Local
The devil is in the details. This is especially true in organizing!
One question that I’m asked over and over when discussing how to construct an organizing drive and building the organizing committee is surprising, but important. Where should the committee meet? The answer is always: at one of the committee member’s house.
In March, 2020, Democratic voters will have a choice in the 3rd Congressional district which encompasses most of Columbus. The incumbent, Joyce Beatty, is seeking her 4th term. She has held the seat since 2013. Beatty is well funded by corporate sponsors and supported by the local party apparatus, which also depends on corporate funding. Beatty has a net worth of over 4 million dollars (get source)
The New York Times sent a reporter to Ohio to cover the contest, resulting in October 13th article “The Democratic Debate Is Coming to Ohio, Where a Party Battle Is Already Underway”. The article pointed out that Ms. Harper has raised $323,000 in just 3 months as a first time candidate. Harper has raised money from nearly every ZIP code in her district. (Ms. Beatty, who hasn’t reported third-quarter fund-raising, had $1.3 million cash on hand as of July.) Harper has received donations from 2670 donors compared to just 169 for Beatty.
Tuesday, November 5 - Election Day
6;30am-7:30pm
Find your voting places - https://www.sos.state.oh.us/elections/voters/toolkit/
Monday, November 4, 2019
Ace of Cups, 2619 N. High St. (one block north of Hudson)
No one turned away for lack of funds / donation at the door
Doors open 5:30pm with music and refreshments
Awards ceremony 7pm
Tribute to longtime Free Press graphic designer Charlie Einhorn
Honoring:
Free Press Libby Award for Community Activism - Mary Jane Borden
Free Press Volunteer Award - Jaime Pardo
Free Press Outstanding Community Organization - Black, Queer and Intersectional Collective
Bill Moss Award for Outstanding African American Artists - Tony and Aziza West
Music by:
Donna Mogavero
DJ laChewlla
Brian Clash
Dan Dougan and the Little Bothers
Donation at the door
Keep Austin Weird has done wonders for Central Texas. Those three words have inspired that city’s leadership to propel Austin into one of the most soulful and successful American cities of the 21st century.
For the most part, Austin is unified between rich and poor, and the city protects it’s independent and inclusive flavor by keeping high-end developers and corporate influence in check.
Can we capture that here?
It may very well depend on who wins the City Council race on November 5th.
Yet the last time a Columbus City Council incumbent lost was 24 years ago. The city’s appointment process after council member step down is partially to blame for keeping the status quo in place. And over this 24 years Columbus has morphed into something that is too exclusive, too corporate and too lame.
High-end developers drunk with City Council-approved tax abatements have played a huge role behind this change.
Without question Columbus has moved forward, and the incumbents on City Council, the endorsed Democrats, are urging voters to keep it that way.
Everyday People for Positive Change, a citizen ballot issue committee, announces that yesterday (October 30th) the group submitted a certified pre-circulation petition to the City Clerk for a proposed ballot issue to reform Columbus City Council. The proposed charter amendment would continue the effort to bring Columbus’s antiquated council make-up up to date to fully and unquestionably comply with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and its prohibitions against “minority voter dilution,” which question was raised to Columbus leaders by the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in a series of communications in 2017.
The proposed charter amendment would:
1. Create a 9 member council effective January 2020 (2021 elections)
2. Require each member to live in one of the districts and be elected by the voters of the district in which each resides.
3. Establish the initial apportionment plan, outlining the 9 districts.
Damon Krane has been involved in politics since age 16, starting in high school with a public access magazine Free Head. Since then, Krane has worked in grassroots politics against Ohio University administration, bigotry, and war, and in favor of student journalism, labor organizing, and tenant’s rights. It is this last issue which is the greatest in Athens, Ohio. Krane is now running for mayor of Athens.
Athens is a deeply divided city. 80% of residents live in rental housing while all city officeholders own homes, and several are landlords themselves. 80% of residents are under the age of 45, while all but one officeholder are over 45. According to an October 2, 2016 article in Athens News by Conor Morris, 30% of Athens County residents live in poverty, the top 20% of household incomes is 6.9 times greater than that of the bottom 20%, and women in Athens County earn a median income of $15,496, just over half of the average for men.
The march is November 2nd, 2019 at 5:30. We will be meeting at the intersection of North High St and West Poplar before marching north. Route details and more detailed schedule at Facebook Event.
Let’s imagine that we’re buying a house for $100,000 with all pennies. That’s 10 million pennies. We begin saving them one at a time, picking up every penny we can. At the same time, another person wants the home and is taking action to stop our dream from coming true. They spend millions of pennies and every $10 they spend could prevent us from collecting one more penny. They enact new laws and another 2.5 million of our pennies no longer qualify. New lines on the map drawn by our opponent disqualify 10% of more of our pennies. Another 250 thousand cannot be used because they made poor spending choices previously. A quarter million pennies are ‘accidentally’ not counted. Our competitor uses media ads to boost their appeal and to falsely undermine ours. Finally, a foreign supporter of our opponent sways another 10% of our pennies away from us.
Thursday, October 31, 2019, 6:00 – 8:00 PM