Happy Tuesday, Activists,
8 DAYS UNTIL THE INAUGURATION
Last week showed us the value of working so hard for the Biden/Harris victory and the Georgia senate runoff victories. Imagine how we would feel if Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff had not won on January 5. So we can be thankful we have won the Democratic Trifecta – White House, Senate, and House.
Last Wednesday also made it clear that our work is far from over. Numerous Republicans still objected to the certification of free and fair Elector votes, AFTER the white nationalist, terrorist mob stormed and looted the Capitol after Trump incited them. Not to mention that so many of these Republicans helped incite the insurrection.
So now what?
While we will work to secure our democracy, part of that goal is to fix our democracy by pushing for progressive laws that benefit all Americans and show that government can make peoples’ lives better when we work at it. We need to start by pushing our Members of Congress to enact progressive legislation.
We have a plan.
First, it starts with this week’s Indivisible The People Lead event. Now that we’ve taken back the Senate, we want to push our senators to support and vote for the legislation that is key to revitalizing our democracy.
This is where you can make your voice heard directly. We are asking you to fill out Constituent Comment Cards – one each for Senators Casey and Toomey. Once you email them back to us we’ll print them all out and deliver them to the Senate offices on Friday.
We want to have a big impact when we deliver all of these comment cards to the senators so please fill them out! Please email them back to us by this Friday at noon.
Drop-off to the Senate offices is this Friday, January 15, 3:00 pm.
The instructions:
1. Download the Word document here.
2. Open the document, which has one page to be filled out for each senator.
3. Save the document. Fill it out with your comments. Save it again.
4. Email it back to us at this link by noon this Friday.
We’ll print it out and deliver them all to the offices with a cover letter.
Upcoming Meetings – Judicial Gerrymandering
You may know that the Republicans in the PA legislature are pushing for a new PA Constitutional Amendment that will change how we elect judges to the three statewide courts – the Supreme Court, and two “second-level” courts, the Commonwealth Court and the Superior Court. At the moment, the judges on these courts are elected in statewide elections. The Republicans propose to have them elected in regional districts instead. This would allow legislators to gerrymander districts to give one or another party an advantage in winning judicial elections. This opens our courts up to partisan power grabs and undue and harmful legislative influence. You can click here to watch this short explainer video.
This proposed amendment is NOT subject to the governor’s veto. It will likely be passed in the legislature this month and then it likely will go on the ballot in the May primary election.
We must do everything we can to see this is voted down. But that’s not easy in a low-turnout election on a complicated issue.
So we have work to do.
First, we will be hosting meetings soon with experts who will explain the details of this anti-democratic plan to all of us.
Next, we are developing a plan for us to mobilize to get the word out to as many voters as we can, to ensure they know they need to turn out in May, and that they should vote down this amendment.
So stay tuned. We’ll have the information on the meetings and plan coming soon.
CALL TO ACTION
In addition to filling out your Constituent Comment cards, you should make more calls to our Members of Congress and tell your representative to vote to impeach Trump and tell senators to return to Congress and vote to convict and disqualify him.
For Philadelphia:
Sen. Toomey – Phila office 215-241-1090; D.C. 202-224-4254; Allentown 610-434-1444; Erie 814-453-3010; Harrisburg 717-782-3951; Johnstown 814-266-5970; Pittsburgh 412-803-3501; Wilkes-Barre 570-820-4088; email link
Sen. Casey – Phila office 215-405-9660; D.C. 202-224-6324; Scranton 570-941-0930; Erie 814-874-5080; Harrisburg 717-231-7540; Pittsburgh 412-803-7370; Bellefonte 814-357-0314; Allentown 610-782-9470; email link.
Rep. Evans – D.C. office 202-225-4001; Phila. office (215) 276-0340; email link
Rep. Boyle – D.C. office 202-225-6111; Phila offices 215-335-3355; 215-426-4616, 215-744-7901, 215-982-1156, 267-335-5643; email link.
For outside Philadelphia:
Find your House Representative’s phone number and email at this link.
Find your Senators’ phone numbers and emails at this link.
In the wake of the coup attempt at the Capitol, Republicans must be forced to face an explicit choice as to whether or not they will fully and completely reject Trump and Trumpism and ensure that he can never hold elected office again. The House has drafted an article of impeachment, which is likely to be approved in a House vote tomorrow.
Call and tell your representative you expect them to do the right thing and vote to impeach.
Next, the Senate needs to vote to convict and disqualify him from ever holding office again. This is possible to do quickly – but only if we bring enough pressure. Impeaching and convicting him is the first step toward reversing the tide of violence that he has directly incited. Here is a good article explaining the theory of the case as well.
Call senators and demand they come back to Congress to support the conviction and permanent disqualification of Trump.
And as always,
Stay safe. Wear a mask. Keep a distance. Be kind.