Salem City Council To Consider November Referral Request

Monday, July 9, 6:30-10:00 p.m. Salem City Hall, Council Chambers, Room 240 555 Liberty St SE

Salem-News photo of Downtown Salem by Tim King

(SALEM) - Councilor Laura Tesler, Ward 2, will make a motion to support a request for a November ballot referral by the Salem City Council on Monday, June 25. The referral request was presented by members of Marion Polk Move To Amend (MPMTA), a local affiliate of the national Move To Amend coalition (MTA) at the June 25th council meeting.

The MTA coalition is dedicated to amending the U.S. Constitution to establish that only people are entitled to constitutional rights, and that regulating political contributions and expenditures is not equivalent to limiting free speech.

The MPMTA referral poses an advisory question: Shall Salem voters instruct Congress to amend the Constitution to establish constitutional rights only for people and limit political spending?

Councilor Tesler, reflecting on the referral, said, “I believe that we should give the OK for this issue to go before the voters.”

Kerry Topel, chair of MPMTA, said “We very much appreciate Councilor Tesler's decision to move the referral forward. As Oregon's capital city, we want Salem voters to have a chance to stand with many other local jurisdictions around the country who have already called for an amendment.” Over 275 local jurisdictions, including Corvallis, Eugene, Newport, Portland, West Linn and Yachats, and 6 state legislatures (California, Hawaii, Maryland, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont) have adopted resolutions or ordinances in support of it. Efforts are underway in many other Oregon cities, also.

Move To Amend's coalition includes over 400 local, state and national organizations, and over 250,000 people actively involved in the effort. MPMTA has over 500 local supporters, including businesses, churches and neighborhood associations. A national groundswell is emerging for such an amendment, and MPMTA wants the country to hear from Salem voters, too.

Email contacts: Kerry Topel, kerry.topel@gmail.com and Kirk Leonard, kirkleon@spiritone.com. More information is available at http://movetoamend.org/ and http://marionpolkmovetoamend.org.

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