Cleveland Ordinance 

CHAPTER 106 – DEMOCRACY DAY

106.01 Democracy Day; Public Hearing

106.02 Letter

106.03 Further Hearings

• 106.01 Democracy Day; Public Hearing

Beginning in the year 2017, the Mayor and City Council shall designate one day in the second week of May following the November federal elections as "Democracy Day: A Call for a U.S. Constitutional Amendment." On this day, the Mayor and City Council shall sponsor a public hearing in a public space within the City. The City shall publicize the public hearing on its website and through area media at least one (1) month in advance of the hearing. The public hearing will examine the impact on the City of political contributions of corporations, unions, political action committees, and super-PACs. The Mayor and at least one (1) City Councilperson shall submit testimony at the public hearing. In addition, all citizens of Cleveland will be permitted to submit oral testimony for a period of at least five (5) minutes per citizen. The public hearing shall be held during an evening or weekend time. The City shall record the minutes of the hearing and make them available to the public no later than three (3) months after the hearing by posting them on Council's or the City's website.

(Ord. No. 1059-17. Passed 9-25-17, eff. 9-27-17)

• 106.02 Letter

Within one (1) week following the public hearing, the Clerk shall send a letter to the leaders of the Ohio House and Senate, and Cleveland's U.S. Congressional Representatives, and both Ohio U.S. Senators stating that a public hearing was held to support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution declaring:

(a) Only human beings, not corporations, are legal persons with constitutional rights;

(b) Money is not equivalent to speech, and, therefore, regulating political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech.

(Ord. No. 1059-17. Passed 9-25-17, eff. 9-27-17)

• 106.03 Further Hearings

The biennial public hearings will continue for a period of ten (10) years through May 2027 or until a constitutional amendment reflecting the principles set forth in section 106.02 is ratified by three-quarters (3/4) of state legislatures.

(Ord. No. 1059-17. Passed 9-25-17, eff. 9-27-17)

TESTIMONY 

Monday, May 10, 2021

Video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHtjqjdXxxM

Written: below

Sandy Bolzenius, Coordinator of the Central Ohio MTA affiliate, developed a creative, personal and powerful approach to request Rep. Joyce Beatty co-sponsor HJR 48, the We the People Amendment. In addition to working with others to set up a virtual meeting with Rep. Beatty or an aide, she produced and sent a packet to the Congresswoman. The packet contained a personal letter and booklet appealing to her interest in Frederick Douglass and in making the connections between the efforts of Douglass, Ida B. Wells and Rosa Parks to assert the morality and constitutionality of slaves being human persons, not property, with Move to Amend's efforts that corporations are property, not human beings, and can be defined by We the People. 

Below is Sandy's letter to Rep. Beatty. Click on the image to download the booklet 

Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhmV1Z3F6sQ

                Saturday, April 17, 10 am ET

VILLAGE OF CHAGRIN FALLS

MOVE TO AMEND

March 4, 2021

Present: Grube, Rogoff, DeBernardo

The virtual meeting was called to order at 9:00 a.m. by Council President Erinn Grube.

Written statements were read from the following and are attached:

Diana Nazelli, 35 High Court, Chagrin Falls

Greg Coleridge, Cleveland Heights Resident

Anthony Fossaceca, 61 Olive Street, Chagrin Falls

Kathryn Garvey, 70 East Washington Street, Chagrin Falls

Sharon Broz, 410 Bell Street, Chagrin Falls

Judy Kramer, 165 Pheasant Run Drive, Chagrin Falls

Judy Majcen, 7180 Harris Farm Drive, Bainbridge Township

Lynne Rustad, 442 Solon Road, Chagrin Falls

Becky Thomas, 124 Ridgewood Road, Chagrin Falls

Audio comments from:

David Lima, 7774 Litchfield Drive in Mentor, said he coordinates the Mentor Move to Amend. He spoke about the ongoing tension in the history of the United States between legislative efforts to limit the influence of money and political power and judicial rulings curving congress=s power to do so.

Russ, 10259 Regatta Trail, Reminderville, spoke about the influence of corporations, problems with the environment, and global warming.

Mrs. Grube announced that the next Move to Amend meeting will take place in March of 2023.

Mrs. DeBernardo said we do face a lot of problems and we have been discussing them for decades. We do need to start working on solutions.

The meeting adjourned at 10:11 a.m.

MOVE TO AMEND DAY

March 4, 2021 - Public Comments Submitted

TABLE OF CONENTS

ZOOM CHAT ROOM MEETING COMMENTS ... 1

Greg Coleridge ... 1

Anthony Fossaceca ... 2

Kathryn Garvey/Sharon Broz ... 4

Judy Kramer ... 5

Judy Majcen ... 6

Diana Nazelli ... 7

Lynne Rustad ... 7

Becky Thomas ... 10

by Greg Coleridge

February 26, 2021

https://truthout.org/articles/big-tech-shouldnt-be-the-arbiter-of-our-free-speech-rights/

Business corporations don’t need free speech rights. Nor should they have the power to deny free speech to others. But leading up to and following the 2020 election, we saw both undemocratic realities on display.

MENTOR, OHIO | February 23, 2021

The biennial city-sponsored virtual public hearing for Mentor residents to speak on the impact of money in politics and its influence on our democracy and the role of corporations and other moneyed interests that play a part in the political process.

The hearing was mandated as part of a Mentor Move to Amend-led effort to pass a ballot initiative calling on the City to communicate to federal and state representatives that Mentor citizens want a Constitutional Amendment to end corporate personhood and money as free speech. The citizen-driven ballot initiative passed in 2014 by 70%.

[]-[]-[]

Dave Lima

There has been an ongoing tension in the history of the United States between legislative efforts to limit the influence of money and political power, and judicial rulings curbing Congress' power to do so. Particularly in the past 50 years, legislative efforts and Supreme Court rulings have made pivotal changes to the role that money plays in our democracy. Efforts to restrict the influence of money have been rolled back largely based on the misguided narrative that artificial entities are people and money is equivalent to speech protected by the First Amendment.

(Public Hearing hosted by Cleveland Heights City Council and held virtually on January 28, 2021)

Almost 100 people virtually attended Cleveland Heights’ 8^th Annual Democracy Day, with 20 people testifying before City Council members Khalil Seren, Michael Ungar, Mary Dunbar, Davida Russell and Melody Hart. Council Vice President Seren presided.

Public testimony began with the announcement that in November 2020, Painesville became the latest Ohio city to vote for a citizens’ initiative calling for a 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The amendment they stipulate clearly states that corporate entities do not have the constitutional rights of human beings, and money, not being speech, can be regulated in political campaigns. In addition, the Painesville initiative establishes regular Democracy Day public hearings like the one here and in many other cities, for citizens to testify before their local officials about the need for the amendment.

Published in Anchorage Daily News, 01/29/2021

According to Bloomberg News, President Joe Biden’s winning campaign took in $145 million in so-called “dark money” donations, compared to only $28.4 million such donations spent on behalf of Donald Trump’s losing bid. Biden’s campaign ultimately raised $1.5 billion.

While citizens can donate as much as $2,800 to a candidate in a federal election, that donation is publicly reported on the candidate’s Federal Election Commission Reports. Wealthy individuals who want to donate more (in many cases, a whole lot more) can donate to political nonprofit groups that are under no obligation to release their sources of funding. Those nonprofits can spend to support their preferred candidates or funnel it to candidate’s Super PACs. That’s a whole lot of influence! Million-dollar donors get their phone calls answered and maybe get their favorite legislation passed. Those millions of dollars are able to drown out the voices of regular Americans.

Remember all the post cards from Dan Sullivan and Al Gross? Much of their funding came from outside interests seeking to influence our Alaska elections. The majority of Americans across the political spectrum are fed up with this system. Please call our Congress members and ask them to support campaign finance reform limiting dark money donations.

— Julie Olsen Board Member, Move To Amend Alaska Anchorage

Opinions Anchorage Daily News 01-16-21

Should Alaska enforce its current law limiting contributions to SuperPACs on a par with limits on individual contributions to candidates’ campaigns?

The Alaska Public Offices Commission stopped enforcing that part of the law in 2012 in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United, reasoning that since the political expenditures of SuperPACs are independent of candidate campaigns, they do not raise the prospect of corruption. Between 2008 and 2018, unregulated independent expenditures increased from 3% to 36% of campaign spending in our state, and two-thirds of this new money was from Outside donors. Including the ballot measures, independent expenditures for the 2020 election exceeded $23 million! This flood of big money into Alaska elections should alarm every Alaskan. We are sick and tired of Outside interests telling us how to run our affairs, and we are exhausted by the bombardment of negative ads and mailers. This is an issue for Alaskans across the political spectrum, conservatives and liberals alike. Big Union and Big Tech contributions are just as problematic as Big Oil or Koch Industries contributions.

Video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eYstCiLOOY&t=721s

The annual meeting gives residents a chance to voice their opinion on money in politics and other pressing issues.

Chris Mosby, Patch Staff  |  Posted Fri, Jan 22, 2021

https://patch.com/ohio/clevelandheights/democracy-day-jan-28-cleveland-heights

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, OH — Democracy Day will be held Jan. 28 in Cleveland Heights, the city announced.

Eight years ago, voters in Cleveland Heights passed Issue 32, which declared support for a 28th Constitutional Amendment, which would say corporate entities are not people and do not have Constitutional rights. The passed legislation also said money does not qualify as speech and money spent on elections should be regulated.

Our campaign goal is to secure 100 co-sponsorships for the #WeThePeopleAmendment (House Joint Resolution 48) by June 30, 2021.

To achieve this goal we have identified 135 priority targets based on the previous co-sponsorship of the amendment, Pledge to Amend signers, caucus membership, location (districts where Move to Amend has passed initiatives), and voting record/time in Congress.

If your Representative is not on the list below you can definitely still target them, but we suggest starting with the closest Rep to you and recruiting constituents in that District to hold a meeting with their target Representative (or their legislative staff). Either way, we will help you!

Here's what you'll need to do:

1. Choose which Representative you're focusing on (see below for the target list, or if your Rep isn't on the campaign target list you can elect to lobby them instead)
2. Recruit 3-5 constituents to join you for the meeting
3. Schedule the meeting (a Move to Amend national organizer will join you for this meeting)
4. Organize a prep call to prepare
5. Hold the meeting and ask your Representative to co-sponsor HJR48
6. Follow up
7. If they don't sign on, time to escalate your tactics! We will help you plan an appropriate action from bombarding their office with phone calls, to organizing a letter-writing campaign to dropping in at their house with Move to Amend petitions! We will work together to decide an appropriate escalation. 

We'll provide you with all the tools and resources needed as well as organizing support. You can expect that this effort will take 2-5 hours a week. 

Sign up below to get started!

Kickoff Call

Campaign Targets

--> View targets on spreadsheet (Google doc, opens in new window)

Sign up below to get started!

Campaign Resources

***Click on each task for related templates and instructions.

STEP 1 -- SIGN UP FIRST!

• Sign up to organize or participate in a lobby meeting on our website.
• We will follow up to connect you to our Slack organizing space and get you plugged in to the campaign

STEP 2 -- Recruit 3-5 Constituents to Commit to Join a Meeting with the Representative

• Send an email blast to the Move to Amend list asking people to sign up for the meeting
• Recruit your friends and neighbors through social media, email or text messaging
• Phonebank or text bank the Move to Amend list to ask people to commit to joining the meeting

STEP 3 -- Schedule the Meeting

• Contact your Representative's office and ask for a Zoom meeting

STEP 4 -- Prepare for the Meeting

• Post the meeting date and time to the Move to Amend website to help promote
• Review background information about the #WeThePeopleAmendment
• Line up a Move to Amend national organizer to join you for the meeting
• Hold a prep call to review meeting roles and make sure you are each clear on what you'll say and how to make sure to get to the ask
• Send a blast to constituents on the Move to Amend list a few days in advance to ensure the office gets calls to put the #WeThePeopleAmendment on their radar before your meeting

STEP 5 -- Hold the Meeting

• Follow an agenda because you'll only have 20-30 minutes
• Take good notes, keep track of any questions you get that you can't answer on the spot and commit to follow up with the answer(s)
• Enter the details and notes to Move to Amend's national database
• Make a clear ask: Will you co-sponsor the #WeThePeopleAmendment (HJR48)?

STEP 6 -- Follow up!

• Send a thank you email with any info requests to the staffer(s) and mail a thank you note to the Representative
• Send email blasts to constituents on the Move to Amend list asking them to call each week to keep the pressure up
• In 2 weeks send an email and/or call the office and ask for response. Be persistent! Keep trying every 2-3 days until you get a response

STEP 7 -- Celebrate or Escalate!

• Often this is all it takes, especially for Representatives who agree with our goals. But if you don't have a commitment yet it is time to escalate your tactics. We will work with you to determine how to escalate appropriately, from stepping up the phone calls, to organizing a letter-writing campaign, to car parades around their office, to delivering Move to Amend petitions to their home, and more!

Ready to Sign Up?

For Immediate Release:

November 17, 2020.

Contact: Dennis Slotnick, Secretary Toledo Move to Amend

Email: [email protected]   Phone 419-704-1863.

Toledo Council Resolves to Abolish Corporate Personhood

The text of the resolution is HERE 

On Tuesday afternoon Nov 17th, Toledo City Council adopted, by a wide margin, a comprehensive resolution to denounce Corporate personhood and declare that money is not the same a speech.  It is Resolution R 446. The Resolution R 449-20 was brought forth by Council members Komives, McPherson and Whitman.

The most salient part of the Resolution is: Therefore be it resolved that Toledo City Council hereby calls on our Ohio legislators, elected officials, and commissioners, etc. to join the tens of thousands of citizens, grassroots organizations and local governments across the country in the Move to Amend campaign to call for an Amendment to the Constitution to Abolish Corporate Personhood and the doctrine of Money as Speech and return our democracy, our elections, our communities to America’s human persons and to thus claim our sovereign right to self-governance.

Painesville citizens voted on November 3 overwhelmingly (78%) in support of a constitutional amendment to establish that corporations are not people and money is not speech. Painesville becomes the 26th community in Ohio and more than 675 nationwide to pass either a state or local citizen-driven ballot initiative or legislative resolution.

Move to Amend filed an Amicus brief in the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of filed last week in support of Plaintiffs-Appellants in Beiersdorfer v. La Rose, et al. (No. 20-3557). The lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of Ohio’s ballot access scheme for ballot initiatives. Plaintiffs from seven Ohio counties, representing Rights of Nature and corporate control ballot measures, sued the Ohio Secretary of State and Boards of Election officials in trial court for repeatedly keeping binding citizen-proposed laws and charters off the ballot despite satisfying procedural requirements, such as the requisite number of signatures.  

Move to Amend supporters in Ohio and across the nation have used democratic citizen-driven ballot initiatives in several hundred instances as educational and organizing tools to call on Congress to pass a 28th U.S. Constitutional Amendment to abolish corporate constitutional rights and political money in elections as equivalent to First Amendment-protected free speech. This includes 12 Ohio communities -- which have also included a provision mandating annual or biennial municipal public hearings examining the local impact of money in elections and corporate rule.

Read the full Amicus brief here.

On Wednesday October 21, Nick Komives, Toledo council member opened the fourth Annual event.

48 Zoomers were connect by virtual live zoom.  We had 12 presenters and five council members present: Adams, Melden, McPherson, Komives  and Gadus.  Mayor Kapszukiewicz also joined and stayed for the 1 ½ hour duration.  Each presentation averaged only five minutes and were concise, informed and articulate.

View the program at http://toledo.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=1&clip_id=983

By: Jordan Vandenberge
https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/in-depth/painesville-issue-1-grassroots-group-pushing-to-send-message-against-corporate-campaign-contributions

PAINESVILLE, Ohio — The Center for Responsive Politics preliminarily projects the total cost of the 2020 election cycle to be $10.8 billion, roughly a 50% increase in spending compared to the 2016 election when adjusted for inflation. If the projections hold true, political spending this election cycle would equal about a third of Ohio's annual budget ($32.4 billion). As large sums of money and political influence have largely become synonymous with one another, a small but passionate group in Painesville is trying to put a stop to it.

On their ballots this November, Painesville voters will decide Issue 1, a proposed ordinance by petition that would declare the need for a constitutional amendment that would clamp down on political contributions by corporations, unions and Super PACs. The ordinance would also declare that money is not the equivalent of speech.