This weekly email is for anyone who wants to make a minimum of 3 calls/week. Please forward to others, or send me names of anyone who wants to be added.
There are many terrific resistance actions underway. Already doing your thing? Let me know if you’d like to be removed from this list.
I am following the Indivisible Guide, written by former congressional staffers. It’s is a Best Practices for making Congress listen. The writers took a close look at how the Tea Party people did what they did. They wrote a guide about what gets the attention of Senators and Representatives, and what is a waste of time.
They stress 4 actions: Showing up at town halls*, showing up events/ribbon cuttings where the press will hear you question them about health care, Constitutional violations etc., and requesting meetings at the district office. Action #4 is phone calls to local offices (where local staff will begin to know our names).
Let’s start with calls.
This week: (Calls to elected officials who already support our issues also matter — so I include Sherrod Brown’s number as well. If you opt for fewer calls, call the Republicans first!)
- Monday, January 30: Urge Senators to vote NO on Rex Tillerson (Secretary of State) — pal of Vladimir Putin and climate skeptic
- Tuesday, January 31:
- Urge Senators to vote NO on Betsy DeVos — billionaire GOP fundraiser, anti-public schools advocate and grossly unqualified to serve as Education Secretary
- Urge Senators to vote NO on Jeff Sesions (Attorney General) — Sessions has spent his career making it harder for African Americans to vote, fighting against equal rights for women, minorities and LGBTQ people, and demonstrating consistent hostility to the rule of law and human rights.
- Urge Senators to vote NO on Rick Perry — unqualified!! Was not even aware of the function of Energy Department prior to nomination
- Wednesday, February 1: Urge Senators to vote NO on Scott Pruitt (EPA) — arch-enemy of the EPA, having sued it on 14 separate occasions. He’s spent his career taking the side of polluting private industries over the public’s health and our planet’s well-being.
Rob Portman: 513-684-3265
Sherrod Brown: 513-684-1021
Brad Wenstrup: 513-474-7777
Steve Chabot: 513-684-2723
Don’t know if you are in OH 1 (Chabot) or OH 2 (Wenstrup)? Check!
As you can see, the suggested calls don’t address the executive order halting refugee admissions from predominantly Muslim countries. Indivisible is holding a planning call tonight at 6p with a number of organization. Let me know if you want info on how to participate.
*If you’d like some inspiration, take a look what happened at Brad Wenstrup’s January 16 coffee in Williamsburg,
I was there. It may not be overt in the video, but he was frazzled. This was the first I’ve seen him… he seems like a decent person. He delivered a few opening remarks with a mic, then walked from table to table, sitting at each table for 5-10 minutes — but no mic. You couldn’t hear him, all you could do was watch. By the 3rd table his body language had totally changed. One of his aides said they usually get 5 or 10 people at these things. His was clearly unprepared for polite, respectful constituents who challenge him with verifiable facts.