Subject: [big campaign] A Busy Week for the 'Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery'
From: "Brad Woodhouse" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:08:09 -0500
List-Id: <bigcampaign.googlegroups.com>

Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery Now

www.JobsandEconomicRecovery.com
<http://www.jobsandeconomicrecovery.com/> 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                  CONTACT:
Jeremy Funk, 202-470-5878

DATE: January 16, 2009
Lauren Weiner, 202-470-5870

A Busy Week for the 'Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery'

Click Below to See Media Coverage of:

*        Ohio Governor Ted Strickland Joined Economist, Labor and
Progressive Leaders on Jan. 14th Press Conference Call Urging Congress
to Pass President-Elect Obama's Major Jobs and Economic Recovery Plan

*        Americans United for Change Launched TV Ad Today Urging Senator
George Voinovich (R-OH) to Support the Obama Jobs and Economic Recovery
Plan as the President-Elect Visits Cleveland Area Manufacturing Plant to
Promote Plan

*        MoveOn.org Spearheaded More than 250 Petition Deliveries to
Members of Congress This Week Urging Their Support of Obama's Economic
Recovery Plan

More than 30 leading progressive organizations and unions with millions
of members have signed onto run a major campaign to pass the significant
jobs and economic recovery package outlined by President Elect Barack
Obama and set into motion by Congressional leaders that will create or
save three to four million jobs, strengthen our middle class, and
improve the economy in the near and long term by making sound
investments in state fiscal relief, health care, energy efficiency,
transportation and schools. To date, the following organizations have
signed on the Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery Now: AFSCME, SEIU,
AFLCIO, MoveOn.org Political Action, NEA, Americans United for Change,
USAction, Campaign for America's Future, ACORN, Health Care for America
Now, Sierra Club, People for the American Way Foundation, National
Women's Law Center, TrueMajority.org, Young Democrats of America, 21st
Century Democrats, Community Action Partnership, Institute for Policy
Studies - Cities for Progress, Progressive Future ,  National Priorities
Project , Cities for Progress, Progressive Future,Working Group on
Extreme Inequality, YWCA USA , Economic Policy Institute, Women's
Voices, Women's Vote Action Fund, League of Conservation Voters,
Medicaid Health Plans of America (MHPA), American Postal Workers Union,
National Postal Mail Handlers Union, National Rural Letter Carriers'
Association, and Environment America.

 

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland Joined Economist, Labor and Progressive
Leaders on Jan. 14th Press Conference Call Urging Congress to Pass
President-Elect Obama's Major Jobs and Economic Recovery Plan

Click Here to Download Audio from the Call: 
http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/page/-/economicrecovery/81151135
.mp3

 

 

Politico's Playbook mention:

HAPPENING TODAY, from release: "The Campaign for Jobs and Economic
Recovery Now, a coalition of more than 20 leading progressive and labor
groups working to pass President Elect Barack Obama's jobs and economic
recovery plan, will be joined on a press conference call ... by Ohio
Governor Ted Strickland and economists to call on Congress to support
the Obama plan that will create or save at least three million jobs,
strengthen our middle class, and improve the economy in the near and
long term by making sound investments in health care, energy efficiency,
transportation and schools. Participants will emphasize the stimulative
effects of state fiscal relief, including the fact that every dollar
spent in general aid to state government generates $1.38 in economic
activity."

http://www.politico.com/playbook/0109/playbook555.html 

 

 

Strickland Asks Obama To Keep Ohio In Mind

By Denise Yost <mailto:[email-masked]> 
Managing Editor, nbc4i.com
Published: January 15, 2009

http://www.nbc4i.com/cmh/news/national/national_govtpolitics/article/str
ickland_asks_obama_to_keep_ohio_in_mind/11823/ 

COLUMBUS, Ohio-Gov. Ted Strickland is asking Congress and
President-Elect Barack Obama to not forget the state's budget needs as
they move toward passing an economic stimulus package.

"I'm asking for help for education so that we won't have to terminate
teachers and underfund schools and allow college tuition to explode,"
Strickland said.

In a conference call with reporters this week, Strickland emphasized the
need for significant financial help at the state level, not just in the
form of shovel-ready public works projects, but in financing to provide
continued health care, education and other services that protect the
vulnerable.

"These efforts to help states are, in my judgment, absolutely critical
and if they do not occur, I think the recession could be extended and
made deeper," Strickland said.

Strickland also said Ohio has more than $1 billion in infrastructure
projects that could begin with federal funding.

 

http://talkradionews.com/2009/01/ohio-governor-calls-for-fiscal-relief-f
or-state-governments/ 

Ohio Governor calls for fiscal relief for state governments

Staff <http://talkradionews.com/author/interns/> 

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland offered his support for the upcoming
economic recovery plan and made the case for fiscal relief in individual
states.

"I think Ohio is similar to many other states...my first two year budget
was the slowest growth budget that Ohio had in 42 years. We were very
frugal with the people's resources," said Strickland during a
teleconference hosted by Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery Now.

"In spite of that fact, over the last few months I have had to reduce
over 1.9 billion dollars in our current budget."

The Governor stated that without immediate federal assistance, Ohio
would be faced with a 7.3 billion dollar deficit in 2011.

"In order for us to have a balanced budget in 2010 and 2011 without
federal assistance I would have to cut state government spending by
25%," a notion that Strickland described as impossible.

Governors Dave Patterson (D-N.Y.), Jim Doyle (D-Wis.), Jon Corzine
(D-N.J.), Deval Patrick (D-Mass.), Jennifer Granholm (D-Mich.), Jim
Doyle (D-Wis.), and others have joined Strickland in calling for state
assistance.

"We have got to have this help. It must come from the Federal Government
because states do need to have a balanced budget, it will require
additional borrowing...and the deficit will increase. There is no doubt
about that," commented Strickland.

"But I believe the President Elect is correct in saying the greatest
threat is in doing nothing and allowing this recession to become ever
deeper," he concluded.

 

Strickland: Federal aid is a must

By Marc Kovac 
Thursday, January 15, 2009
http://www.vindy.com/news/2009/jan/15/strickland-federal-aid-is-a-must/?
newswatch 

  <http://www.vindy.com/photos/2008/jul/08/6284/> 

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland (D-Lisbon)

By Marc Kovac <http://www.vindy.com/staff/marc-kovac/> 

Strickland asked transportation officials to identify projects that are
'shovel ready.' 

COLUMBUS - Gov. Ted Strickland continued his call for federal assistance
for Ohio and other states facing budget deficits as the result of a
declining economy.

In a conference call with labor leaders Wednesday, the governor
reiterated the need for quick action on a federal stimulus package that
includes funds for infrastructure improvements, education and services
for the needy.

"The economists that I'm talking with increasingly share with me their
concern that this situation could become deeper and could last longer
than anyone would want to imagine," Strickland told reporters. "So we
are asking for an unprecedented response to an unprecedented set of
circumstances. We have got to have this help, it must come from the
federal government ... and it will require additional borrowing on the
part of our federal government, and the deficit will increase."

He added, "But I believe the president-elect in saying the greatest
threat is in doing nothing and allowing this recession to become ever
deeper and last no one knows for how long."

Strickland spoke during a conference call by a coalition of labor and
other groups calling itself the Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery
Now, which is pushing for support for President-elect Barack Obama's
approach to economic stimulus.

The governor said he has asked state transportation officials to
identify projects that are "shovel ready" and could move forward quickly
if federal infrastructure funding is approved.

"We believe we have, with transportation and other infrastructure
projects, at least a billion dollars worth of work that could begin...
as quickly as possible," he said.

But any federal stimulus needs to include additional funding for other
services offered by states, including temporary commitments to health
care and education, Strickland said.

"I continue to say to those who will listen that that kind of effort
[providing funding for infrastructure projects] while worthy and helpful
will not stave off the need for states to cut back on essential services
to the point where individuals will be damaged," he added.

[email-masked]

 

 

Strickland joins labor, progressive campaign to jumpstart economy

KEITH ARNOLD, Daily Reporter Staff Writer

http://www.dailycourt.com/articles.php/4296 

The idea that America must spend its way out of the deepest recession in
generations gained traction here Wednesday, January 14th, as Gov. Ted
Strickland signed on to a progressive/labor campaign to motivate members
of Congress to pass President-elect Barack Obama's comprehensive
recovery plan.

The governor joined Brad Woodhouse, president of Americans United for
Change - a coalition of progressive organizations and labor unions
seeking development of policy priorities and leadership - a public
workers labor representative and an economist from the Economic Policy
Institute via teleconference to make his point with members of the
media.

Of the severe challenges facing state government, Strickland seemed most
bothered by the looming, multi-billion dollar deficit. To simply "flat
fund" government in 2010 and 2011 would leave taxpayers with a $7.3
billion deficit, he said.

He made the case that government mismanagement of public funds is not
responsible for the economic situation.

"It has to do with a collapse of the economy," he said.

What the state needs, he continued, is an unprecedented response to
unprecedented circumstance.

"It will require additional borrowing on the part of the federal
government," he said. "And the deficit will increase; there's no doubt
about that."

Rather than adopting the view that increased state funding is a drag on
economic growth, the governor suggested Congress would do well to view
the practice as supporting 50 economic engines, spurring growth and
development throughout the country.

"Income of state and local governments has plummeted amid the worsening
economic recession," Woodhouse said in a prepared statement. "As a
result, they are making cutbacks in critical services like health care,
education, and nutrition programs for children.

"To prevent these cuts, Obama's jobs and economic recovery plan will
include increased federal aid to states and local communities to fund
law enforcement, education, health care for children and low-income
families, and other services."

Strickland, who has fiercely guarded education funding, took the
opportunity to once again say that area is off limits. With 50 percent
or more of the state's budget resources going to education, he said, "we
need to protect education in the midst of this economic crisis."

Woodhouse illustrated the simulative effects of state fiscal relief by
stating that every dollar spent in general aid to state government
generates $1.38 in economic activity.

Josh Bivens, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said
effective stimulus to an economy in a recession means "lots of deficit
spending.

"Whereas if you give tax cuts you get a lot of saving and the value of a
stimulus package is leaking away."

Bivens' forecast for the near future supported the governor's argument.
He expects an 11 percent rate of unemployment without comprehensive
federal stimulus.

Additionally, he forecast family income in 2010 would fall by 7 percent
when compared to 2007 data.

Bivens commended U.S. governors' response to the decline.

"States have done a good job going forward," he said. "They were well
prepared for a garden variety recession.

"This (however) is not a garden variety recession."

Woodhouse joined Bivens in stating some additional figures.

"A stunning 2.6 million jobs disappeared last year, and if nothing is
done and done soon, millions more American jobs are at stake," he said.
"With the economic news continuing to get worse, there is no time to
spare to turn our economy around. 

He blamed a few Republican senators for slowing down Obama's plan,
characterizing their actions as misguided and inappropriate.

"It is time to put the nation ahead of politics and ideology and support
Obama's economic recovery plan that will create or save 3 million jobs
through solid and sound long-term investments in health care, energy
efficiency, transportation and education," he concluded.

Bivens said these sorts of projects are guaranteed money spent.

Strickland said even a broad stimulus package will not prevent states
from having to make cuts.

"In addition to the stimulus, I am urging that there be other federal
funding," in areas like Medicaid and education, the governor said. "It's
critical and if they do not occur, the recession could deepen."

The perfect solution? A robust and sufficient funding bill passed as
quickly as possible, Strickland said. "So we can start using these
resources."

Barb Coufal, assistant director of Department of Legislation for AFSCME
pledged the organization's 1.4 million membership is behind the effort
to rally Congress.

 

Americans United for Change Launched TV Ad Urging Senator George
Voinovich (R-OH) to Support the Obama Jobs and Economic Recovery Plan as
the President-Elect Visits Cleveland Area Manufacturing Plant to Promote
Plan Today

 

 

 

Posted: Friday, January 16, 2009 9:15 AM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: First Thoughts
<http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/category/1015.aspx>  

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/01/16/1746724.aspx

From Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Carrie Dann
*** First and 10 for Obama: Fresh off his first legislative victory in
getting the second half of the TARP money released -- Rahm Emanuel 
called it
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/us/politics/16stimulus.html?_r=1&ref=
politics> the equivalent of completing an 80-yard pass
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5RbNgzrW-E>  on the first play of the
game -- Obama today hits the road to sell another priority, his stimulus
plan. In Bedford Heights, OH, just outside of Cleveland, the
president-elect will visit Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Company, which
makes parts used to construct wind turbines. Per the transition office,
Obama will tour the plant and then hold a discussion with workers on the
factory floor. Coinciding with Obama's stop in Ohio is a brand-new TV ad
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkCQTvs6yhI&eurl=http://firstread.msnbc.
msn.com/default.aspx&feature=player_embedded> that Americans United for
Change, a group funded by liberal organizations and labor unions, is
running today in the Cleveland area that urges retiring Sen. George
Voinovich (R) to support the stimulus. While we wouldn't compare
yesterday's TARP win to an 80-yard pass -- it was more like a solid
20-yard completion over the middle -- it was certainly much better than
fumbling the first snap of the play, and it makes it MUCH easier to set
up a touchdown with the stimulus. 

 

 

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0109/Obama_allies_lean_on_Voinovi
ch_in_Ohio.html?showall

January 15, 2009
Categories: Congress
<http://dyn.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/index.cfm/category/Congress> 
By Ben Smith 04:16 PM

Obama allies lean on Voinovich in Ohio

  <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMEOLQLt0T8&eurl> 

Americans United for Change <http://americansunitedforchange.org/> , a
labor-backed group campaigning for Obama's stimulus package, will be
airing this ad in Ohio Friday, I'm told. Obama is traveling to the
Cleveland suburbs that day.

The ad features Obama speaking about the urgency of passing a stimulus
plan, then asks viewers to call Ohio Republican Senator George Voinovich
and urge him to vote for the plan.

AUC President Brad Woodhouse says the ad is part of their Campaign for
Jobs and Economic Recovery, pushed by some 30 groups, and that they'll
be running similar ads everywhere Obama travels "to help amplify his
efforts."

They'll air during the evening newscast.

 

 

 

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/01/15/1746372.aspx

Posted: Thursday, January 15, 2009 6:32 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: Democrats
<http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/category/1020.aspx> , Economy
<http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/category/1024.aspx> , Ads
<http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/category/1232.aspx> , Obama WH
Transition <http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/category/1348.aspx>  

From NBC's Mark Murray
With Obama in Ohio tomorrow selling his stimulus plan, Americans United
for Change -- a group funded by several liberal groups and labor unions
-- has unveiled a new TV ad that touts the stimulus and urges Ohio Sen.
George Voinovich (R) to support the plan.

Voinovich announced earlier this week that he isn't running for
re-election in 2010. 

The one-minute TV ad, which uses excerpts of Obama's speech last week
promoting the stimulus, will run on all four major broadcast stations in
Cleveland, OH tomorrow. 

Here's the script: 
President-Elect Barack Obama: We start 2009 in the midst of a crisis
unlike any we have seen in our lifetime. Nearly two million jobs have
now been lost. 
Every day we wait, more Americans will lose their jobs. 
More families will lose their savings. And our nation will sink deeper
into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse. 
That is why I have moved quickly on an American Recovery and
Reinvestment Plan - a plan I am confident will save or create at least
three million jobs.
We'll invest in priorities like energy and education;
Health care and a new infrastructure that are necessary to keep us
strong and competitive in the 21st century.
That's why I'm asking Congress to work with me...day and night...to get
the plan passed. 
That's why I'm calling on all Americans to put a sense of common purpose
above the same narrow partisanship... 
...and insist that the first question each of us asks isn't "What's good
for me?"...
...but "What's good for the country my children will inherit?" 

 

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hEx3tiPJhZQLVqjNmHR_oP
6FZMuwD95O59900

Obama hitting the road to sell his economic plan

By LIZ SIDOTI - 5 hours ago 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Seeking an early victory on a top priority,
President-elect Barack Obama is pitching workers in the ailing Midwest
on his plan for some $825 billion in new spending and tax cuts to spur
the troubled economy.

The president-elect on Friday was to tour a northern Ohio company that
manufactures parts for wind turbines, a fitting backdrop to promote
alternative energy dollars included in the mammoth stimulus package that
could top $1 trillion by the time Congress sends it to the White House.

Obama's campaign-style event is the first of a series he's expected to
hold to generate support for his plan to pull the country from
recession. His trip comes a day after the Senate approved giving him
access to the second half of last fall's $700 billion financial industry
bailout and after House Democrats unveiled a stimulus plan largely
shaped by the president-elect's team.

Citing an economy in crisis and worsening, Obama has spent the past two
weeks securing lawmakers' backing for the eye-popping plan that has
drawn skepticism from both Republicans and Democrats because of its
price tag and tax provisions. He's now taking his pitch directly to the
public - and trying to sell the sweeping package to lawmakers'
constituents.

The stakes are enormous for Obama. Passage of the plan, and bipartisan
passage in particular, would mark a significant achievement at the
outset of his presidency as he inherits a recession in its second year
from President George W. Bush. Defeat would be a blow, coming not just
in his first weeks in office but also as joblessness increases, bank
failures continue, investment portfolios shrink and home prices drop.

Either way, the success or failure of the plan could well set the tone
for his first 100 days in office, if not his first year or longer.

After nearly two weeks in Washington, Obama scheduled a meeting with
workers at the Cardinal Fastener & Specialty Co. in Bedford Heights,
Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, to explain how he believes such companies and
their workers would benefit from his plan.

Founded in 1968, the company recently announced the creation of a wind
power division to respond to what the company says is a surge of demand
for their parts in the wind turbine industry. Obama argues his plan
would create nearly 500,000 jobs by investing in alternative energy.

Ohio is among a large swath of the industrial Midwest that's been hit
especially hard by the recession.

The most recent figures available show that Ohio's unemployment rate was
higher than the national rate at 7.3 percent in November, with 435,000
out of work, up from 5.7 percent the year before. Foreclosure activity
rose 26 percent in Ohio in 2008, putting it among states with the
highest foreclosure rates. And demand for food stamps, Medicaid and
unemployment benefits are on the rise.

Little more than two months ago, Obama won the state by four percentage
points over Republican John McCain, part of his electoral landslide.
Obama posted large numbers of votes in the state's heavily Democratic
northeast corner that is home to many blue collar workers and liberals.

A Democratic-aligned group, Americans United, was airing a TV ad in the
state urging people to call GOP Sen. George Voinovich to express their
support for Obama's plan.

One of the largest bills ever to make its way through Congress, the
legislation calls for federal spending of roughly $550 billion and tax
cuts of $275 billion over the next two years to revive the sickly
economy. It focuses heavily on energy, education, health care and
jobs-producing highway construction.

Energy-related proposals include $32 billion to upgrade the nation's
electrical distribution system, more than $20 billion in tax cuts to
promote the development of alternatives to oil fuels, and billions more
to make public housing, federal buildings and modest-income homes more
energy efficient.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid, D-Nev., have promised Obama they would send him the legislation
for his signature by mid-February.

The plan already is running into resistance.

House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio accused Democrats of
thinking they can "borrow and spend their way back to prosperity" and
complained that there weren't enough tax cuts in the measure.

And House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis.,
suggested more even money was needed, saying: "This product may
undershoot the mark." 

 

http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2009/01/ads_targeting_voinovich_to_air
.html

Ads targeting Voinovich to air when Obama leaves Ohio

Posted by <http://blog.cleveland.com/openersabout.html> 
<http://blog.cleveland.com/openersabout.html> Stephen Koff / Washington
Bureau Chief <mailto:[email-masked]>  January 15, 2009 17:50PM

  <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkCQTvs6yhI&feature=channel_page> 

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Barack Obama will visit Bedford Heights
tomorrow, and he's expected to talk up his plan for economic recovery.
Then he'll leave, but people might want to watch the 6 o'clock news to
see what he had to say.

Americans United for Change, a Washington, D.C.-based coalition that
includes labor and progressive groups, hopes so, because it has bought
commercial time on all the Cleveland 6 p.m. television newscasts. It
wants to promote the Obama plan -- and it wants U.S. Sen. George
Voinovich to as well.

So the one-minute commercial will talk about the plan, using clips from
a recent Obama speech, and highlight unemployment and job losses in
Ohio. It will end with this message, according to a preview copy: "Call
(202) 224-3121 and tell Senator Voinovich to pass the Obama Plan."

Voinovich has not said he's against the plan, which is still being
massaged in Congress. In fact, he noted last week that conservative as
well as liberal economists say a stimulus plan is needed, even though it
will push up federal debt and deficits that are high already. Voinovich
is not ready to vote yes -- but he's less ready to vote no.

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Columbus Dispatch: Voinovich urged to vote for Obama plan

http://blog.dispatch.com/dailybriefing/2009/01/voinovich_urged_to_vote_f
or_ob.shtml 

He's not running for reelection, but a liberal group, Americans United
for Change <http://www.americansunitedforchange.org> , is running a
campaign-style TV ad
<http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/page/invite/recoveryohio>
urging GOP Sen. George V. Voinovich <http://Voinovich.Senate.gov> to
support President-elect Obama's economic stimulus proposal.

Obama, of course, was in northeast Ohio today at a factory that makes
parts for wind turbines touting his stimulus plan, which has been
crafted into an $825 billion package of spending and tax cuts by House
Democrats.

Voinovich announced Monday he's not running for a third term. Whether
the Ohio Republican votes for the stimulus package would seem to be a
moot point, with Senate Democrats having at least 58 members in place
and several moderate GOP senators who would seem even more likely to
back the package than Voinovich -- seemingly putting Democrats over the
60 mark needed to avoid a filibuster by a dissenting senator.

 

The Note, 1/16/09: Hard Sell -- Obama Takes Show on the Road

January 16, 2009 8:33 AM

<http://blogs.abcnews.com/photos/uncategorized/2009/01/16/obama_tarp2_09
0116_main.jpg> By RICK KLEIN

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2009/01/the-note-11609.html

First we'll see Ohio (Boehner's home state!). "President-elect Barack
Obama heads to a manufacturing plant on Friday in Bedford Heights, Ohio,
the first stop in an extraordinary new effort to motivate and mobilize
millions of citizen-lobbyists to promote his vast agenda," USA Today's
Mimi Hall, David Jackson and Susan Page report
<http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-01-15-obamainside_N.htm> .

Said Obama: "I wouldn't have won without our ability to organize
ordinary people. . . . We want that to continue."

Obama's Friday, from the transition office: "President-elect Barack
Obama will travel to Bedford Heights, Ohio [Friday] to meet with workers
and discuss an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan, which would aim
to save or create three to four million new American jobs and make the
long-term investments needed to build a 21st century economy." 

"President-elect Obama will tour the Cardinal Fastener & Specialty
Company, a growing company with innovative production practices that
manufactures parts used to construct wind turbines.  President-elect
Obama will discuss how companies like Cardinal Fastener and workers like
those in Bedford Heights would benefit from an American Recovery and
Reinvestment Plan, which would aim to create nearly half a million
American jobs by investing in clean energy like wind power." 

Will this help or hurt the vote count? "President-elect Barack Obama
will visit Bedford Heights [Friday], and he's expected to talk up his
plan for economic recovery. Then he'll leave, but people might want to
watch the 6 o'clock news to see what he had to say," Stephen Koff writes
for the Cleveland Plain Dealer
<http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2009/01/ads_targeting_voinovich_to_ai
r.html> . "Americans United for Change, a Washington, D.C.-based
coalition that includes labor and progressive groups, hopes so, because
it has bought commercial time on all the Cleveland 6 p.m. television
newscasts. It wants to promote the Obama plan -- and it wants U.S. Sen.
George Voinovich to as well."  

 

Odds And Ends

January 15, 2009

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2009/01/odds-and-ends-372
.html

Americans United for Change released a pro-stimulus TV ad
<http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/01/15/1746372.aspx> .

By Elizabeth Benjamin on January 15, 2009 8:29 PM 

 

MyDD :: Selling The Stimulus
<http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/1/16/01945/1012> 
Americans United for Change is a progressive non-profit issue-advocacy
group that is helping to lead a coalition of more than 30 progressive
and labor organizations all of which are working to ensure passage of
the American Recovery and ...
http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/1/16/01945/1012

 

________________________________

 

MoveOn.org Spearheaded 250 Petition Deliveries to Members of Congress
This Week Urging Their Support of Obama's Economic Recovery Plan

 

Organization Brings Petition To Bond 

http://www.komu.com/satellite/SatelliteRender/KOMU.com/ba8a4513-c0a8-2f1
1-0063-9bd94c70b769/d72d5666-80ce-0971-0093-ba65acc5f8d2 

COLUMBIA - A small group of Missourians took action over the economic
problem on Wednesday. 

Members of MoveOn.org rallied at Sen. Kit Bond's office in Columbia.
They want the senator to vote for President-elect Barack Obama's
economic stimulus plan. 

The group members gave Bond's staff a petition with more than 2,500
signatures and comments from Columbia residents. The petition asks Bond
to support the stimulus package because they say it has the potential to
produce jobs in energy, health care and green projects.

"The whole stimulus of green jobs is a whole new area, which is open to
a lot of you know, you need people in development, you need people in
all forms of ways, all different aspects of it and you need... It is
something that we have to have, we have to get off our dependence in
foreign oil," Linda Pattie of MoveOn.org explained.

"Senator Kit Bond agrees that we need a recovery package that creates
jobs and puts people to jobs immediately," said Shana Marshio,
spokeswoman for Bond's office. "He believes that the right way forward
includes investing and ready to go transportation projects, building and
expanding community help centers and providing tax relief. However, it
is critical that President Obama and Congress resist the temptation to
play Santa and load up a super size bill with all sorts of cost goodies
and give aways." Marshio went on to say.

Reported by: Geraldine Cols <mailto:[email-masked]> 
Posted by: Beth Hoag <mailto:[email-masked]> 

Published: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 4:05 PM
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 7:01 PM

 

MoveOn delivers petition to McConnell office

  <http://fatlip.leoweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dscn0657.jpg> 

http://fatlip.leoweekly.com/2009/01/14/moveon-delivers-petition-to-mccon
nell-office/ 

Seeking to persuade Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-KY, to support
President-elect Barack Obama's economic stimulus
<http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1870575,00.html> package
<http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1870575,00.html> , about
a dozen members of MoveOn.org <http://moveon.org/>  endured the bitter
chills of winter outside the federal courthouse to deliver a petition to
the senior senator's Louisville office today.

"We had over 1,500 signatures in support of Obama's economic recovery
plan," says Jim Webb, an organizer for MoveOn here in Louisville. "We
hope that the plan will address the need for green jobs, the housing
foreclosures and the health care crisis as opposed to bailouts for Wall
Street and tax breaks for the rich."

Webb says even though the delivery of the petition to McConnell's
secretary lacked drama, it sends a message to the Senate minority leader
who has questioned the Obama package
<http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/1208/McConnell_questions_Obama_s
timulus_plan.html> . Webb told LEO Weekly that the group will request a
face-to-face meeting with McConnell during the congressional recess.

  <http://fatlip.leoweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/dscn0662.jpg> 

"I'm sure [Sen. McConnell] will try to be an obstructionist but I think
the character of his constituency will be changing as people face more
hard times," Webb says. "I can see it, reading the comments in the
petition. People are hurting."

McConnell beings his 25th year in the U.S. Senate, which makes him the
longest serving Senator in Kentucky history. He defeated Democratic
challenger Bruce Lundsford in November. LEO Weekly called Sen.
McConnell's office in Washington, but his spokesperson was unavailable
for comment.

Posted by pbailey <http://fatlip.leoweekly.com/author/pbailey/>  on
January 14, 2009 at 1:35 pm.

 

KSNT (KS): Activist group backing Obama (VIDEO)

http://www.ksnt.com/news/local/story/Activist-group-backing-Obama/dUFY5X
R2zkip8L2z009e9Q.cspx 

CBS4 (Miami): MoveOn.org To Rally For Obama's Economic Plan

http://cbs4.com/local/moveon.rally.obama.2.907946.html 

WREX (Rockford, IL): Petition supports Obama's economic plan (VIDEO)

http://www.wrex.com/Global/story.asp?S=9675095 

Palm Springs Desert Sun: Volunteers bring a 'green' message

http://www.mydesert.com/article/20090115/NEWS01/901150319/1026/news12 

Hickory Record (CA): Local MoveOn members to rally for Obama economic
plan

http://www2.hickoryrecord.com/content/2009/jan/12/local-moveon-members-r
ally-obama-economic-plan/ 

Woodland (CA) Democrat: Locals want their Rep. to vote for Obama
stimulus

http://www.dailydemocrat.com/news/ci_11459550 

Santa Barbara Independent: MoveOn Urges Capps to Support Obama's
Economic Stimulus

http://www.independent.com/news/2009/jan/15/moveon-urges-capps-support-o
bamas-economic-stimulu/ 

Santa Rosa (CA) Press Democrat: Petitions support Obama plan

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20090115/NEWS/901150363/-1/TOPICS01
?Title=SANTA_ROSA_Petitions_support_Obama_plan 

Napa Valley Register: Rural areas need fiscal boost, too

In Napa today, a group of Democrats from MoveOn.org plan to rally in
front of Thompson's Napa office to push for the rapid passage of
President-elect Barack Obama's plan, an $800 billion package that would
employ a combination of tax cuts and increased government spending.

http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2009/01/14/news/local/doc496d
8e45e6652330144718.txt 

Joliet (IL) Herald News: Group gets warm welcome at Halvorson's office

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/1381358,4_1_JO16_ECON
OMY_S1.article 

Jersey Journal: Pro-stimulus petition delivered to Sires

http://www.nj.com/news/jjournal/westny/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1232004377
104950.xml&coll=3 

Press of Atlantic City: Petition asks LoBiondo to back stimulus plan

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/179/story/373255.html 

Long Beach (CA) Press-Telegram: Rally urges Richardson to `champion'
stimulus

http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_11457429 

WMBB TV (FL): MoveOn.Org Members Picket for Barack Obama

http://www.panhandleparade.com/index.php/mbb/article/moveonorg_members_p
icket_for_barack_obama/mbb7713362/print 

________________________________________
Jeremy J. Funk

Communications Director, Americans United for Change

Office: 202.470.5878

Cell: 605.366.3654
[email-masked]

www.AmericansUnitedforChange.org
<http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/> 

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