducing Citizens’ Right to Petition – Tuesday, March 19

Call your State Representative TODAY
[Find your District Rep. at http://www.ohiohouse.gov/index]

A public hearing on SB 47 will be held tomorrow, Tuesday, March 19 before the Policy and Legislative Oversight Committee of the Ohio House of Representatives. The hearing will be at 2:00 pm in Room 115 in the State House building.

SB 47 would reduce the number of days citizens could gather signatures on petitions to place an issue on the Ohio ballot for voter consideration. SB 47 reduces our ability as citizens to petition our government to either create a new law (initiative) or reverse a law passed by the legislature (referendum).

The right of direct democracy that citizen initiatives, referendums and recalls (to remove an elected official from office) represent goes back to the 1912 Constitutional Convention in Ohio. These democratic tools were intended for citizens to bypass corrupt public officials captured by corporations and the wealthy few.

What was true in 1912 remains true in 2013. Corporations and the wealthy few still possess disproportionate influence over public officials and public policy via political campaign donations, lobbyists, and access to regulatory agencies compared to the vast majority of Ohio citizens.

SB 47 is being peddled as seeking “fairness” and “uniformity.” Details of the argument are contained in a recent Plain Dealer news article at
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2013/03/ohio_bill_on_referendums_bring.html

SB 47 is on a fast track for passage, despite lack of evidence that the current rules have been unfair. Reducing the days to collect signatures only makes it more difficult to collect the necessary signatures to qualify for the ballot. Citizen initiative or referendum campaigns are already enormously challenging undertakings. They can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and a huge time commitment.

Is our democracy better off by reducing the opportunity for citizens to collect signatures? Or is this simply yet another means to limit the ability of citizens at self-rule?

If lack of fairness and uniformity in elections and politics is of concern to proponents of SB 47, where are there fast track legislative proposals to reduce the political access and influence in our elections of corporations and the super wealthy?

Passage of SB47 is an assault of what’s left of direct democracy in Ohio.

Call your State Representative TODAY
[Find your District Rep. at http://www.ohiohouse.gov/index]

Thank you.

Politicians Want to Reduce the Power of Citizens

Tell your Ohio House Member to Vote NO on SB 47

The 101-year old Constitutional right of citizens in Ohio to directly create laws (via citizen initiatives) and undue laws (via citizen referendums) is being threatened.

The Ohio General Assembly is considering a bill that would make it harder for citizens to petition our own government. The bill would shorten the amount of time citizen's groups have to collect signatures to place a grassroots issue on the ballot for voters to decide…on any issue coming from any group for any reason.

Send a letter to your Ohio House member by going to http://act.aflcio.org/c/227/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=5899

Tell your Ohio House Member to Vote NO on SB 47.

Is the problem in our state that we have TOO MUCH grassroots democracy? Or is it that we don't need to rely as much on grassroots petitions because We the People without money have GREATER INFLUENCE THAN EVER BEFORE over public officials? 

Of course not.

So exactly what "problem" is this "solution" addressing?

At a time when…

• Wealthy people and corporations have greater access to public officials,
• Lobbyists virtually camp out in our public buildings,
• The appearance, if not reality, exists that large political campaign contributors buys political influence, and
• Average citizens without money increasingly feel their voices are not heard by those we elect,

…do we really need a law introduced by politicians to REDUCE the ability of citizens in any way to petition our own government?

Of course not.

Send a letter to your Ohio House member by going to http://act.aflcio.org/c/227/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=5899

Tell your Ohio House Member to Vote NO on SB 47.

At some point, if the growing grassroots movement across Ohio calling on Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to end corporate personhood and money as speech continues to spread, there will be a grassroots statewide initiative calling on Congress for the same. This effort will be move difficult if SB 47 passes. 

Please act now. Spread the word

Thank you. 

p.s. There are likely to be public hearings on SB 47 next week or soon thereafter. So contacting your state representative ASAP is very important

 

Petition to Revoke Corporate Charters

This letter was sent yesterday...

Ohio State Senator Mike Skindell

Ohio State Senator Shirley Smith

Ohio State Representative Bob Hagan

Ohio State Representative Mike Foley

Ohio State Representative Nickie Antonio

Ohio State Representative Zack Milkovich

Greetings!

Attached please find a petition being delivered today, March 6, to the office of Attorney General Mike DeWine. It calls on him to initiate charter revocation (called "quo warranto") proceedings against the corporations owned by Ben Lupo.

You may know that Mr. Lupo, d/b/a one or more of as many as 20 corporate fronts, apparently instructed his employees to dump as much as 250,000 gallons of waste materials from unconventional horizontal hydraulic fracturing into the City of Youngstown's storm sewer system, knowing or having reason to know that the system was connected ultimately and directly to the Mahoning River.

The attached petition calls on Attorney General DeWine to respond not with a fine or revocation of a permit, but a revocation of his corporate charter(s) -- a common response used by our forebears in Ohio in response to corporations acting beyond their authority as defined in their corporate charters. Quo warranto proceedings were once used routinely  as a democratic tool by Ohio legislatures and courts to affirm the sovereign power of We the People over corporate, which are, after all, creations of government. 

The petition to Attorney General Mike DeWine is offered in the spirit of affirming that We the People and our elected representatives possess and should utilize this democratic tool to ensure that corporations are ultimately subordinate to us. It is also a legal means for elected officials and the courts to protect the health, safety and welfare of citizens. Please consider urging the AG to initiate such proceedings. 

Ohio Revised Code (Chapter 2733) describes quo warranto. It identifies the Ohio General Assembly as another state entity which can commence a quo warranto proceeding. This may be an option you may wish to consider if the Attorney General fails to fulfill his duty.

Thank you kindly for your consideration.

Respectfully,

Greg Coleridge

Director

Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee

[a Quaker social action organization]

Address: 2101 Front St., #111, Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44221

Phone: 330-928-2301

Fax: 330-928-2628

Email: gcoleridge@afsc.org

Here's news coverage of it...
http://www.ohio.com/blogs/drilling/ohio-utica-shale-1.291290/petitioners-seek-to-have-ben-lupo-s-corporate-charters-revoked-1.378918

URGENT: Ohio Senate Vote TODAY on Limiting Citizens Initiative and Referendum

Our Constitutional Rights to "Do Democracy Directly" via citizen initiatives and referendums is under assault in Ohio. A vote is scheduled at 4:00 pm TODAY by the Ohio Senate Government Oversight Committee. Please don't put it off. Please ACT RIGHT NOW. The link below allows you to quickly find and send an email to your State Senator.

If we ever reach the point of initiating a Move to Amend citizens initiative campaign in Ohio, we must protect these 101 year old rules empowering citizens the right to "Do Democracy Directly."
 
http://statevoices.salsalabs.com/o/62/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=525

Democracy Day Testimony

This was testimony provided last night during the first "Democracy Day" in Brecksville, stipulated as part of their citizens initiative passed by voters last November. The community forum lasted 4 hours. Dozens of people testified. Pictures of the event are HERE

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Good evening. My name is Greg Coleridge. I’m the director of the Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee and Coordinator of Move to Amend Ohio. Both groups have Brecksville supporters concerned about the issues explored tonight.

I want to thank Brecksville citizens who in November voted to  “keep democracy alive by voting YES on issue 25.”

Sadly, a growing number of Americans, including those in Brecksville, feel what’s left of our democracy is in peril.

People who believe our country isn’t broken, but fixed…as in rigged…to benefit the super rich, corporations, and/or unions.

People who believe that We the People is more myth than reality.

Your prophetic law calls on the city to ask Congress to pass a constitutional amendment declaring that only human beings, not corporations, possess inalienable constitutional rights and that political money is not equivalent to political speech. Corporations here includes for-profit, not-for-profit and union entities.

Inalienable constitutional rights were intended by our nation’s founders to apply solely to human beings. Corporations are government creations. They were originally subordinate to We the People. They didn’t possess constitutional rights, only publicly granted protections and privileges.

Since corporations are our creations, we have the democratic duty to set their limits. This constitutional amendment would reassert our original democratic authority to define corporate political boundaries – through the democratic process of councils, assemblies and congresses.

Nor is money speech – the second part of the proposed constitutional amendment. If money is speech, then those who have the most money have the most speech. That’s not a definition of democracy, but of plutocracy – a pretty accurate description of our current political condition.

Money from corporations and the wealthy few harms democracy and the citizens of Brecksville in 5 ways:

First, it limits viable candidates. Individuals with good ideas, significant experiences, and/or strong personal integrity who desire to run for public office to represent Brecksville residents are deterred if they don’t have money or unable to raise the money it takes to be viable.

Second, it distorts political agendas. The requirement to attract major dollars to be viable means candidates will only address issues major political contributors or investors approve. This means Brecksville voters didn’t hear the positions of federal candidates last November on a host of issues. It also means those without money in Brecksville and elsewhere have a tough time having their political views heard.

Third, it corrupts public policy. "The best return on assets is always a political contribution," says economist William Black. This includes actual financial benefits (such as tax cuts for the wealthy or bailing out Wall Street banks). It includes laws shielding certain people (such as incompetent union employees). And it includes what government actions are not taken (such as criminal prosecutions of Wall Street bankers for the financial collapse) – all of which affects citizens here. The political pay-to-play system of legalized bribery results in higher taxes for most citizens, less competition, more inefficiencies, and encouragement of those who profit from their political investments to politically invest even more.

Fourth, it distorts political news. As more political money is raised, more is spent. Much of it is on media advertising, which is very profitable. News organizations have less incentive to provide real news coverage of elections to citizens in Brecksville and elsewhere if they know huge dollars will be spent on their stations for Super PAC-funded one-sided ads. 

Finally, big money from the wealthy and corporations furthers depoliticalization. Has an explosion in political money resulted in an explosion of participatory democracy? No. People are turned off by the increasing negativity of political messages, the evolution of elections into political spectator events, and the inability of citizens to meaningfully engage in public policy formation.

Brecksville has taken a powerful stand in support of a real democratic fix to our broken and rigged political system.

Thank you Brecksville.

Happy Democracy Day!

Move to Amend's Proposed 28th Amendment to the Constitution

Here's the Amendment. It was introduced today.

WE THE PEOPLE AMENDMENT

Section 1. [Artificial Entities Such as Corporations Do Not Have Constitutional Rights]

The rights protected by the Constitution of the United States are the rights of natural persons only.

Artificial entities established by the laws of any State, the United States, or any foreign state shall have no rights under this Constitution and are subject to regulation by the People, through Federal, State, or local law.

The privileges of artificial entities shall be determined by the People, through Federal, State, or local law, and shall not be construed to be inherent or inalienable.

Section 2. [Money is Not Free Speech]

Federal, State, and local government shall regulate, limit, or prohibit contributions and expenditures, including a candidate's own contributions and expenditures, to ensure that all citizens, regardless of their economic status, have access to the political process, and that no person gains, as a result of their money, substantially more access or ability to influence in any way the election of any candidate for public office or any ballot measure.

Federal, State, and local government shall require that any permissible contributions and expenditures be publicly disclosed.

The judiciary shall not construe the spending of money to influence elections to be speech under the First Amendment.

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To read the press release, click here

We the People Amendment