LOS ANGELES BECOMES FIRST MAJOR U.S. CITY TO VOTE AGAINST CORPORATE
PERSONHOOD
Hundreds of Citizens Pack Council Chambers, City Council Votes Unanimously
to Support the "MOVE TO AMEND"
Los Angeles - December 6, 2011 - Los Angeles today became the first major
U.S. city to vote against corporate personhood and further call for a
Constitutional Amendment asserting that corporations are not entitled to
constitutional rights and that money is not free speech. The unanimous vote
was witnessed in Council chambers packed by a standing room only crowd of
hundreds of people as well as a overflow room filled to capacity by
enthusiastic supporters. The resolution was sponsored by City Council
President Eric Garcetti and seconded by Council Members Bill Rosendahl and
Paul Krekorian with passionate support by Council Members Richard
Alarcon,and Paul Koretz. The action is in response to Citizens United v.
Federal Election Commission 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which gives
corporations the same 1st Amendment protections as people and allows them to
spend unlimited funds on campaign finance.
Said Mary Beth Fielder, Move To Amend- LA founder, who spearheaded the
effort to bring the resolution to the LA City Council. "It's a great day for
Los Angeles and it's a great day for the United States of America. I hope
this is the vote heard around the world and that it will inspire other who
want to reclaim our democracy to begin organizing in their communities.
Together we can build the grassroots support we need to actually amend our
constitution."
"Every struggle to amend the constitution began as just a group of regular
Americans who wanted to end slavery, who thought women should vote, who
believed that if you're old enough to be drafted, you should be old enough
to vote," said Council President Eric Garcetti. "These are how American
amendments move forward from the grassroots when Americans say enough is
enough. We're very proud to come together and send a message but more than
that, this becomes the official position of the City of Los Angeles, we will
officially lobby for this. I also chair a group which oversees all the
Democratic mayors and council members in the country and we're going to
share this with all our 3,000 members and we hope to see this start here in
the west and sweep the nation until one day we do have a constitutional
amendment which will return the power to the people. "
"What we saw in that chamber today was the beginning of a sea change in the
way people think about politics in America and I hope that this will be the
first day of a long and sustained movement that changes the way we represent
ourselves and the way we demand the kind of government that we deserve,"
said Council Member Paul Krekorian.
"I could not believe the coalition of energy that filled the council
chambers today," said Council Member Bill Rosendahl. "It made a huge
difference. It was democracy at its best! "
See press conference at:
http://www.kpfk.org/kpfknews/1-latest-news/5487-la-city-council-votes-agains
t-corporate-personhood.html
VIDEO FOR BROADCAST USE IS AVAILABLE FOR DOWNLOAD AT:
http://transfer.mosaiccomputing.com:8000/Move_To_Amend_Clips.zip
CONTACT:
Carol Green, Move to Amend LA - 310-551-3072 [email protected]
Daniel Tamm, Move to Amend LA -818-795-1455 [email protected]
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subscribe: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digest: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Help: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Post: <mailto:[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]>
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
[email protected]
[email protected]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[email protected]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
