(KCPW News) More than 7,200 verified signatures were collected in Salt Lake City for a campaign to end corporate personhood, according to a count released this week. That’s enough for the issue to be placed on the ballot in November. Jesse Fruhwirth, a spokesman for the Move to Amend campaign, says a person who votes in favor of the initiative is stating that he or she believes corporations are not people, and for the purpose of elections, money is not speech. The ballot initiative is expected to build a volunteer base and awareness.
“We will have the political power and also the demonstrated political clout to say communities all across our state want this and to, from that vantage point, demand that Congress and the legislatures begin the amendment process,” he says.
Fruhwirth says a constitutional amendment ending corporate personhood is the least that can be done to put campaign finance reform in place.
“That’s part of our mission between now and November is to draw that connection for people so they know that our aim is to increase the power that people have in politics by reducing the power that corporations have in politics and this amendment is what we need to do that,” he says.
Across the country, groups are working on city and county ballot initiatives as part of the Move to Amend campaign. The Vermont state legislature recently called for an amendment to abolish corporate personhood.
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