This is an unofficial page for the
while we are waiting for the official pages to be fully functional.
We are working on petitions to get town meetings in Franklin County, Massachusetts to vote on resolutions to end corporate personhood. We already have volunteers collecting signatures in Colrain, Conway, Montague, New Salem, Orange, Shelburne and Wendell. We need volunteers in all other Franklin County towns.
State representative Paul Mark came to the teach-in on Corporate Personhood vs. Democracy last night, and he is collecting signatures in his home town, Peru, which is in Berkshire county. So that brings up that, although I am only coordinating Franklin County, I encourage people from other areas of Massachusetts and New England to use the resources on this page to bring resolutions to your town meetings.
If you live in a City that does not have town meeting form of government, the process will be different. This link is to wording for a petition that you can circulate to have a resolution put on the November ballot.
The Petitions:
Town Meeting Article.pdf
Town Meeting Article.doc
I have put these petitions together from information from several sources. The wording of the proposed amendment comes from Move to Amend. I found the format of the petition on the website of a town in Massachusetts, but I can't remember which town. Check with your town clerk to see if the form meets your town's requirements. Some of the petition wording came from Amend2012.
You may download petitions in pdf or Word format and print as many copies as you need to collect signatures. You should fill out the contact information on the front, sign the first line of the first page of signatures and get your friends and neighbors to sign as well. Remember, only registered voters in your town may sign.
It would be good to inform the selectmen of your town that you intend to put this article on the next annual town meeting warrant. They have the power to place the article on the warrant themselves, but it is probably better not to ask them to do that, but rather to collect enough signatures yourself. It's a better political organizing tool, to speak with your neighbors about the issue. Then, get as many people as possible to attend town meeting and vote for the resolution.
If it is too late for this year's annual town meeting, ask your town clerk about requirements for getting an article on the warrant for the next special town meeting. Number of signatures for a special town meeting may be different.
Additional Resources:
Free Speech for People.org (Jon Bonifaz' organization)
http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/content/south-pac-rr-case.html
http://sonomacountygazette.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupy-wall-street-movement-larger.html
Thanks for all your efforts. Please report on your progress to Joe Kurland or David Cohen.