Woo-Hoo Vermont! State Senate Moves to Amend

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From: "Move to Amend" <info@movetoamend.org>
Date: Apr 13, 2012 11:14 AM
Subject: Woo-Hoo Vermont! State Senate Moves to Amend
To: <aquarianm@gmail.com>

The National Campaign to End Corporate Personhood and Demand Real Democracy!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Vermont Senate Votes to Amend Vermont Poised to Become First State in the Union to Call for Amendment to End Corporate Personhood MONTPELIER – The Vermont State Senate voted yesterday calling for an amendment to the Constitution that would make clear that corporations are not people. The vote was 26-3. State Senator Virginia Lyons (D) spearheaded the effort, working with Move to Amend in 2011 to introduce a resolution that came back this year. Vermont is poised to become the first state to call for an amendment to abolish the doctrine known as "Corporate Personhood" which gives corporations constitutional rights meant to protect people. Hawaii and New Mexico have passed resolutions against the Citizens United v. FEC ruling by the Supreme Court, but the Vermont resolution goes beyond simply overturning that case and aims to remove corporations from the constitution altogether and make clear that money is not speech and that campaign spending and political contributions can be regulated by the government. "Citizens across the country are putting Congress and the Supreme Court on notice that an amendment is coming. Legislatures can either join the Movement to Amend or get out of the way," stated Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap of Move to Amend. "Americans of all political persuasions are on board with an amendment to put We the People in charge of our government, not corporations. It is great to have the Vermont Senate step up to join the cause." Move to Amend's partners in the Vermont effort include Vermonters Say Corporations Are Not People; Public Citizen; Women's International League for Peace and Freedom; Vermont Peace & Justice Center; VPIRG; Common Cause Vermont; Occupy Burlington; Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, founders of Ben & Jerry's Homemade Inc.; Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility; Rural Vermont; Vermont Workers Center; and Vermont Action for Peace. For a list of cities that have passed resolutions or that have campaigns in progress see: http://movetoamend.org/resolutions-map. ### WHAT YOU CAN DO Help spread the word by posting the graphic in this email to your Facebook page (or find the graphic on our Facebook page and share it from there). Join our Resolutions Week effort and get a resolution campaign started in your community. Donate to Move to Amend to keep the grassroots momentum going!

MOVE TO AMEND PO Box 610, Eureka CA 95502  |  (707) 269-0984  |  www.MoveToAmend.org We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling, and move to amend our Constitution to firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.             You are subscribed to this list as aquarianm@gmail.com. Click here to unsubscribe.