Battling Corruption: Upcoming San Francisco Events

[Aaron Lifshin]

Hello SF Rootstrikers,

Our government is captured by the interests of wealthy funders.  We have a long battle ahead of us, but there are plenty of opportunities to join us in San Francisco in the coming weeks.

Later today, the PR working group is meeting to brainstorm ideas for marketing and outreach.  The meeting is at 6:30 at Sandbox Suites, SOMA.  123 10th St.

Details and RSVP: http://www.rootstrikers.org/71457/pr_working_group

Tomorrow SF Rootstrikers is holding movie night at Cafe Que Tal 1005 Guerrero Street (@ 22nd St.)

The movie is Big Sky, Big Money: a documentary about Montana's battle to keep money out of politics

Details and RSVP: http://www.rootstrikers.org/debgoodman/sf_rootstrikers_movie_night_big_sky_big_money

Next week is our regular bi-weekly meeting.  Tuesday, May 7th at 7:30PM in the Sandbox Suites Annex: 1385 Mission, around the corner from our usual meeting place.

Rootstrikers campaign directory Szelena Gray will be there to talk to us about Rootstrikers initiatives, objectives and plans.

Details and RSVP: http://www.rootstrikers.org/71457/meeting_with_rootstrikers_campaign_director

Can't make any meetings? Please share this beautiful animated info-graphic: http://letsfreecongress.org/

Help spread the word about the change we need!

Want to join a local campaign? Our friend Preston Picus is running the campaign of Barry Hermanson. The goal of this campaign is to bring the issue of money in politics to the forefront.  Please check out the campaign on facebook :www.facebook.com/votebarry and see the message about the campaign from Preston, quoted below.

Yours in the fight against corruption,

Aaron

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Preston Picus <timefor...@gmail.com>

Hello Rootstrikers, 

I wanted to let you know that I am running the campaign for Barry Hermanson.  Barry is running for US House of Representatives in California's 12th District. The Pelosi district.  We don't have a very good chance of beating Pelosi, but we do have a very good chance of beating the Republican in the primary and making it to the general election vote in November.  I believe this is very important. 

First, I think it's important to vote for and help out with third party candidates.  I don't believe that the Democrats, despite some of their more positive statements about campaign finance, can be serious about reducing the amount of money in politics.  They are established, proven takers of big campaign donations and I can't believe any of them are serious reformers.  The Republicans have stated often that they are against any kind of campaign finance reform that limits the amount of money corporations and people can contribute. 

Barry has vowed to take no donation higher than $500 which is substantially lower than the current hard donation limit and in addition the Green Party refuses Pac money altogether.  

Second, I believe that campaign finance is not merely 'an issue,' but the thing we all must change if we want to see positive motion on any issue that concerns the majority of Americans (see my recent short book Send Our Reps to Rehab on amazon or I can save you the $3 and give you a pdf which we are distributing).  Barry agrees with me entirely and changing the way money goes into politics is going to be a central theme of our campaign. 

Third, fighting to change the way campaign finance works I often come across sympathetic folks who say "Okay!  I'm with you: what do we do now?"  This is why I'm helping Barry run for Congress because at the very least, if you live in San Francisco, I have an action item for you: Show up on June 3rd 2014 to the primary ballot and vote for Barry Hermanson.  It's a half hour out of your year to make a big impact on something we all agree is important. 

In fact, we recommend registering to absentee vote, saving you the time of going to the poll on that workday. 

Fourth, the goal is attainable.  Let me show you some numbers: 

In SF there are 415,000 registered voters, 149,000 have registered as other or not-affiliated.  

In the 2012 primary election 119,000 people voted.  This means that there are more people registered in SF as having no party affiliation than voted in the primary election.  

Pelosi got 89,000

John Dennis (republican) got 16,000

Barry Hermanson came in third with 6,400

There were three other Democratic candidates behind Barry with 1,000 - 5,000 votes each. 

Also: 

Pelosi raised and spent $2.3 million

Dennis raised and spent $450,000

Barry Hermanson raised and spent $13,000. 

If you look at it as dollar per vote, we get the most bang for our buck and we don't take too many bucks anyway. 

If we can pick up 14,000 votes we make the primary election. 

In the general election it is true that we have almost no chance of beating Pelosi, but Barry has told me over and over again that he wants to use the campaign to change the dialogue on a national level.  Pelosi is the big dog with the Dems and if we can push her, however much, in her home district on these important issues then we can have an impact on the national level.  

We will push her on campaign finance reform if we make the general election.  We will push her anyway, but in the primary it's hard to think anybody outside of SF will hear about it. 

In short: I am looking for some help with our campaign.  We need people who are dedicated to really changing the way our elections work to step up and help us get Barry on the stage to make the case for campaign finance reform. 

And: Consider adding "Vote for Barry Hermanson" to your list of things people can do to get involved in the fight against money corrupting politics. 

Please forgive the length of this email, however I hope a few of you find this a compelling action item.  I sure as hell do. 

Your friend in the fight, 

Preston