Local Chapter of Move To Amend to Begin in Rochester

If you attended the Green Party's meeting with David Cobb in August, you know what Move To Amend is about. This is to outlaw corporate personhood.

A group of local activists is holding an organizational meeting to start a Rochester chapter of Move To Amend. The meeting is being held on Tuesday, October 4th from 7pm – 9pm at the First Universalist Church, 200 Winton Road South. Move To Amend is a national movement created for the purpose of amending the United States Constitution to create a government that is not beholden to corporations and the wealthy.

The national Move To Amend organization recently approved the Rochester chapter as an official affiliate of MTA. The local group is being started by local activists Sam Fedele and Dave Atias. "Our representatives in Washington and Albany are players in a money-intensive electoral process and forced to weigh each legislative decision not relative to the common good of their constituents but rather how the decision will be viewed by their major donors," said Fedele, "The exponential growth of campaign costs has created a dependency relationship between big money special interests and legislators. The January 21, 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission has reinforced and fueled this dependency. It is time for ordinary citizens to intervene and that’s why we are starting this chapter of Move To Amend."

The current strategy of MTA is to convince municipal bodies to have a ballot initiative calling for an amendment to the Constitution that would Overturn Citizens United v. FEC, strip corporations of constitutional protections meant for humans, assert that money is not the equivalent of constitutionally protected free speech, and provide and protect a solid framework for free and fair, voter controlled elections.

"This effort is going to take years, just in Rochester alone, but this is the fight that will enable us to fix everything that is broken. Until we wrestle control of our government away from corporate interests we will not be able to effectively change our society for the better," according to Atias. "Everyone should show up to MTA meetings checking their previous associations and labels at the door. Republicans and Democrats will not be working on this. Neither will members of unions or churches. We will all be working together as citizens with a common purpose – to get our government out of the hands of corporations that only have their bottom lines in mind."

Both press and interested citizens can use the following contacts for more information or to request sign language interpreters or other accommodations:

Sam Fedele: (585) 348-7264
Dave Atias: (585) 315-7687
Movetoamend.rochester@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Move-To-Amend-Rochester/150147428400105