New Email; Actions Coming Up

[NS We the People MA]

Dear Friends,

Welcome to our new email account! What could be more exciting, huh?

I want to address two issues: our next meeting date and actions that we are looking for our members to take to promote the We the People Act.  

First, the easy one:  Our next meeting will be on September 9 at 7 at the Beverly Library.  

Next, the process for passing the We the People Mass Act in the State Legislature and the various roles that YOU can play.  The best source of information on the act is at:  www.wethepeoplemass.org .

Please let me know which of these interest you:

• We'd like to have letters in local papers in late September. 
  
• Each legislator who agreed to co-sponsor should be thanked in local papers, as many papers as possible, with all legislators getting at least one public thank you. (A list of co-sponsors can be found here:  http://www.wethepeoplemass.org/cosponsor-list/)
• Legislators who have not taken a position should see a letter in their local papers about the bill and the importance of voting in support of the bill. You should also schedule a meeting with several local constituents to discuss the bill with your legislator. 
• Also, if there is someone who can help with coordinating contacts with the media, please let me know!

• Rep Parisella of Beverly chairs the committee that will be having the hearing in October. We want the him to hear support from large numbers of his constituents. If you are one, please write or call him.
  

• Identify organizations we can ask to endorse the WTP Act (we have a form that needs to be filled out and signed).  We have succeeded in getting a number of organizations to support the act including: Massachusetts Neighbor to Neighbor, Mass Senior Action Council, Beverly Democratic Town Committee, Nahant Democratic Town Committee, Reading Democratic Town Committee, North Shore Friends Meeting.  If you can think of other organizations we can approach for endorsement, please respond to this email.(We are in talks with a number of Town/City Committees, so be in touch with me before you pursue yours if you are interested in doing that.) The endorsement form is on the web site:  https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9bebo6PJlaPanQ3ZEpuWnJ6TmM/view        

• Offer educational workshops to organizations to get them interested!  If you find an organization that would like a workshop, please let me know.

• The Legislative Public Hearing on the bill will be held in October. We will organize a set of people to testify in person for the WTP Act. We may want to have a citizen’s lobby day on the same day, and have a bigger turnout for the hearing, but we will not need dozens of people to testify.

• A key role for local activists will be to urge all legislators to testify for the bill, or at least send a letter to the committee in support of the bill. This is another way for your legislators to show they place a priority on the passage of the We the People Act.
  

This takes us through October.  There will be more to do later, but for now, this is enough!

Finally, an email will be going out soon about donations to our new state group.  Please consider making a donation so we can get off to a strong start.  Please send your check to: Adele Coyne at PO Box 540115, Waltham, MA 02454.

Many thanks!  I hope you made it through the email to the end and that you can find a way to join in the effort.

Kathy Lique

North Shore We the People Massachusetts