Subject: Holy State Legislatures Batman!
From: Denise Cardinal <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 2012 09:00:03 -0600 (CST)

::: ProgressNow - Building the online progressive movement state by state ::: 

January 12, 2012

Colleagues,

There's no question the right wing villains are using state
legislatures to push their extreme agenda and take away voting rights,
workers benefits and school funding (and that's just a start).

Our state affiliates work tirelessly, year in and year out, in their
state capitols. Sometimes out in front and sometimes in the shadows,
they expose the corrupt corporate influence of groups like ALEC,
sharply attack the right wing influencers in their state lawmaking and
staunchly defend the rights of working families.

Below is a special beginning-of-the-new-year report of highlights
about the battles our state network faced in their legislatures last
year and what they are facing this year. It's a bit longer than
usual, but if you want to know how the other side is trying to
dismantle our democracy I encourage you to read below. Then go to
www.progressnow.org and contribute to our groups that work so hard to
keep this important fight going.
http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=DNAHFhH4MZRwtVVCpAtoTA

Best Wishes for Superhero Strength in 2012,

Denise Cardinal
Executive Director
ProgressNow
ProgressNow Education

CA: Courage Campaign

As Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Kaiser Permanente announced more
unnecessary, unregulated rate hikes in California, Courage Campaign
mobilized. Working with allies, they drummed up intense scrutiny on
the health insurance companies from both the media and elected
officials in Sacramento. In the end Blue Shield dropped its planned
18% increase and Kaiser partially rolled back its planned 10.7%
increase. In addition, Courage made major progress pushing to have
health insurance rate hikes regulated as robustly as other forms of
insurance, including giving the state insurance commissioner the power
to reject increases.

Assembly Bill 52 isn't yet law, but it passed both the Senate
and Assembly Health Committees. If Courage and its allies can flip
just a few votes in 2012, it will become law.

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=QtbysRo-Rfyui0daQitrnQ

CO: ProgressNow Colorado

ProgressNow Colorado has led the fight to defend the state's election
laws from the new partisan Republican Secretary of State, Scott Gessler. They used rapid response and timely engagement of its membership
list of more than 150,000. During the 2011 legislative
session, ProgressNow Colorado helped turn back Gessler's 
legislative push to give him lone power to purge
voter rolls of persons he "believed" may be registered to vote
illegally. Working with strategic partners in the state, they helped
refute Gessler's dubious case for the law with extensive press
coverage, and in direct communication with thousands of progressive
Colorado activists.

ProgressNow Colorado also led the first "Tweet the Leg" project,
completely changing the way issues, laws and hearings were covered
during the 2011 session. They trained more than 35 groups and hundreds
of people how to tweet and utilize Twitter - and now are one of
the main twitter sources for the Washington Post for Colorado politics
(follow hashtags #coleg and #copolitics to get your own dose of
Colorado-specific twitter news).

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=efNDRB82d4E_xTSxaE24fg

FL: Progress Florida

Before the Occupy Wall Street movement came to Florida, there was
"Awake The State" - a grassroots movement Progress
Florida launched with key state partners including
America Votes and Florida Watch Action. Starting on the first day of
the legislative session, more than 15,000 Floridians turned out to
more than 30 rallies from Pensacola to Key West to highlight the
destructive proposals put forth by right-wing extremists in the state
legislature. This unprecedented effort delivered a clear message to
Florida's political leaders: protect and expand the middle class
(click here for a must see video). The rallies garnered media coverage
from virtually every news outlet in the state, helping draw attention
to the war on the middle class being waged in Tallahassee by corporate
special interests and the extremist politicians all too eager to do
their bidding. Today Awake The State is an ongoing movement with
grassroots chapters in every major city in Florida. Many more actions
occurred on January 10th, influencing the opening of this year's
Florida legislative session and media coverage surrounding their first
days of 2012.

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=rcp7VhFijPL0vY273T5s3g
http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=pTbDMOTimgZb1CTrl1W_lw
http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=DFsOOt4_vGWiIWaJEnz_og

GA: Better Georgia

Georgia's ultra-conservative Gov. Nathan Deal has offered another
round of corporate tax cuts, even as the state falls further behind
economically. Over the past two years, Georgia ranks dead last in job
growth. In fact, Georgia ranks 51st when Washington, D.C. is included.
Better Georgia challenged the governor head-on by highlighting these
facts in a full page ad in his hometown newspaper on the day of his
State of the State address. Following a statewide media blitz, the
governor's office was forced to respond to Better Georgia on a metro
Atlanta newscast. Better Georgia will continue to take progressive
messages to even the most conservative districts in Georgia throughout
the Legislative session.

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=B0pp6bDocQqKE2NqYCEeHA

MI: Progress Michigan

All of Michigan's state-based government is controlled by
Republicans pushing a right-wing agenda, so it was no real surprise
when last year Governor Rick Snyder proposed eliminating the Earned
Income Tax Credit, a decision that would impact 700,000 low-income
families. The initiative was part of a massive budget agenda put
forward by Snyder, one that included raising taxes on senior citizen
pensions, cutting funding for schools by $2.3 million and eliminating
$1.7 billion in corporate taxes. After mounting an intensive,
two-month campaign that involved key players in Michigan's progressive
advocacy, the community succeeded in turning back the elimination of
the tax credit. While a smaller, but significant cut was implemented
instead, without this effort tens of thousands of Michigan families
would have lost income.

MN: Alliance for a Better Minnesota

During the legislative session, Alliance for a Better Minnesota (ABM)
helped run weekly message meetings for the progressive community
resulting in what one Minnesota political reporter referred to as
unprecedented message discipline. After shutting down the state
government for 20 days while rejecting seven different balanced budget
proposals from the Democratic governor, Republican legislators were
not highly regarded in Minnesota. To further tell the story of their
twisted priorities, ABM launched the
"Shutdown Shame" microsite that allowed visitors to Facebook and Tweet
statements about the state budget and shutdown targeted at specific
legislators-putting the heat on them in their home districts.

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=I2JkcIMJ50soid8Kt7S-9A

MO: Progress Missouri

Progress Missouri found itself as the lead response organization to
right-wing attempts to cut the state's prevailing wage rules  by
using the Joplin tornado tragedy as the excuse for cutting wages. The
work of Progress Missouri created numerous traditional and progressive
media stories, drove constituent comments into elected and appointed
leaders offices, and brought new allies into the Progress Missouri
coalition for future actions.

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=PkY14cpXylO9BIjt4IdTwQ

NE: Bold Nebraska

Bold started the year off fighting a Alec Voter ID bill. They worked
with 23 partners including AARP and NAACP to get over 70 Nebraskans to
the state capitol to lobby and held a press conference with state
senators. Coming off the success of their grassroots organizing around
the Keystone XL pipeline, Bold Nebraska is working to broaden their
energy goals to include beating back plans to retrofit coal plants
rather than investing in clean energy. As the Unicameral session
continues, Bold will be tweeting and Facebook-posting hearings on
critical bills from state exchanges to reforming child welfare.

NH: Granite State Progress

In response to the election of ultra-conservative supermajorities in
the New Hampshire House and Senate, the Granite State Progress
organizations launched an around-the-clock
State House Video Monitoring Project. An army of staff and volunteers
were dispatched to film events and expose the extreme statements,
policies and personalities that are jeopardizing the future of New
Hampshire.

When they caught a NH State Representative on film saying that the
state doesn't need the new federal health law because cancer
patients could host community fundraisers instead, they didn't
just release the video to the media - they hosted a bake sale on
the steps of the State House. By selling cupcakes for $5,000 and
cookies for $10,000 to raise enough money for just one chemotherapy
session, the point was made and a lot of coverage ensued including
several letters to the editor and even inspired a GSP fan music video.

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=0R94PsrfSKrXffbKEUmwyw
http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=1_5u445lPlZkxh3l2HlFYA
http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=MpHtpLgihLbeNsBurW1lSw

NM: ProgressNow New Mexico

New Mexico's Legislative Session starts January 17, 2012 with a "no
compromise" very popular right-wing Latina governor and a 2 seat
Democratic majority in the State House. With this big challenge ahead,
ProgressNow New Mexico is starting a "War Room" for the upcoming
session  a first for the state. Located near the capitol, the War Room
will have a full-time staff of bloggers to create their content and
trackers to monitor tweets, Facebook updates, press releases and news
clips from the Governor and legislature. Local media have a free place
to charge cameras, write and submit stories and get a cup of coffee.
To date, 18 partners across multiple issues are signed on to share
talking points, provide experts and spokespersons through the War
Room, and contribute content to daily summary emails in 2012.

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=9IsyWuwNOWcDwUcVUFdzQg

OH: ProgressOhio

ProgressOhio's legislative highlight for 2011 was fighting
HB194, the most restrictive voter suppression bill in the country.
Despite efforts by ProgressOhio and other organizations, the
Republican-controlled General Assembly and Gov. John Kasich passed it
into law. ProgressOhio helped lead a coalition that gathered over
300,000 signatures to allow voters to repeal it on the November 2012
ballot. The signatures were submitted in the shortest amount of time
in Ohio ballot history. The coalition is being led by ProgressOhio
Board Member Jennifer Brunner, a former Ohio secretary of state and
2008 Profiles in Courage Award recipient. ProgressOhio developed the
coalition's web site, programmed the mapping application for
locating signature gathering sites, handled all media relations and
provided office space for the coalition staff. Passage of this effort
will continue to be one of ProgressOhio's top priorities in
2012. However, win or lose, this effort has already ensured that the
new restrictive law will not be in effect for the 2012 presidential
election.

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=IYBKk7Pjj7bvgQB7e4wQCQ

PA: Keystone Progress

Like many states, Pennsylvania was subjected to serious cuts in
education and social services by a state government which is
controlled by right-wing Republicans at every level. They may have
gone a little too far when they proposed a sales tax exemption for
private and corporate jets. Yet working families will still have to
pay sales tax when they buy a used car, crayons for their kids or a
new blanket. Keystone Progress thought this was so outrageous that a
normal news conference couldn't express the GOP's lack of
understanding of the economic realities faced by real Pennsylvanians,
so they organized a faux news conference and dressed up as rich people
with names such as Ruth LesCaptialist, Penny Pincher, Juan Percent,
Rich Andlovenit, and Lotta Bucks. Reporters loved it, and were
laughing out loud during the presentation. The capitol reporter for
the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review said, "I've covered the capitol for
decades and I've never seen anything like this. You've invented a 
news event - the dramatic news conference."

Entertainment wasn't the only benefit - the bill was once
considered a slam dunk to pass and now is unlikely to come up for a
vote until after the election in November.

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=jo2aWt3nXpGDcWUwSQbYpA

TX: Progress Texas

Progress Texas launched its inaugural year in the middle of the 2011
legislative session. The staff focused its attention on serving as a
communications and research hub for coalitions and non-profits
organizing on a wide range of issues. Our coalitions opposed
state-mandated sonograms for women exercising their rights, worked
against conservatives' efforts to pass discriminatory sanctuary city
legislation, and developed communication and education projects to
fight health care compact laws. The primary focus of Progress Texas
was to effectively brand the state budget as conservative
mismanagement. They worked daily to highlight over ten years of
planned failure and structural deficits in order to shed light on the
Texas economic mirage while
Perry was touring the country lying about his record as Governor.

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=IU4PGc_GtLdxiRfyvoovOw

VA: Progress Virginia

Progress Virginia has been leading the fight for a balanced approach
to Virginia's budget  pushing for reforms to egregious tax loopholes
and giveaways while making the necessary investments in the
Commonwealth's future. Their work has generated numerous news stories
on right-wing
Governor Bob McDonnell's budget gimmicks and attempts to pass the buck
on tough decisions. In November, they awarded the Governor their first
annual "Turkey of the Year" award, commemorating his budget
mismanagement with a plaque, a frozen turkey, and a wave of media
coverage.

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=2JRX8jBYlG2S49XlCK8wBw

WI: One Wisconsin Now

Wisconsin endured a year like no other in 2011 and One Wisconsin Now
was central in fighting along side organized labor and progressives to stop
Republican Governor Scott Walker's attacks on collective
bargaining, education, health care and college affordability. One
Wisconsin Now's research helped define the corporate giveaways
by Walker at the expense of middle class priorities and job creation.
One Wisconsin Now was an invaluable resource for progressives for
research on the harm of Walker's policies, as well as, rapid
response and hard-hitting media for issue advocacy done about
Walker's agenda and his supporters in the state legislature
most notably the two Republican Senators who were recalled last
August. One Wisconsin Now was featured in well over 1,000 unique media
stories during 2011 and was relied upon as spokespeople for
progressive legislative fights at the local, state and national levels
from MSNBC to National Public Radio to Associated Press to NBC News.

http://progressnow.pnstate.org/site/R?i=oI64KerSNCvxwK4PpLyryg

:::

Copyright 2012 ProgressNow

Change your e-mail preferences or unsubscribe: http://www.pnstate.org/site/CO?i=Jv5cZhSpj-PEk-4fuB8zps-pR47i4Epl&cid=0