Help Generate and Demonstrate Public Support For a Constitutional Amendment to Restore Democracy to the People-A Move to Amend Priority Campaign for 2012

Markin comment:

I place some material in this space which may be of interest to the radical public that I do not necessarily agree with or support. Off hand, as I have mentioned before, I think it would be easier, infinitely easier, to fight for the socialist revolution that to expect that a constitutional amendment to limit corporate influence in their capitalist system would be effective.
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The next meeting of Greater Boston Move To Amend will be April 19, 2012 at 7pm (meet for cookies at 6:30) in the YWCA's Sylvia Room, at 7 Temple Street. Central Square, Cambridge

Help Generate and Demonstrate Public Support For a Constitutional Amendment to Restore Democracy to the People

A Move to Amend Priority Campaign for 2012

In Massachusetts, voters can put what is called a "public policy question" on the state ballot in state representative and senatorial districts. Public policy questions allow voters to show legislators how a majority of voters in their district wants them to vote on an issue. While these votes do not bind the legislator, they are a concrete way to demonstrate voter "will."

Move to Amend (MTA) in Massachusetts has chosen this as a priority activity for 2012 because it enables us to educate large numbers of people and demonstrate wide public support for our goals, so that legislators will eventually vote to amend our constitution and restore our democracy.

We can decide on the number of legislative districts we want to work in, and identify the best ones for educating voters and winning strong majority votes. The strategy will be to choose districts where there is a strong volunteer group to do an effective public education campaign.

Common Cause Massachusetts has also chosen public policy questions as a priority strategy in Massachusetts, and MTA expects to work closely with them on this effort. We hope many other groups
will join in.

State Process and Timeline:

In early April, MTA and Common Cause will submit proposed language to state officials -the language that we want to appear on the ballot. They give advice as to whether it has the correct form to appear on the ballot.

By April 24, the Secretary of the Commonwealth has petition forms ready for the public.

We collect signatures from voters in any district we have chosen. Deadline for submitting signatures to the local registrars is July 3. For state rep. districts we must collect 200 valid voter signatures, therefore we should seek at least 260 signatures. For state senate districts we must
collect 1,200 valid signatures, and therefore should seek 1500-1600 signatures.

The local registrars validate the signatures and submit them to the state by August 1 (this is when we will know for sure that the question will appear on that districts ballot.)

The Secretary of the Commonwealth and Attorney General determine the final language that can go on the ballot and determine which districts have met the required signatures.

The question appears on the ballot on November 6, state and national election day, in every district that qualifies.

To see the Secretary of the Commonwealth web page on this go to: http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ele/eleguide/guidepubpol.htm

The campaign is a vital step toward winning Massachusetts' support for a constitutional amendment to defend democracy from undue corporate influence and unrestrained political spending!

We hope you are willing to participate and we want to put this question to the voters in every district where we can win.

Would you be willing to help with this ballot campaign in your district?

If you're thinking of getting involved, contact us so we can help determine the feasibility of a successful effort in your district. Write to campaign@gbmta.org.

During the campaign, we can provide materials to distribute, fact sheets to explain our goals, training for volunteers and general advice! But we will have to determine whether you have the volunteers to do a successful public education campaign in your district.

Your first step is to gather a group in your district and ask yourselves, whether you have the capability to help with:

Collecting the necessary signatures on the petition (May through July 2)

Raising some funds for materials (by August 1)

Distributing literature throughout the district (events, door to door, etc.)

Conducting a public forum or two (best in September and October)

Placing letters to the editor or other stories in local papers and media

Covering polls on voting day with handouts and signs (November 6)

Ballot Language

Move to Amend and Common Cause in Massachusetts have worked on ballot language that both groups can support and this language is what we expect to put on the ballot.

The state requires that the Public Policy question begin with: "Shall the (senator or representative) from this district be instructed to vote in favor of... " and our expected language is:

Shall the state (senator/representative) from this district he instructed to vote in favor of a resolution calling upon Congress to propose and send to the States for ratification an amendment to the U. S. Constitution stating that 1) corporations are not entitled to the constitutional rights of human beings and 2) both Congress and the States may place limitations on political contributions and political spending.

This language may slightly change upon further consultation with state officials, but we expect this to be very close to final wording.