The Planning Starts Now: How We're Going to Work Together to Defeat Brandon Williams and Flip NY22 Blue in 2024

We're heading into the home stretch of 2023, and gearing up for a busy year of progressive political action in 2024, especially as we work toward our goal of flipping NY22 blue.  Remember, there are two main parts to that work.

1) Weakening our horrible Republican Member of Congress (MOC), Brandon Williams, in the eyes of the media and NY 22 voting public.  That requires a lot of birddogging and the earned media that comes with regular, effective pickets, protests, and other events calling out his failure to represent the people of NY22 and tying him to the MAGA Republicans intent about sabotaging democracy. 

2) The second part is electoral work--everything we will do on the ground to elect a Democrat to Congress.  That's direct voter contact like door knocking and phone banking, and every other possible campaign support work we can manage (think housing young campaign staffers, hosting candidate meet-and-greets, and much more). 

We're going to hit the ground running with part 1 in January. In order to do that, we need YOU!  Please join us for:

Thursday, Dec. 7th, 8-9 pm, December Indivisible National Campaigns Call, Join activists across the country as we celebrate the incredible accomplishments of Indivisibles over the past year and take a look ahead to the exciting campaigns and strategic plans for 2024. Register for the Zoom HERE.

Thursday, Dec. 14th, 7:00 pm, Indivisible OneNYS Meeting - Planning for 2024, Register for the Zoom HERE. We’re coming together to discuss and plan how Indivisible OneNYS can organize to meet the challenges and opportunities in 2024. Your input is valued and needed. Ezra Levin, Indivisible's co-executive director, will join us.

Sunday, Dec. 17th, 2:00-3:30 IMV December 2023 Meeting, NY Energy Zone, 35 Utica Zoo Way, Utica. We’re meeting in this beautiful, free conference room space for the first time.  It’s up the hill off Memorial Parkway before you get to the Utica Zoo parking lot. There is plenty of parking in the lot at the building. We’ll be talking about what we want to do for a Jan. 6th action and discussing how we can call out Brandon Williams and hold him accountable in 2024. 

We especially can't wait to see everyone in our progressive political activist community in person at our IMV meeting on Sunday, Dec. 17th. As always, bring a friend!  
 
Take These Actions on Climate

1. Call Comptroller DiNapoli and Tell him to Divest

If you called Tom DiNapoli last week, thank you, and please call again! The major focus of the Divest NY campaign currently is to press NY State Comptroller DiNapoli to fully divest the NYS Common Retirement Fund (CRF) from Exxon and other gas and oil companies. His decision is overdue. We want to ensure that he doesn't backslide and that he follows through on the commitment to divest from fossil fuels. And if you haven’t signed this new petition yet, please do that as well and share widely.

Call DiNapoli at 866-961-4293 and share this message: 

"Please fully divest the state pension from oil and gas companies, especially Exxon. You need to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and stop investing in companies that knowingly drove climate change, which threatens the future of humanity."

Background and details outlined here: DiNapoli fact sheet.

2. Call Your Members of Congress Today and say: "Reject Chemical Recycling, a False Solution"

 As public concern grows about the tsunami of toxic plastic trash, the plastics industry is promoting technologies it has misleadingly named "chemical recycling" (also known as "advanced recycling", "molecular recycling", "gasification", "pyrolysis", and "chemical conversion") as the solution to the global plastic pollution crisis.

Unfortunately, so-called "chemical recycling" is a false solution that not only does not recycle plastic but also generates large amounts of hazardous air pollution, toxic waste, and greenhouse gas emissions that hasten climate change, pose a risk to our health, and threaten environmental justice.

Use this simple form to ask all three of your members of Congress to reject toxic, climate change-speeding "chemical recycling" by co-sponsoring the newly reintroduced Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2023 (S. 3217 / H.R.6053).

3. Say Thank You to Letitia James

This is a reminder that government matters and can do good when we elect Democrats: On November 15, the NY Attorney General's office brought a lawsuit against Pepsi Co. for polluting the Buffalo River with single-use plastics. This first-of-its kind suit provides a potential legal pathway for other states to hold companies accountable for their role in polluting our shared waterways. Add your name to this letter to say "THANK YOU" to NYS AG Letitia James for holding Pepsi accountable:

Oneida County Democratic Women's Club Brunch

The Oneida County Democratic Women's Club is holding its annual holiday brunch on December 10th at 11:30 am at Monarch Banquets, 16 Erie Street in Yorkville. The ticket price is $40.  RSVP by Nov. 30 here: ACTBLUE.COM/DONATE/OCDWCHolidayBrunch

Messaging Corner: NY's Clean Slate (aka Clean Nose) Act

Before Thanksgiving, NY Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the Clean Slate Act into law. This is a good law that Democratic legislators worked hard to accomplish, but it will be messaged negatively by Republican smear campaigns.  What can we do to message the story of why this is a bill that is good for New Yorkers and businesses in NY --so good that even Chambers of Commerce and labor groups have been asking for it for years? 

Judith Hunter, Chair of the Democratic Rural Caucus of New York State has prepared a terrific one-page message.to help all of us talk about this important and positive bill with friends, neighbors, and co-workers. We urge you to read the document and practice your messaging skills by talking about this bill to counteract the GOP's fear-mongering talking points.  

Messaging will be a key theme for us in 2024, because strong, truthful, and values oriented messaging is the key to flipping NY22, winning the White House, and reversing the trend in Oneida and other local counties toward Republican electoral wins. Look out for more NY22 progressive coalition messaging workshops, and in the meantime, check out the next monthly Indivisible Truth Brigade call on Dec. 13th, which is all about fighting disinformation and effective messaging.  
 

CAFE Friday: A Weekly Community Meeting

When our nearly two year long weekly #OneTermTenney picket of Claudia Tenney's New Hartford office ended with the election of Anthony Brinidisi in 2018, we no longer had a standing weekly get together for IMVers.  That changed later when CAFE Fridays began on Zoom, and that weekly community of conversation and connection has been going strong ever since.  You are always welcome to join the Zoom with us (Zoom link HERE.   PW: 607973). It's a good way to plug in and cultivate the community and relationships around shared values that are at the core of our political activism.  

What about people who are not available on weekday mornings?  Are there other regular ways that you think IMVers could connect?  If you have ideas, the Steering Committee would love to hear them. Contact us at IndivisibleMohawkValley@gmail.com.  

Remember to mark your calendar for our December 17th meeting at NY Energy Zone (next to the Utica Zoo).  We turn off the news and the TV and the internet and come together to build a democracy rescue plan and take action in the real world because...

Democracy is not a spectator sport.

Follow us on Twitter using @indivisiblemv and of course our Facebook page and IMV Activism Group.