The slide deck to the Monday August 9 meeting can be found HERE. The video is HERE (a temporary glitch in the video occurred when I lost my Zoom connection, sorry).
At our meeting we discussed the film “Can You Hear Us Now?” Did you miss the film? Here’s another chance: Film Screening August 22nd-25th / Panel Discussion Wed. August 25 @ 7:00PM. Sign up to see the film at https://www.twelveletterfilms.com/fair-sw. Discussion at https://zoom.us/j/92528117697.]
The power outage reminded me that I get to take for granted clean water and power and access to heat and cold and the internet. I am also reminded that parts of our state can never count on clean water running from their taps. Parts of our state never have reliable internet.
Whatever our politics, most of us want basic things for all of us! No matter the color of our skin or where we live, we stand ready to help each other. Opinion polls and more show we want everyone in Wisconsin to have clean water and good schools. We all want to be able to see doctors and go to hospitals when we need to. But when we tell our “representatives” in Madison we want these things, we are often ignored.
Let’s not forget why: In 2011, a handful of politicians pulled off a power grab. They created voting maps in secret that gave themselves power for a decade. They carved up our neighborhoods for political gain. Only the party bosses had any say in drawing those maps. And because of those maps, the folks in our Legislature have to listen to party bosses and big money campaign donors, and are forced to ignore the rest of us. They have refused to do things we want done, and done things we never asked them to do.
The Census data just dropped. New voting maps are being drawn right now. They need to be maps that reflect our communities. They are really “community maps” in that they are meant to reflect voters bound together by geography and community interests.
Now is the time to act! The maps drawn this year will determine what happens to our schools, our hospitals, the water we drink, and the air we breathe for the next 10 years. Let the power outage remind you how important it is that ALL OF OUR voices be heard at the local, state, and national level.
This is what YOU can do this week to make YOUR voice heard:
- Local – with help from our friends at Grassroots North Shore we canvassed homes in Glendale and Brown Deer and distributed pamphlets at a library yesterday. As long as we have volunteers, we will try to do more. So sign up for fresh air and fair maps:
- We will be manning tables in the Milwaukee North Shore area. Show your interest HERE.
- If you want to distribute door hangers / drop pamphlets at doors. Show your interest HERE.
- Want to canvass in your neighborhood or go to a specific location to distribute materials? Sign up above and we’ll see what we can do.
- State – Exercise your civics muscles:
- Tell the state legislature you demand the bipartisan fair maps bill get a hearing! Contact all committee members AND your own Assembly and Senate representatives. Below my signature line you will find information from the Fair Maps Coalition with all the contact info you need.
- Save the date – September 27 lobby day in Madison. Details to come.
- National – Be heard in Washington: Tell Senators Johnson and Baldwin to sign the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. The For the People Act sets national standards for our elections and helps stop partisan gerrymandering so all of us can safely and freely cast our ballots, have our voices heard, and elect leaders who deliver on our priorities. The John Lewis Voting Right Act restores parts of the hard fought and critically important Voting Rights Act of 1965.
- Contact Senator Tammy Baldwin: https://www.baldwin.senate.gov/feedback
- Contact Senator Ron Johnson: https://www.ronjohnson.senate.gov/email-the-senator
- Last thought for today: follow the news re community districting. Call out the wrong doings of those who gerrymander, but do not repeat what they say — it only amplifies their message. And be not discouraged. Here is a great article from the Wisconsin Examiner. And here’s some interesting news: starting September 1, a WI Legislature website will allow folks to submit maps. We will work with folks to make sure maps they filed with the PMC also get filed there, and help folks who have not yet submitted maps to do so! Meanwhile, WI’s first lawsuit was filed Friday by national folks out of Washington. (My personal take is “that’s interesting, I prefer to ‘buy local’ when ready from folks who are centered in and know WI rather than using a DC playbook, but the games begin as they begin.”) Expect the news to be all over the map. Focusing on the negative leads to negative results. Instead, remember what Rep Deb Andraca said in our meeting Monday: 2021 is the Super Bowl year for Fair Maps.
Let’s understand the opposition, work as a team, and give 100% this Fair Maps Super Bowl year, so we can (and will) #EndGerrymandering! We fix the maps, we fix the state, ‘nuf said.
ps: Our Fair Maps friends in the western part of the state use this quote, worth repeating: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world: indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead
From the Fair Maps Coalition:
Contact members of LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEES
to Hold Hearings on
SB389 & AB395
the Nonpartisan Redistricting Legislation introduced by Sen. Smith and Rep. Andraca.
Senate Committee on Government Operations Members:
Senator Stroebel (Chair),
Senator Felzkowski (Vice-Chair),
Senator Bradley,
Senator Roys,
Senator Smith
Assembly Committee on State Affairs Members:
Representative Swearingen (Chair),
Representative Vorpagel (Vice-Chair),
Representative Kuglitsch,
Representative Tauchen,
Representative Summerfield,
Representative Spiros ,
Representative Knodl,
Representative Brooks,
Representative Schraa,
Representative Sinicki,
Representative Pope,
Representative Ohnstad,
Representative McGuire
Check out the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign sample emails HERE