Zoom with Schumer Staff Today 10:30 am
We Choose to Fight:
Join Our Schumer Call This Morning
IMV members participated in a big rally (250 in attendance!) on Wednesday at the federal building in Syracuse where Sen. Schumer and Sen. Gillibrand have offices. There was a great lineup of speakers, protest music, and lots of chanting. People came from Oneida, Madison, Onondaga, Cayuga, St. Lawrence, Oswego, and other counties across CNY. Following the rally, a smaller group met briefly in the building's lobby with a Schumer staffer. A photo of the Syracuse rally was featured on Rachel Maddow on Wednesday evening.
Our message was simple: We expect our Senators to stand up and fight. This is not a normal policy debate or the usual first 90 days executive actions. Trump is acting like he controls all branches of government and Congress has no role. His goons led by Musk illegally broke into a secure facility over a weekend, hijacked sensitive data on vulnerable people and U.S. businesses, destroyed property Americans paid for, cut off resources for sick and hungry families and fired Americans across the country. Schumer must lead a unified opposition.
Because there was not staff available to have constituent meetings in Sen. Schumer's conference room (and we had so many people!) Josh Pearlman, from Schumer's team offered us a Zoom meeting on 10:30-11am this morning, Friday, Feb 7th. Everyone is welcome!
Here's the Zoom link to register.
When hundreds of people from across a region sign up to attend an event and show up, this is what we can accomplish! Thanks to NYS Indivisible Sarah Reeske for getting this Zoom set up.
If you are normally part of CAFE Fridays, we recommend that you hop off that zoom at 10:30 to join Schumer staff, and then return for a debrief on CAFE Friday at 11:00 am.
Our Actions are Making a Difference
The pressure that Indivisibles are putting on Democratic Senators to stiffen their spines is making an impact just in the past few days. On Tuesday night, Rachel Maddow played a clip of Indivisible's national call on Sunday night when 50,000 people joined to hear Ezra Levin describe a strategy that soon involved a protest at the U.S. Treasury on Tuesday afternoon and more than 300 hundred Senate office visits by Indivisibles across the U.S. When she then interviewed Ezra later in the episode, he talked about the results we are already seeing. 3000 people showed up outside the US Treasury building on Tuesday. The U.S Senate reports 16,000 calls per minute this week instead of the usual 40 or so. That's our coordinated effort across the country. Democrats in the Senate are finally starting to use the Mitch McConnell 2009 playbook to obstruct business as usual. They took control of the Senate floor at 2 pm Wednesday speaking to block the Russell Vought confirmation and were still going strong after 24 hours.
Keep calling. Use THIS TOOL. It's easy, and just takes a couple minutes. Call both U.S Senators. Demand that they use every procedural rule possible to delay, block, and obstruct all Senate business until Trump-Musk stop shredding the Constitution.
Trump and Musk are saying that they have power they do not have. Don't believe them. That's why we have to say "What they're doing is illegal and it's harming all of us." Tell your friends and neighbors and then call Sen. Schumer and Sen. Gillibrand again!
Climate Crisis Working Group
**All are welcome at the IMV's Climate Crisis Working Group’s meeting on February 10th, 6pm - 7:30pm at the New Hartford Public Library (Corasanti Meeting Room). **
On Tuesday, four IMV members took part in a rally and lobby day for the NY Heat Act. Scheduled meetings with staff for Assembly members Buttenschon and Magnarelli (Syracuse) yielded no support for the bill, but drop-in visits for other legislators in Syracuse and Binghamton areas were positive. Marianne Buttenschon needs constituent calls asking her to sign onto the letter circulating in the Assembly asking that the NY Heat Act be included in the Assembly One House budget. Ask your friends and family to join you in calling: Utica office, 315-732-1055; Albany, 518-455-5454.
We Have a NY21 Democratic Candidate!
Wednesday night was the first phonebank to recruit Democratic voters to get involved in the NY21 Special Election--organized by Sarah Reekse and attended by more than 50 new volunteers across the district. And just by luck, there was some exciting news for those callers to share with voters.
The 15 County Democratic Chairs announced on Wednesday that the Democratic candidate for the NY21 Congressional race will be Lisbon, NY dairy farmer, Blake Gendebien.
According to the Oneida County Democratic Committee press release, "Gendebien, owner and President of Twin Mill Farms in Lisbon, New York, since 2002 as well as Vice-Chairman of Agri-Mark Dairy Cooperative covering New York and New England, Blake brings an authentic voice that will fight for sensible solutions to the challenges affecting NY-21 and this nation. As a husband, father, farmer, small business owner, and former school board member, Blake will target affordability, secure borders, and common-sense regulation. An outsider to the political arena, Blake Gendebien embodies the voice and grit that distinguishes this district."
Indivisibles across New York are ready to pitch in and help elect Blake to Congress. We don't need another Elise Stefanik doing Trump's bidding in the House. We need someone who will work for the people who live in the 15 counties that make up NY21. So, you're invited:
NY21 Virtual Meet-n-Greet with Blake Gendebien
Democratic Candidate for Congress
Organized by Indivisible OneNYS
Tuesday, February 18th, 6:30 pm
Register HERE
We'll learn more about him, hear his stories, and ask questions so everyone can get to know Blake better. After this call get ready to share YOUR story about why you're fired up to send Blake to Congress. Indivisibles will be organizing to get their stories out through videos, social media, letters-to-the-editor, and word of mouth. Organizing wins!
What's Rep. Mannion Up To?
First, good news! Longtime friend of IMV, and former Brindisi campaign staffer and congressional staffer, Jon Lipe, has started a new job as Utica Outreach Representative for Congressman John Mannion, and will be based out of the Congressman's Utica office once it gets set up, We are hearing that it will most likely be in the same building where Anthony Brindisi had his office (AAA building on Court Street).
Second, John Mannion is getting angry about the way the White House is usurping the power of Congress, and along with Hakeem Jeffries and the rest of the Democratic House, he intends to fight it with everything he's got. That's good news. You can see Rep. Mannion's message from Monday HERE, and his Tuesday video HERE. He was back with another strong message on Thursday morning.
ACTION: Call Rep. Mannion's office and tell him "Thank you" for fighting for us. Then ask his staff when and where he'll be holding his first Town Hall; Leader Jeffries' 10-point plan for his members tells his caucus members to hold town halls in #10.)
Rep. John Mannion DC Office: (202) 225-3701
Rep. John Mannion Syracuse Office: (315) 233-4333
Letters to the Editor
Keep those LTE's coming! Here is Kathy Wojo's LTE in the Sentinel from last week about our People's March Rally. And Carole Gehrig had a letter this week in The Phoenix urging people to call their representatives and get involved.
Writing a letter to the editor of your newspaper is one of the most effective actions you can take to influence people in our community and counter lies and misinformation. If you need help formulating your letter, editing, or sending it to local newspapers, please reach out: IMV@indivisiblemv.org. We have an experienced team of LTE writers standing by to help.
Next IMV Meeting Scheduled for February 23
We're so glad to see so many new people signing up for this weekly newsletter. Please reach out to us with any questions about how to get connected to our activities: IMV@IndivisibleMV.org.
If you have not yet read the new Indivisible Guide for 2025, check it out HERE. Indivisible Mohawk Valley has been using the Indivisible Guide (updated versions every few years) and its theory of change, strategies, and tactics for eight years. It works. And because we do this work together, we make political activism local, bite-size, and fun.
We hope to see you at one or more of our upcoming events or meetings.
Climate Crisis Working Group Monday, Feb, 10 6:00-7:30 pm, New Hartford Library, 2 Library Lane, NY
IMV Monthly Meeting Feb. 23, 1:30-3:30 pm, New Hartford Library
CAFE Fridays 9:30 am every Friday. Please note that CAFE Fridays has a brand new Zoom link. It's in the calendar. The Password is the same.
Do not lose hope.
There are many things you can do every day, including calling your Members of Congress, state, and local elected representatives. There's even a meeting of a new Mutual Aid Society in the calendar, a practical way to build community and make sure no one falls through the cracks. More events will be added regularly.
This is going to be a marathon, not a sprint. Let's stay focused on strategic action that makes a difference. In the long term our goal is to build the political activism that can get us the leaders and policies we need and deserve. In the short term, we're focused on saving our country and the most vulnerable people in it from the worst damage that the Republicans are trying to do. We must. We can. We will.
"Democracy is not a spectator sport."
"No one let go of anyone's hand"
Follow us on Bluesky: @Indivisiblemv.bsky.social, on Instagram's Threads.net/@indivisiblemohawkvalley, on X (Twitter) using @indivisiblemv and of course on our Facebook page and IMV Activism Group.
