Seattle’s Initiative 103

Update: July 17th, 2017 would have been the fifth wedding anniversary of Corporate Person to Ms. Angela Vogel.

Initiative 103 was a 2012 attempt to eliminate corporate constitutional rights and corporate personhood in the city of Seattle while inspiring other communities to do the same. I103 was inspired by work of the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund and its writings related to the Occupy movement (Turning Occupation Into Lasting Change and A Bill of Rights for Occupied Communities).

The highlight of I103’s campaign was the wedding between a Washington State Corporation, Corporate Person, and Ms. Angela Marie Vogel. The wedding made national news. Ms. Vogel appeared on MSNBC’s Politics Nation with Al Sharpton and the Thom Hartmann radio show. It was also covered by KPLU, The Stranger, Publicola, BoingBoing, RT, ThinkProgress, TruthDig et al. The wedding was later imitated on a larger scale by Move to Amend and Occupy Wall Street. View all related media here.

I103 began in March 2012 with just three friends: Pastor Rich Lang, writer/activist Jeff Reifman and law student Stephen Coger. We built a base of 100+ volunteers and gathered more than 9,500 signatures. However, the city of Seattle requires 20,629 for the ballot.

Related Links

• Initiative 103 Wedding Sermon & Video
• Initiative 103 Text
• Initiative 103 Signature Gathering Petition
• Summary of media coverage of Initiative 103
• Archive of the Initiative 103 Website
• Frequently Asked Questions about I103