Anna Maria Adds Its Name to the List

A couple of weeks ago, Ruth Rauch and Diane Canniff spoke to their Anna Maria City Commissioners. They requested a resolution in support of a Constitutional Amendment to combat the political spending and power of non-human "persons". Doug Copeland, Commission Chair, asked that the proposal be placed on the agenda for the very next meeting. Ruth was ready for that meeting and here's her report:

At the meeting, we had a good turn out of support. Commission Chair Copeland expressed agreement with the spirit of Move To Amend's request but wondered if action was appropriate at the local level. Commissioner Woodland expressed that he had some concerns about whether the 10th amendment to the Constitution had some bearing on this issue.

I was asked to respond to these concerns in my comments. I stated that although Memorial Bills in the Florida legislature had been proposed, there appeared to be little political will to take up the matter. I pointed out that donations to legislative political committees appear to dictate the priorities of the legislature. I also mentioned that two Supreme Court justices have spoken out in opposition to their own Court's Citizens United decision.

In the end, without further discussion, the Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the resolution. It will be adopted without any modification to the resolution we submitted without any further action required by the commission at its next meeting on March 24. I am so pleased we had a good outcome. I must say, activism can be very satisfying

Am I going to attend that meeting to make sure it gets done? You bet!