Monday, April 17, 2017

INCO Newsletter April 17

Actions •  Calendar • Community Groups • Informed and Empowered • Levity

ACTIONS TO TAKE NOW

HOW TO RESIST AND PERSIST
1.  Check for daily Indivisible Action items. You can find them on our blog, on our Facebook page, and in a daily email from Indivisible North Coast Oregon (INCO).

2.  Contact your Members of Congress (MoC) with a phone call or postcard about that Action item. MoCs pay attention when they hear from a lot of people about the same issue at the same time. Oregon’s MoCs are Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden and Representative Suzanne Bonamici. Here’s guidance for your calls. Here’s the contact information.

3.  Contact your MoC at least once a week.
 
AND PERSIST EVEN MORE
1.  Get active with your Community Group to help plan projects and events to defend democracy. Encourage like-minded friends to Resist and Persist with you.

2.  Don't wait for a meeting to take action. Host an informal postcard-writing party. Register people to vote. Bring a guest to the next Indivisible event. Write a Letter to the Editor about Indivisible and/or an issue you care about. Campaign for candidates who support your values and policy preferences. Run for office. Develop your own project about an issue you care about. Attend Town Halls and other meetings with your electeds at all levels of government.

3.  Connect with local groups whose work fits with INCO’s principles. INCO wants to work with those groups to make everyone's voices more effective. For example, INCO is co-hosting the ACLU event in Astoria on May 18.

VOTE THE FUTURE 
On May 16 voters will elect board members for the Port of Astoria, school districts, the college, the health care district, and other countywide and local districts vital to our families, economy, and way of life in Clatsop County.

To help you learn about the candidates and the issues, INCO has compiled statements from several candidates whose values and positions align with INCO's. Check out VOTE THE FUTURE on our blog or on its own Facebook page. We regret we could not contact all candidates for the site. The county will not provide a voters information booklet for this Special District election. 

CAMPAIGN FOR THE FUTURE
Help elect local candidates most aligned with INCO's principles on May 16. Candidates need volunteers throughout the county to reach out to voters. This is especially important for countywide special districts:  the port, the college, and the health care district. Experienced campaign leaders will provide knowledge and tools for effective, enjoyable campaigning - and to successfully influence campaigns.

Good candidates need your help in the May 16 election. Contact Jacob Van Buskirk here or at 253-861-8095 to be part of the campaign.
 
SPEAK UP FOR CLEAN AIR AND SAFE WATER
Tell the EPA what you think of the administration's efforts to roll back environmental regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency is required to provide this forum for comment, so let's make use of it! You can comment by email, via the website, or by regular mail. Here are some of the threatened protections.
Cara Shufelt, Co-Director of the Rural Organizing Project, offered exciting project ideas to Outcome Team members at the Astoria Community Group meeting on April 8.

INCO CALENDAR

Details on all INCO events at our Events Page
Today, Monday, April 17, Cannon Beach CG meeting about Earth Day table, 6 pm, Tolovana Hall.  Manzanita CG members are welcome to attend.

Saturday, April 22 Twelve Days of Earth Day Street Fair, 10:30 - 2 pm, US Bank parking lot, 115 North Hemlock, Cannon Beach; Cannon Beach CG hosts a table

Saturday, April 22 - Earth Day Celebration of Science, 11a.m. - 1 pm, outside the Astoria Post Office, 8th and Commercial. Hosted by Astoria CG. Bring signs and smiles.

Saturday, April 22 - March for Science, 10:30 am - 12:30 pm, Portland
Tuesday, April 25 - Last day to register to vote in Clatsop County’s May 16 election. Register online here.

APRIL & MAY - Art of Resistance, KALA, 1017 Marine Drive, Astoria
 
SAVE THE DATE
Saturday, April 29 Save Our Beaches Climate Change Awareness Campaign, 3-5 pm, at the turnaround on the Prom in Seaside. hosted by Seaside/Gearhart CG.
Wednesday, May 3 - AAUW Candidates Forum, 7 pm, Clatsop Community College, Columbia Hall 219, Astoria
Q&A from the audience for Clatsop County's May 16 Special District election 
Accessible parking in back of Columbia Hall, enter from Lexington Avenue
Check out candidate statements for key positions at Vote the Future.
Saturday, May 6 - Nation of Immigrants event, hosted by Warrenton CG.

Thursday, May 11, Seaside/Gearhart Community Group meeting, 6:30 - 8 pm, Seaside Public Library Community Room

Tuesday, May 16 - Ballots for Clatsop County election due by 8 pm. Postmarks don't count.

Thursday, May 18 - ACLU Community Forum, 5:30 pm, at the Performing Arts Center, Astoria; hosted by Pacific Unitarian Universalist Fellowship and INCO. Reservations required to the ACLU: call 503-552-2108, or scroll down to register online here.

COMMUNITY GROUPS

Next week's newsletter will have updates from our local Community Groups. As space permits, we'll share news of other Indivisible groups with you. Here's one:

Rogue Oregon is Indivisible, too!   OR-2 and OR-4
Greetings from southern Oregon's Rogue Valley, where Rogue Indivisible has managed to pull together a group of somewhere between 550 and 900 members (depending on how you count) in a deeply conservative area. Our kickoff meeting in February drew about 350 people - we had expected, and prepared for, about 80-100, but the line was out the door. This is pretty amazing in a county that voted for You-Know-Who by almost 60%, a 2-1 margin over Hillary.

We're at the overlap between Oregon's House districts 4 (Peter DeFazio, D) and 2 (Greg Walden, R). Greg Walden, as some of you may know, is one of the most senior Republican Members of Congress, the only GOP member of Oregon's House delegation, and Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee - which, among other things, holds the fate of the Affordable Care Act in its hands.

OR District 2 is huge - 7th largest in the country, and larger than most of New England put together - so we've been coordinating with other Indivisible groups across southern and eastern Oregon to try to get Greg Walden to show up for town halls. We've been successful, at last - this week he's visiting the major cities across his district, in one case (Bend) for the first time in 4 years. Expect fireworks.
--David Smith
Your Community Group (CG)
Create the projects and events you want with your Community Group (CG).  Check the INCO Calendar in this email to see current CG activities. Our CGs are in Astoria/East County, Cannon Beach, Manzanita, Seaside/Gearhart, Warrenton, and the Washington Peninsula. 


If you’re not yet connected with the Community Group where you live, contact INCO or sign up for one at the Indivisible North Coast Oregon blog.
North Carolina Indivisible's statewide campaign to investigate Trump's Russian ties features this spot-on graphic.

For an innovative un-Trump border wall, check out this design.

INFORMED AND EMPOWERED

Listen to a podcast of US Representative Suzanne Bonamici's town hall in Warrenton on April 15. Thanks to Coast Community Radio for recording the event. More details about the Town Hall in next week's INCO newsletter.

Oregon US Representative Greg Walden faced an angry crowd at his first Town Hall since helping to write and promote the wretched Trump(No)Care plan. Read about it here.

Follow INCO on Twitter! @IndivisibleNCOR

Here's a great resource on state issues. Please contact us here with links to other resources for news and action. 

We encourage you to get your news and information from a variety of sources. Among reputable news sources: http://billmoyers.com/story/10-investigative-reporting-outlets-to-follow/   Look for News Resources on our blog.


Are your friends wondering how to Resist and Persist?  Send them to our blog to find out more about INCO and to sign up with INCO. Everyone has a role to play in defending democracy!
WHY WE DEFEND DEMOCRACY
“I have long thought it is kind of fundamental in our society that when you expand the liberty of any of us, you expand the liberty of all of us.”   -- Senator Paul Simon, Illinois
LEVITY
"Donald Trump is giving narcissism a bad name."   ―Madeline Begun Kane aka Mad Kane

Questions?

Contact Deb and Laurie at incoregon@gmail.com, or find more information on our website and Facebook page. Follow us on Twitter @IndivisibleNCOR.