Grassroots 'Move To Amend' Aims For Ballot Measure Today in Santa Cruz

Move To Amend Santa Cruz, activists seeking a constitutional amendment to upseat powerful, wealthy corporate influence, is presenting today to the Santa Cruz County Elections Office the signatures needed to qualify its cause for a November ballot measure.

"Though it may seem quixotic, our aim is nothing less than to amend the U.S. Constitution. And we're starting right here in Santa Cruz County," said Move To Amend co-founder Chris Finnie. "Other groups are doing the same thing all over the country.

The grassroots group, an offshoot of the main one in Oregon, is turning in at 10 a.m. to the Santa Cruz office the signatures that volunteers have collected for nearly six months from passers-by on street corners, at events and at farmers’ markets.

Volunteers spoke at union meetings, club meetings and the Freedom Forum, and Harvey Dosik, co-founder of the local affiliate, appeared on several radio shows.

Move To Amend Santa Cruz now claims its measure has the backing of Santa Cruz County Democratic Central Committee, the People’s Democratic Club, the UCSC Democratic Club, the Crossman North County Democratic Club, the Cesar Chavez Pajaro Valley Democratic Club, and the Cabrillo College Young American’s League.  

“This isn’t a partisan issue," Dosik said in a statement. "People from all political affiliations share the same concern about big money influencing our laws in their own favor—not ours.”  

The measure simply says, Finnie explained, that the voters of Santa Cruz County want elected officials to pass a constitutional amendment that says corporations are not legal persons, and money is not free speech.

To learn more about Move To Amend, click here.