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News for 2015    PDF of We The People Maine News January 2015

To volunteers for

Nearly all of the Election Day petitions have been turned in, and we are looking at a stupendous number of signatures for an all-volunteer grassroots citizen initiative to have gathered: over 33,000! Professionals who have experience with these campaigns tell us that it is awesome! Now, with no major voting events in the remaining months before the petition expires, we have decided to stop collecting signatures and to continue the campaign by lobbying for legislation that has been submitted in Augusta. We will use our existing signed petitions as a show of support for this effort.

State representative Ralph Chapman (D-Hancock County) has submitted three pieces of legislation requesting an Article V Constitutional convention for the purpose of overturning the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision. His aim is to stimulate informed conversations about this very important matter among legislators.

One of the pieces of legislation uses the exact wording of the We The People Maine petition. Lobbying our state legislators to support the We The People Maine legislation will be vital to getting this issue discussed in committee and brought to a vote. If this legislation is successful, it will bring about the result we have been aiming for with our petition: an official application from the state of Maine for an Article V convention, to draft a Constitutional amendment saying that “Corporations are not people” and “Money is not speech.”

The other two pieces of legislation do not specify revoking corporate personhood, but a public hearing for these would give the opportunity to inform legislators about what each of us feels is important in a proposed Constitutional amendment.

If the legislation does not pass, we will re-initiate the petition in 2016, a year in which there will be an even higher voter turn-out at the polls, and we will need your help in building a bigger and better grassroots campaign.

We are asking our volunteers to do four things to further our campaign at this point:

  1. Contact your state representative and senator to tell them that a “We The People Maine resolution” has been submitted and you would like to see it pass. (If the legislator is likely to become a co-sponsor or has questions, refer them to Ralph Chapman, 207-326-0899.)
  2. Prepare testimony for a future public hearing on any of this legislation, and tell one of us (below) that you would like to testify. Testimony can be submitted as a letter, an email or in person. Showing up in Augusta during the hearings will be critical! Legal expertise is not necessary - speak from your heart!
  3. Send in any petitions with signatures that you may still have, whether or not you have notarized or verified the petitions. We want to honor all voters who signed by including them in our totals. Send or deliver to the Peace & Justice Center, 96 Harlow St., Suite 100, Bangor, ME 04401.
  4. Continue having conversations about the need for a Constitutional amendment, and send us contact information for anyone who would like to receive updates or volunteer for our campaign. We would be glad to send any handouts or information you would find helpful.

THANK YOU!! Each and every one of you play a vital role in this effort.

We The People Maine coordinators:

 
     

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