"Corporations and Democracy" looks at disarmament and the defense industry

On the July 9 edition of "Corporations and Democracy" radio, hosts Steve Scalmanini and Annie Esposito talked about nuclear disarmament with Jacqueline Cabasso, executive director of the Western States Legal Foundation in Oakland, and an internationally-known expert on nuclear disarmament. Jacqueline deconstructed Obama's recent statements on nuclear weapons, discussed the corporatization of nukes and warned that while progress has been made on reducing numbers of weapons, there are still more than enough of them out there to destroy civilization.

You can listen or download the show on our radio page, here.

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What's wrong with privatization?

The audio from Tuesday's edition of "Corporation's and Democracy" is now up on our radio page. The show, as promised, features two takes on privatization, both from speakers at this year's Public Banking Institute national conference.

Steve and Annie's first guest, Darwin BondGraham, is a sociologist and journalist (and occasional "Corporations and Democracy" listener) who now covers political economy for print and web publications. He explains some of the history and thinking behind his conference talk, titled "Public-Private Partnerships--Highway to Ruin." He's followed by chief of staff of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Jim Sauber. There are lots of privatization pressures on the US Postal Service, but Jim discusses ways that the post office could add services that would benefit workers and the public alike.

Callers give their points of view, and Steve's look at the headlines features some good news on the fight against GMOs.

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Privatization is the topic on tomorrow's "Corporations and Democracy"

Tomorrow, June 11th, on our "Corporations and Democracy" radio show, Annie Esposito and Steve Scalmanini will discuss the treacherous trend of privatization with two speakers from last week's Conference on Public Banking, journalist and sociologist Darwin Bond-Graham, and the chief of staff of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Jim Sauber. Listen live starting at 1 p.m. Pacific Time on www.kzyx.org or over the airwaves at KZYX & Z, 90.7, 91.5, and 88.3 FM in Mendocino County, CA. We'll be taping and posting the show and will have it up on the Alliance for Democracy radio page after it airs.

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"Corporations and Democracy" on tax fairness

Tom and Toni in the KZYX studio

Even before this week's Senate hearings drew attention to Apple's tax practices, most US taxpayers were well aware that a well-connected and well-to-do minority have tweaked the tax code to ensure that they can keep proportionally more of their money than ordinary citizens. "Corporations and Democracy," hosted by Mendocino AfD'ers Tom Wodetzki and Toni Rizzo, asks Citizens for Tax Justice's Robert McIntyre about some of the politicking behind the US tax system. Who pays to play, who benefits, and how can we establish a fairer tax code? In the second half of the show, Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap of Move to Amend brings listeners up to date on the campaign to amend the US Constitution to end corporate access to constitutional rights and to establish that election spending is not protected as free speech under the First Amendment.

"Corporations and Democracy" is broadcast by KZYX-FM public radio. Listen to an .mp3 of the show here.

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Resolutions in favor of amending Constitution to ending corporate access to constitutional rights pass by wide margins on Election Day

America has declared loud and clear that it wants the Constitution amended. Every ballot resolution supporting amending the Constitution to end corporate access to constitutional rights passed, whether at the local, county, or state level, and in most cases at a rate above 70%. Voters in more than 150 cities, towns, counties and state weighed in, bringing us, by one count, 1/4 of the way toward amendment!

Some examples:
Both Colorado and Montana had statewide ballot measures on the ballot and while the language was different, both states approved their measures with at least 74% approval rates.  The Montana measure called for overturning Citizens United, abolition of corporate personhood and declared that money is property, not speech. (Demonstrating that you don't have to be a "liberal" to support ending corporate personhood, Montana voters also approved ballot measures which require parental notification to an abortion for a minor, deny certain government services to illegal immigrants and prohibit government from mandating the purchase of health insurance.)

Colorado's measure was narrower in scope. Amendment 65 called for a constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United and to allow Congress and the states to limit campaign contributions and expenditures. It went on to instruct the Colorado legislature to approve such an amendment when Congress sends it to them. Pueblo County, Colorado, also had a resolution on the ballot declaring that artificial entities like corporations do not have constitutional rights, that money is not speech, and that limiting political contributions and spending is not equivalent to limiting political speech. Despite the local paper editorializing against it, the resolution passed with 65% of the vote.

On the local level, a third of Massachusetts voters weighed in on a non-binding public policy question calling for amending the US Constitution to affirm that corporations do not have the constitutional rights of human beings and that Congress and the states have the right to limit political contributions and spending. The question passed with a 76% approval rate overall, including those towns carried by Republican Senate candidate Scott Brown. (AfD'ers were very active in this campaign through the North Bridge Alliance for Democracy chapter.)

In California, San Francisco voters approved Prop. G with 81% of the vote. In Richmond, voters approved Amend 2012 with 72% of the vote. Mendocino County, the first California county to place a Move to Amend citizen's initiative on the ballot, explicitly voted to "stand with the Move to Amend campaign" by a 73% margin. (Several Alliance for Democracy Mendocino Chapter members and supporters worked on this measure!)

Seventy-four percent of the voters in Chicago approved amending the US Constitution to Take Back Our Vote which called for allowing the federal government and the states to "regulate and limit political contributions from corporations."

Four ballot questions went to voters in Oregon. In Ashland, voters approved a measure stating: "Shall Ashland voters instruct Congress to amend U.S. Constitution to grant only natural persons constitutional rights and limit campaign spending?" It passed by 79.5%.

Corvallis voters approved a measure stating: "Shall the City urge elected representatives to support Constitutional Amendment denying artificial entities’ personhood and rejecting money as speech?" It passed by 75%.

Eugene voters approved a measure stating: "Shall Congress send to the States constitutional amendment reversing the negative impacts of the Citizens United case and limit independent campaign spending?" It passed by 73%.

Finally, Lincoln County voters approved a measure stating: "Should citizens urge Congress/Oregon Legislature to amend Constitution to clarify corporation/union political speech rights, allowing campaign finance regulation and limits?" This passed by 77%.

Read more:
Peter Schurman:  America on its way to overturning Citizens United http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/11/08/174102/america-on-its-way-to-overturning.html
Move to Amend: Election Roundup
Reclaim Democracy: State Initiatives to Revoke Corporate Personhood and Overturn Buckley v Valeo Win Big  

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Mendocino petition drive meets signature goal, Massachusetts not far behind

Alliance members and supporters in Mendocino County, California, and eastern Massachusetts have reached signature goals to get voter referenda against corporate personhood before the voters.



In Mendocino, the Citizens Advisory measure is on the ballot, after 5661 signatures were turned in, 74% more than the 3240 needed! 



Next, the county Board of Supervisors will put the measure on the ballot. The initiative is on their July 24th agenda; supporters are urged to turn out and show support. 



Tom Wodetzki, AfD member and co-chair of the Mendocino County Move to Amend effort, writes: "Ours could be the first county in California to pass such a citizens initiative, and thereby join the growing number of counties, cities and states nationwide expressing a strong desire to restore real democracy. 


"Our federal and state representatives are not acting to end this outrageous corruption of our elections," he said, "since they benefit from the status quo. So only an ever-growing demand from the grassroots will get the legal change we need, which has to be in the form of a Constitutional amendment." 



“Bravo!" writes Nancy Price, AfD Co-chair and member of the Move to Amend National Organizing Team. "Significantly, the Mendocino initiative supports an amendment to abolish ALL [corporate] constitutional rights, including the First Amendment, and reversal of the doctrine that money is speech. We will only get one chance at a Constitutional amendment and it has to be one that will really set the country on the path to end corporate rule and restore real democracy.”



In Massachusetts, North Bridge Alliance Chapter members petitioned with  Common Cause, Greater Boston Move to Amend, and other groups to get a non-binding referendum question on the ballot in three eastern Massachusetts state senate districts and one representative district. Other groups worked on collecting signatures on Cape Cod and in western Massachusetts. Organizers will know in August whether a sufficient number of signatures are certified, but in most districts the number collected was well over the required number to get the measure before voters.
 


In both Massachusetts and California, resolutions in favor of an amendment to overturn Citizens United only were introduced in state legislatures. California recently passed theirs, becoming the sixth state in the country to do so.

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...and in northern California!

Mendocino Alliance for Democracy members and friends joined the march for the community's Fourth of July parade last Wednesday. The group was not only celebrating democracy, but also their recent petition drive to get an anti-corporate personhood ballot initiative before Mendocino county voters in November. Organizers collected some 70% more signatures than needed to get the initiative on the ballot, and so while the signatures still have to be certified, they're very hopeful that the first hurdle's been cleared.

For more photos, check out this album on our Facebook page.

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Mendocino AfD banner leads Occupy SF march

Tom Wodetzki of the Mendocino (CA) AfD chapter and his step-daughter Alexei led last Saturday's Occupy SF march holding this banner, which was made by Fort Bragg AfD friends for their Move to Amend entry in the Mendocino 4th of July Parade.

Tom and Alexei were followed down Market Street by 1,000 militant chanting folk--you can see the video here. Tom also attended OccupySF's Friday and Saturday General Assemblies.

This isn't the only occupy action that Tom and other AfD people have been involved with; there's also ongoing Friday afternoon protests in front of Bank of America and Chase offices in Fort Bragg. You can connect with efforts on the groups's Facebook page.

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Nomi Prins on ongoing financial turmoil

There's a new "Corporations and Democracy" show online at www.afdradio.org. Nomi Prins, author and senior fellow at Demos, discusses the continuous banking and financial disaster and what listeners can do about it with hosts Tom Wodetzki and Toni Rizzo.

Nomi is a journalist and senior fellow at Demos. Her latest book is It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bonuses, Bailouts, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street (Wiley, September, 2009). Her 2004 book, Other People’s Money: The Corporate Mugging of America (The New Press, October 2004) was chosen as a Best Book of the year by The Economist, Barron's and The Library Journal.

She talks about the financial industry's resistance to structural reform, and industry leaders' lack of concern for long-term stability if the regulation that would achieve it comes at the cost of short-term profit.

"Corporations and Democracy" is aired every other week on KZYX&Z-FM, Mendocino County Public Broadcasting in Philo, California.

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"Corporations and Democracy" focuses on consumer issues and the right to sue

The September 9 edition of "Corporations and Democracy" is online on AfD's radio page. In this show, Annie Esposito and Steve Scalmanini discuss product safety and the right of individuals to sue for redress with Christine Hines, consumer and civil justice counsel at Congress Watch, an arm of Public Citizen, founded by Ralph Nader.

Listen and learn how recent court cases are helping corporations evade accountability and responsibility to their employers and clients, and actions you can take to push legislation to help level the playing field. Mendocino county callers provide lively comments.

Thanks to KZYX&Z-FM, Mendocino County Public Broadcasting in Philo for broadcasting and streaming the show, and making the programs available. To inquire about rebroadcasting the show in your area, please email afd@thealliancefordemocracy.org.

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"Corporations and Democracy" interviews Wisconsin democracy activist Ben Manski

Ben Manski, executive director of Liberty Tree Foundation for the Democratic Revolution and spokesperson for the Wisconsin Wave, talks to Steve Scalmanini and Annie Esposito, hosts of the August 19 edition of Corporations and Democracy, heard on KZYX&Z-FM, Mendocino County Public Broadcasting in Philo, California.

Ben, Steve, and Annie discuss heartland progressive populism and resistance to attacks on local government in Benton Harbor and other Michigan towns, to the results of the recent Wisconsin recall elections, including allegations of pro-GOP election fraud in a well-to-do county (not the first time this has happened!). Ben reviews the history of home rule provisions and the need to strengthen them today to provide a democratic bulwark against corporate personhood and corporate rule.

Listen online here!

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Photos from Mendocino's 4th of July parade!

There's more photos on our Facebook page!

Tom Wodetzki of Mendocino AfD writes:

Sixty people participated in our MoveToAmend entry in Mendocino's 4th of July parade. We had fun, passed out hundreds of flyers explaining our message, and were cheered by thousands. (editor's note--we'll try to post a pdf of the flier--it sounds eyecatching: big money million dollar bribery bills with the message on the back.)

We are having a meeting to review what worked well and didn't so that we will have an improved entry in Fort Bragg's Paul Bunyan Day Labor Day parade on Monday, September 5th. Please come and share your ideas. We will have this review & planning meeting this coming Friday, July 15th, in Caspar. Email afd@thealliancefordemocracy.org for location.

Facebook photos by Linda Jupiter.

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Video of testimony before Ft. Bragg City Council

Video of citizens' statements at the Ft. Bragg (CA) City Council. The council is considering a resolution favoring a constitutional amendment to eliminate corporate personhood--you can read the text of the resolution here.



Thanks to Jim Tarbell and Mendocino County community access cable tv for editing and footage.

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Testimony at the Ft. Bragg (CA) City Council meeting

Kudos to the folks who took to the podium at the recent Ft. Bragg city council meeting to speak in favor of a resolution asking legislators to call for an Amendment to the US Constitution to abolish corporate personhood. Quotes from the testimony are below.

Tom Wodetzki: "For decades millions of citizens have worked to reduce corporate money in elections, thru legislation and ballot propositions. This route, tho, has repeatedly met a dead-end. That dead-end is called Corporate Personhood...the concept that corporations have the same rights as natural persons, like you and me. This means that, while corporations are fictitious entities charted by state governments, that can live many lifetimes and never go to prison, nevertheless they have 'free speech' rights like natural persons. And one year ago this month, the US Supreme Court decided, in the infamous “Citizens United” case, that these rights include nearly unlimited spending in our elections.

"While 93% of those polled last year want to limit corporate spending in elections, efforts to do this was blocked once again by this judicial concept called Corporate Personhood."

Rebecca Aum: "CropLife America, composed of all the major biotech corporations, and Monsanto, Dow chemical Dupont, and more, spent more than $620,000 in Mendocino county to defeat measure H, the measure outlawing GMOs. Only $5000 of that came from this county."

Susan Nutter: "Unbeknownst to local government and residents, toxins have been discarded and buried by corporations in the area, polluting the soil and endangering human health. Using their 4th Amendment protections against search and seizure, corporations are able to hide their pollution until long after they have left the area. Industry's successful efforts to release harmful chemicals can be attributed to corporate involvement in writing legislation and setting regulations. Without corporate personhood, local governments and state agencies could more easily discover and prevent such activity."

Peter Sears: "In a county that passed the first ban on growing genetically modified foods, people would like to know if the food they are buying contains genetically modified foods. But the corporate food industry has claimed that their free speech rights gives them the right to not tell us if they have put GMO foods in their products.

"How about if there is another unhealthy product that a community becomes concerned about, like certain pesticides or herbicides used in corporate agriculture and hence embedded in the food we eat. Shouldn't there be labeling on the package telling us that these chemicals were used to produce a product? Once again, corporations claim that they do not have to tell us this information...How can local governments protect the well being of their constituents if they cannot pass the necessary ordinances to provide the necessary protection?"

Linda Jupiter: "The Personhood of corporations has been going on for such a long time that we the people think it’s normal. It’s not. Corporations are entities with more rights than people; their purpose is to accrue huge amounts of money for their stockholders by any means they can.

"The recent Supreme Court decision to allow unlimited corporate spending on federal elections means they’re now free to actually buy elections. This decision must be overturned. We the people govern our elections and our campaigns, not corporations."

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"Resolution Calling for a Constitutional Amendment to Abolish Corporate Personhood"

Here's the resolution that AfD members from the Mendocino County (CA) chapter submitted to the Fort Bragg City Council on January 24.

WHEREAS, the 1885 US Supreme Court erroneously gave corporations the rights of persons under the 14th Amendment, and;

WHEREAS, over the succeeding 125 years, corporate-friendly Supreme Court decisions have expanded these so-called “corporate personhood rights” to overturn municipal, state and federal laws enacted to curb corporate abuses; thereby rendering local governments ineffective in protecting their citizens against corporate harms to the environment, to health, to workers, to independent business, to local and regional economies, and;

WHEREAS, giant corporations have also used these corporate personhood rights to spend billions of dollars to influence government through lobbying, campaign contributions, ownership of the mass media, and massive advertising and public relations efforts, and;

WHEREAS, this massive corporate political impact has overwhelmed the voice of common citizens, crippled municipalities' ability to benefit local residents, and undermined people's faith in democracy, and;

WHEREAS, the current US Supreme Court is on a path of to eliminate any restrictions on corporate campaign contributions, and;

WHEREAS, municipalities and citizens across the nation are joining with the Campaign to Legalize Democracy to call for an Amendment to the US Constitution to Abolish Corporate Personhood;

THEREFORE, be it resolved that the City of Fort Bragg, California, hereby calls on our legislators to call for an Amendment to the US Constitution to Abolish Corporate Personhood and return our democracy, our elections, and our communities back to America’s human persons and to thus reclaim our sovereign right to self-governance.

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AfD'ers speak on corporate rule at College of the Redwoods

On November 10, Mendocino chapter members Tom Wodetzki and Jim Tarbell will speak at College of the Redwoods on "End Environmental Destruction, War & Political Corruption by Eliminating Corporate Rule."

Tom and Jim will focus on what citizens are doing to create a democratic, peaceful and joyous future in the face of corporate control of government and policy development. The talk is free, and begins at 6 p.m. in Room 112 at the campus at 1211 Del Mar Drive in Fort Bragg.

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2009 end-of-year report

Here's the wrap-up on major chapter and national campaign activities for 2009--if you're not an AfD member, why not join now? A stronger democracy in 2010 should be on everyone's list of resolutions!

Contribute on-line here. If you'd like to join but can't afford to make a donation right now, please email the Alliance for Democracy at afd@thealliancefordemocracy.org.

2009 AfD Activity Report

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Is there a regional meeting near you?

The latest on our regional meetings! If you don't see one near you, organize one! It doesn't have to be elaborate--if a potluck and discussion meets your local needs, that's fine. We can also suggest possible topics for speakers or films, and provide you with literature and in some cases dvds. For more information, contact afd@thealliancefordemocracy.org

October
Oct. 6, Tuesday, Blue Hill, ME
Blue Hill Public Library, 7:00 pm
AfD national council member Bonnie Preston hosts panel on water with Emily Posner Defending Water for Life in Maine on bottled water; Sarah Bigney of Maine Fair Trade Campaign on trade and water; Antonio Blasi, a member of Maine Water Allies, active in eastern Hancock County, on ground water; and Nancye Files, of Alliance for Democracy Downeast.

Mid-October, Sacramento, CA, TBA
AfD Defending Water for Life Campaign hosts with other co-sponsors the movie “Tapped” on bottled water. View trailer and Ruth Caplan here. Nestlé is coming to Sacramento and we’re fighting back!

Oct. 31, Saturday, Portland, OR
First Unitarian Church, SW 12 and Salmon, Time TBA
Watch AfD Portland website for details. Possible topics: election reform in OR and the nation; corporate personhood and corporate money in elections: Citizens United v. FEC; water privatization: Cascade Locks/Nestlé and bottled water-Bull Run reservoir and costly water treatment plants;

November
Nov. 8, Sunday, Concord, Massachusetts
Boston/Cambridge Alliance and North Bridge Alliance potluck focuses on corporate personhood and Citizens United v. FEC

Nov. 12, Thursday, Davis, CA
Time/Place TBA: Potluck and discussion of the corporate voice vs. the people’s voice in local land-use development campaigns

Nov. 12, Thursday, Pittsfield or Rochester, NY
Time/Place TBA: Local Potluck Dinner and discussion on “Do Corporations Rule the World?”

Nov. 14 -15, Sat-Sun, Ukiah, CA
Bi-annual Convention of Northern California Alliance for Democracy
“Rethinking Rights of Corporations in Northern California: What Can Local Communities Do Now?” Details coming!

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"Corporations and Democracy": The state of health care reform with Dr. John Geyman

The latest installment of the Corporations and Democracy radio show explores the current status of health care reform. Download or listen to the .mp3 here. This week, Dr. John Geyman, past president of Physicians for a National Healthcare Program, offers his assessment of pending legislation, the public option, and single payer. Dr. Geyman is professor emeritus of family medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle and author of several books, including Do Not Resuscitate: Why the Health Insurance Industry is Dying and How We Must Replace It, and The Corrosion of Medicine: Can the Profession Reclaim its Moral Legacy? He also blogs at the PNHP site. Toni Rizzo conducts the interview, with call-ins from listeners.

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Battle in full swing in Mendocino County, CA: Corporate developer vs. local community

by Steve Scalmanini, Ukiah Valley Chapter

In June I reported on the campaign underway in Mendocino County, California, between one of the nation’s largest real estate investment trusts, Developers Diversified Realty ("DDR"), and the local community over an initiative on the November 3rd ballot. If passed, the measure would rezone a closed industrial plant site that DDR bought a few years ago, just outside the City of Ukiah, from industrial to commercial zoning so it could build the County’s first large shopping mall.

The developer and its local front groups, "Mendocino County Tomorrow" and "Yes on Measure A, Citizens to bring jobs, tax dollars and local shopping to Mendocino County—A coalition being led by Mendocino County Tomorrow with major funding by DDR DB Mendocino LP" (honest – that’s their full name; see if you can say it three times quickly!) have spent $297K through June on campaign activities to reach a total of 49,000 voters in the County. And all of that funding has come from DDR; not a penny has come from any county resident. The community opposition, Save Our Local Economy ("SOLE"), has spent a whole $654 through June, all from small local donations. Both campaigns have spent more since June but we won’t know how much until next month.

Each side is campaigning with a fundamentally different method. The developer is funding telephone calls (from outside the State) to voters. Their first mailer went to voters in August and touted the same allegations they’ve been saying for years – keep sales tax revenue local, create jobs, and shop locally. In recent weeks they’ve been paying some of the local unemployed to go door-to-door to deliver another flier.

On the other hand, volunteers for SOLE have been soliciting the public for endorsements and more volunteers one-on-one at public events and stores over the summer. Their number of volunteers is now in the hundreds and endorsers are several time that. Funding is still slim so they’re busy these days hand assembling their first mailer to reach voters. The developer’s sponsored web sites are www.VoteYesOnMeasureA.com, www.mendocinocountytomorrow.com and www.mendocinocrossings.com. SOLE’s site has changed since the June article to www.NoOnA.com.

The result of the election will determine the future of the retail economy and general character of the rural Ukiah Valley in Mendocino County, two hours drive north of San Francisco. Will the local retail economy, characterized by one quaint downtown and several strip malls scattered throughout the City and just outside its borders, be decimated by a new mega-mall a half mile outside of town? I’ll have the answer in November.

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