Its time to stop Eminent Domain for Private Gain in Missouri! |
|---|
For Immediate Release Missouri Citizens for Property Rights Secures Jefferson City, MO - February 12, 2008: The grassroots effort to abolish eminent domain abuse in Missouri got a major boost on Tuesday as Missouri Citizens for Property Rights announced it has begun paid signature gathering for two constitutional amendments that will prohibit the use of eminent domain for private profit. MO-CPR has contracted with National Ballot Access, a leading petitioning firm, to coordinate the professional signature-gathering effort. The paid circulators will work alongside the scores of volunteers who have been collecting signatures since last year. Two separate petitions are being circulated, one to amend Article I of the Missouri Constitution, and the other to amend Article VI. They are seeking to collect 215,000 signatures for each petition by the May 4 deadline to achieve ballot access. Volunteers have already collected thousands of signatures, but experts say it's almost never possible to achieve ballot access using only volunteers. MO-CPR has budgeted almost $900,000 to ensure it will have the resources needed to complete the job. Ron Calzone, chairman of the campaign committee, said they have already raised half that amount, and are working hard to raise the rest. "Our effort, and the broader issue of eminent domain abuse, has been getting unprecedented media attention in recent weeks. It's becoming more and more evident that we still have a problem to solve.", he said. "Donors and volunteers have responded to the news stories out of St. Louis, Springfield, Columbia, and Kansas City. We're still beating the bushes for more help, but we expect fundraising to get easier as our accomplishments continue to gain recognition around the state." Calzone noted that the broad popularity of the eminent domain reform issue has made signature-gathering relatively easy. "Voters love these amendments," he said. When our volunteers go out wearing our white 'No Eminent Domain Abuse' T-shirts, people spot them from across the street, come over, and line up for the opportunity to sign." Edee Bagget, president of National Ballot Access, agreed. "I don't think I've ever worked on an issue that was more well received!. Voters love signing this petition because they understand it on an intuitive level. Our circulators report that people track them down to sign this petition. Once the people understand what the two petitions are about, they readily sign." Calzone stressed that volunteers will continue to be indispensable. Not only are volunteer circulators saving tens of thousands of dollars in fees to professional circulators, but they have also been crucial to building word-of-mouth support. "When ordinary Missourians see their friends and neighbors pounding the pavement to end eminent domain abuse, they get excited too." he said. "Unlike some initiatives that are organized by out-of-state lobbyists and consultants, this has been an entirely home-grown, grass-roots effort. Nobody in this organization is collecting a paycheck, and we wouldn't have gotten as far as we have without the support of hundreds of ordinary Missourians who are fired up about this issue." Contact: ron@mo-cpr.org 498 words # # # # |