Progressive Update--02/23/2006

Meet Your State Representatives—One of the foundations of the progressive movement is that government is accountable to the people (notice a slight deviation from the Bush Administration?) Well this is a two-way street—it requires that public officials are accessible, and that the citizens show up. I need YOU to show up.

Please try to join me on Thursday (the 2nd) at the Unitarian church in Newark (www.uufn.org) from 7-9pm. This is a wonderful opportunity to not only hear from some key state officials including the Lieutenant Governor and State Treasurer, but also interact with them face-to-face as humans, not as politicians and voters—no baby-shaking and hand-kissing here!

Lieutenant Governor John Carney, Treasurer Jack Markell, State Senator Liane Sorenson, and State Representative Terry Schooley will take part on a panel moderated by the Newark Post’s editor Jim Streit. There is a chance that Stephanie Ulbrich and Steve Amick will also join us. The panel will be followed by ‘meet and greet’ time. Do not miss this!

Both the Newark Post and Wilmington News Journal are likely to be there. There is a writeup on page 16 of today’s Newark Post.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE personally invite and urge your friends and family to attend. Thank you very much for helping us make this a success.

Election Year Update—I will be providing opportunities for you to help with three local national-level races this year, two for US Representatives and one for US Senate. This will include letter writing as we did in 2004 to Nevada (this time to PA and DE), door-to-door canvassing, and editorial writing. I have enclosed a handout with tips for successful editorial writing.

Enron Showing—The movie Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room will be shown on Sunday the 5^th at noon at the Newark Unitarian church (www.uufn.org ). Please join us.

Stem Cell Research—I understand from Representative Schooley that due to the pressure from the ‘a Rose and a Prayer’ group, the bill’s sponsor found that they did not have enough votes for passage, so the sponsor voluntarily gutted the bill. Democratic Representatives (such as Terry) had no real choice but to support the gutted bill (the little it accomplishes is better than nothing). We really need to get Democratic control of Delaware’s House!

Delaware Democrats—To keep up on news with the Delaware Democratic Party, including how they plan to gain six House seats (and the majority) in this November’s election, go to www.deldems.org regularly.

Kennett Area Democrats—This group was very helpful in enabling us to help Kerry win in PA. They are getting things started in 2006. On March 9^th, they are hosting PA State Representative Michael Sturla and Chester County Commission Andy Dinniman in a Town Hall style meeting. They will be discussing hot issues at the State and County levels, such as a marriage protection amendment and legislation disenfranchising voters. On April 6^th, they are having their spring social featuring a talk by Russell Peterson, former governor of DE. For more information, contact Mark at ixtla_i@hotmail.com

Delaware Progressives—Joe Rupert has a new website with a strongly progressive and national focus. You can find it at http://home.comcast.net/~jlarupert/ . Sandy Crossman has a posting discussing Framing developments (a link to “Time for Progressives to Grow Up”—how’s that for a teaser?).

Progressive Democrats of Delaware—Their site is http://www.progressivedemsdel.com/.

Progressive Line—Ernie Lehman has a wonderful site at http://www.theprogressiveline.com/.