Mark Your Calendar for Our March Meeting on Zoom

Mar 15

IMV's March Meeting Set for the 27th on Zoom

As you wrap up a busy month of petitioning, take a seat and rest your feet while you join IMV for our March 2024 meeting --Wednesday, March 27th, 7-8 pm--on Zoom this time. We will meet Adrienne Martini, currently on the Otsego County Board of Representatives, who is running against Brian Miller for the 122nd State Assembly and also Jenna Azeez, the new DCCC organizing director for NY22. We'll learn more about the NY Equal Rights Amendment, which will be on the back of our ballots in November, and the huge coalition working to get it passed. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88551734946

In the meantime, keep up that petitioning whether you have a stack of Democratic petitions or are focusing on a particular candidate! This is work that truly matters in the democratic process.

Save the Date for IMV's Congressional Candidate Meet & Greet

We are also asking everyone to look ahead on calendars and save the date of Sunday, April 28th, 3-5 pm for our IMV Democratic Congressional Candidate Interviews/Meet and Greet. IMV doesn't endorse candidates, but we do encourage our members to learn about candidates and then become active supporters and volunteers for their campaigns. This is a chance for our members to decide who they will be canvassing, phone banking, and fundraising for throughout May and June. The primary election ends on election Day, June 25th, and then we'll all come together behind the winner to defeat Brandon Williams. Until then IMV members are encouraged to help whichever candidate appeals to them most now and/or after hearing them answer questions on April 28th.

Climate Crisis Working Group Updates & Actions

Three IMV Climate Crisis Working Group members were in Albany on Wednesday lobbying the Assembly for the inclusion of the full NY Heat Act in the budget. (The Senate included the entire NY HEAT Act in their budget.) The Assembly included their own version of the utility bill relief portion of the bill, but punted on the provisions that subsidies for gas subsidies and allow utilities to begin to transition the gas system to heat pumps and thermal networks. As the 3-way negotiation between both chambers of the legislature and the Governor's office starts, we are in a strong position to fight for all parts of the NY HEAT Act to be included in the NYS budget. But this won't happen without you!

ACTIONS:

ATTEND THE NY RENEWS LOBBY DAY in Albany on March 20th. Email margaret_reilly@mac.com if you are interested. AND/OR
PLEASE MAKE THE 3 PHONE CALLS BELOW TODAY, and every day if possible, until the budget is done.

CALL ASSEMBLY SPEAKER CARL HEASTIE AT 518-455-3791

CALL GOVERNOR KATHY HOCHUL AT 1-518-474-8390 (Press 2 to speak to a staffer) Calling after hours and leaving a message is fine. Messages are counted too.

"Hello, this is {YOUR NAME}. I’m calling to urge (Speaker Heastie/ Governor Hochul) to pass three pieces of Climate, Jobs, and Justice legislation in the 2024 budget: the full NY Heat Act including the 6% cap on utility bills, the Climate Superfund Act to make polluters pay, and the Just Energy Transition Act, to create renewable energy hubs with strong labor standards statewide.

New Yorkers are already bearing the brunt of the climate crisis and environmental injustice. Last year alone we experienced intense heat waves, and flooding from severe storms. The real culprits—fossil fuel companies—need to be held accountable.

Over 70% of NYers support implementing New York's landmark climate law; our state budget should reflect that! I strongly urge the Speaker and Assembly chamber to step up and follow the Senate’s lead to pass the Climate, Jobs, and Justice Package for New York in the 2024 state budget. Thank you for your time!"

CALL SENATE MAJORITY-LEADER STEWART-COUSINS AT 518-455-2715

(There is a slight variation in this script as the Senate included the full NY HEAT Act in their budget.)

"Hello, this is {YOUR NAME}. I want to thank the Senate for their leadership in the 2024 one-house budget proposal, and once again, I urge the Majority-Leader and Senate chamber to hold strong and pass the Climate, Jobs, and Justice Package for New York in the 2024 state budget.

I’d like Senate Majority-Leader Stewart-Cousins to keep or include the three pieces of Climate, Jobs, and Justice legislation in the 2024 budget: the full NY Heat Act including the 6% cap on utility bills, the Climate Superfund Act to make polluters pay, and the Just Energy Transition Act, to create renewable energy hubs with strong labor standards statewide.

Equal Rights for New Yorkers on the Ballot

The New York State Equal Rights Amendment is an amendment to New York’s State Constitution that adds explicit protections for people who experience discrimination. At a moment in time when we are seeing state governments and courts walk rights backwards, this proposal embeds explicit protections within our state constitution.

Adding to existing enumerated protections against discrimination based on race and religion, this amendment would explicitly prohibit discrimination based on a person’s ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, and sex—including their sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes, reproductive healthcare and autonomy.

This Amendment ensures that New York’s founding document and our strongest legal protections extend to all New Yorkers the right to be free from discrimination, particularly those who have faced severe and pervasive injustice.

Do you know enough about the ERA to talk to friends and neighbors about it? Check out the slide deck from Monday night's ERA Zoom as well as the website: http://nyequalrights.org/. We'll learn more about the effort to get voters to flip their ballots and vote yes this year at our March IMV Meeting on the 27th.

Indivisible Actions for Reproductive Freedom and for Health Care

Call Sen. Gillibrand & Sen. Schumer and demand they protect IVF access nationwide. The MAGA agenda did not just stop at repealing Roe. They intend to ban contraception, IVF, gender-affirming care, marriage equality, and more. Sen. Tammy Duckworth has introduced the Access to Family Building Act, a bill that would enshrine access to IVF and related services as a federal right, protecting both would-be families and their medical providers. Call our NY Senators and make sure they are a cosponsor.

Call Sen. Gillibrand and Sen. Schumer to demand they oppose all extreme MAGA policy riders. What sort of things are those MAGA extremists trying to include in a government funding bill? Attacks on reproductive freedom, the LGBTQ+ community, and vulnerable asylum seekers; rollbacks of gun violence prevention policies; and more. We cannot allow our Democratic senators to give in to these extreme demands.
Write an LTE about the MAGA plan to privatize Medicare. Trump intends to make Medicare Advantage the default program for all newly eligible Medicare participants. Medicare Advantage plans regularly deny coverage for essential care and patients covered by it are more likely to die in the month following major cancer surgeries than patients who have traditional Medicare. What does that mean? Republicans would put our lives in jeopardy to line the pockets of private investors. Write an LTE today to let people know about Trump’s latest threat.

"Know Your Audience" Persuasion to Power Call

Everyone we speak to, whether neighbor, friend, community member, or family, carries a slightly different set of values and expectations. In organizing conversations, it’s up to us to listen well and make strategic, thoughtful assessments of how to move our goals forward by taking into account the other person’s responses. We’ll learn from veteran activist Loretta Ross about how we can assess and adjust our communication approaches based on the person we’re talking to and how closely they already align with our goals.

Register for the **RESCHEDULED** education series event: Persuasion to Power: Know Your Audience with Loretta Ross on Wednesday, March 20 at 8pm.

Rally for Medicaid with 1199SEIU in Syracuse (Hop on the Bus to Join!)

On Friday, March 22nd at 4pm, 1199SEIU is going to be joining sister cities (Buffalo, Rochester, NYC, and others) to go “all out for Medicaid” with 1199 members and community partners advocating for Medicaid funding in the NYS Budget and calling on the Governor to stop her proposed cuts to Medicaid funding. This will be a large mobilization of healthcare workers and community allies. 1199SEIU will be marching from our Syracuse office (250 S. Clinton St.) to the front of the State Office Building in Syracuse, NY. The march will begin at 4pm on the 22nd and will have a bus departing from the parking lot of the Hannaford Plaza on Mohawk St. in Utica at 3:30pm on March 22nd. It will return to Utica between 7pm and 7:30pm. Sign up/RSVPhere.

Did You Know?

Celeste Friend has a new weekly column in The Daily Sentinel. You can find her insights there every Tuesday! The Daily Sentinel will be the primary source of news and Letters to the Editor for our area as we head toward the 2024 election and beyond--for both NY22 and NY21 as well as state level and local races. The Utica O-D, as we know, has no real editorial/opinion section and covers local news in a very limited manner. Given all that, we would like to ask everyone to consider subscribing to The Daily Sentinel https://www.romesentinel.com/subscribe/ in whatever way works best for you. Last week we encouraged calls to state reps about supporting local journalism. Subscribing to a locally owned and operated newspaper is another way to do that. Plus....Celeste!

Jenna Azeezis the new DCCC Organizing Director for NY-22. It's similar to the role that Jon Lipe was serving when we first met him in 2017. Jenna is based in Syracuse, and will be focusing on voter registration especially on college campuses until after the June primary. We'll have her introduce herself at our March 27th IMV meeting on Zoom. She is fired up and ready to #FlipNY22!

Sarah Reeske, our Indivisible Statewide organizer, announced this week that Indivisible's relational canvassing tool Neighbor2Neighbor will be available across New York instead of just in the battleground districts so that it can be used to also talk to Democrats in your own neighborhood about the NYERA! That means that our members in NY21 as well as in NY22 can use the tool as we near the critical 2024 election.

Kudos to Carole Gehrig, champion LTE writer! Her well written letter about democracy vs dictatorshipwas published this week in The Daily Senitinel. Carole's letter followed Sue Timian's excellent "Freedom for All" letter from earlier in the month. Keep up the good work, LTE Workgroup!

Citizen Action of Central New York, IMV's closest political activism ally since 2017, is holding its first chapter meeting of 2024 on Monday, March 25th from 6-7:30 pm (at MUCC, 40 Faxton, Utica). All are welcome.

Many of the Celeste for Mayor campaign volunteers continue to be engaged in Utica community and politics. They monitor city government closely, regularly attending the Utica Common Council meetings. If you live in Utica or want to encourage Utica friends and family to understand what is happening in the city, follow Every Voice on Facebook and get involved.

Were you feeling depressed and horrified after the Christian Nationalism presentation at the February IMV Meeting? The source of most of the material discussed, Pastor Doug Pagitt, was interviewed this week by Chris Hayes on the Why Is This Happening? podcast. The work Pagitt is doing through his organization, Vote Common Good, to counter Christian Nationalism from within evangelicalism, was oddly uplifting and positive, as Hayes noted at the end, and helpful when it comes to talking with voters about identity, values, and immigrants. Listen here, or wherever you get podcasts.

The IMV Steering Committee has started talking about postcards as we look toward reaching key voters in our communities ahead of the November elections. Once again we may receive free postcards from the Rural Freedom Network. It's just a matter of purchasing the stamps. We're going to want some Postcard Party captains. Could that be you? Give it some thought.

Make the Calls

Now that you're at the end of the email, please go back up and make the calls about state climate bills, reproductive freedom, and defending against MAGA policy riders in Congress. If you have extra time, please write an LTE or go out and get some petition signatures.

Thank you for all your political activism! As you know, democracy is not a spectator sport.

Follow us on Instagram's Threads.net/@indivisiblemohawkvalley, on X (Twitter) using @indivisiblemv , and of course, on our Facebook page and IMV Activism Group.

Alan Cole