Monday, September 17, 2018

INCO Weekly Newsletter 9/17

Countdown: Only 50 days until the midterm election on November 6!
WE MUST FLIP CONGRESS!
Defending democracy starts with each of us!
WRITE:  
•  Attend a postcard party with like-minded Indivisibles. Scripts, stamps, postcards, and colorful pens are provided. Check Happenings or our Facebook page for dates, times, and locations of our postcard parties. Directions from incoregon@gmail.com.

•  Sign up here to do Postcards to Voters on your own, at your convenience. They'll tell you everything you need to know. Or contact Bebe at littlebylittle4change@gmail.com for more help.


•  Write a letter to the editor (LTE) urging "NO" votes on ballot measures 103, 104, 105, and 106. Corporate and right-wing forces are funding some of Oregon's ballot measures with slick, misleading ads. Your LTE could influence voters. Send to editor@dailyastorian.com or through the website.

DONATE:
A roll of 100 postcard stamps costs $35.00.  Please contribute any amount through PayPal so INCO can buy more postcard stamps to reach more voters. You can also donate at INCO events  and by mailing your check to INCO, PO Box 536, Warrenton, OR 97146. Thank you to the generous donors who've pitched in already!
CANVASS: 
INCO canvassers are going out Saturdays and Sundays in Clatsop and Pacific Counties. 
Let us know if you can help by clicking through to our sign-up form. No experience needed. Across the nation, door-to-door contacts have been putting even long-shot progressive candidates over the top. 


More actions you can take:
  • Tweet: Set up a private group that includes @indivisiblencor, @huddleupvan, @electlong (WA-3), and @JamieforOregon (OR-2). Tweet and retweet the messaging. Add your own comments. 
  • Phone Bank: If you signed up to phone bank, you should be getting our Friday emails with links to phonebank from home. If you're not getting these alerts, check your spam or email incoregon@gmail.com.
  • Help register voters in Pacific County, WA. Sign up here for 2 hours of hosting voters from 10-4 every Saturday through the end of September. It's at Saturday Market at the Port of Ilwaco, in front of the big white building in the center of the port, with a Please Vote banner on top.  
Spread the word: invite your friends to help us #StormTheMidterms! #StormTheMidterms is an INCO action initiative.
 It's will take all of us to turn this country around. 
INCO supports Governor Kate Brown and candidates for the US House of Representatives, Jamie McLeod-Skinner and Carolyn Long. 
INCO Voter Guide -  2018 Midterms
This is INCO's voters' guide for the November 6 election, based on in-depth research by the Vote the Future team.  VTF did not endorse candidates or measures at the county or local levels. Talking points about Measure 105 are here

Contact incoregon@gmail.com to get copies to distribute throughout Clatsop County.
INCO Recommends:  NO on Ballot Measure 106
"Measure 106 would amend the constitution to prohibit the allocation of public funds for abortion and related reproductive services. It would prevent public employees and working class people, including those on Oregon Health Plan, from accessing such services. With national talk of repealing Roe vs Wade, Oregonians have a chance to say No to limiting reproductive rights. This is a direct attack on healthcare options for low-wage workers and public employees."

-- 
Rural Organizing Project   www.rop.org
Candidates  (and more) Corner
•  Volunteer for Governor Kate Brown at this link:   https://katebrownfororegon.com/volunteer. Our Storm the Midterms team is also canvassing for her.

If you would like a yard sign to show your support for Tiffiny Mitchell, candidate for Oregon legislature, House District 32, endorsed by Indivisible North Coast Oregon and a host of other progressive organizations, click here to request one. A volunteer will deliver your sign - all you have to do is stick it in your yard.

Help flip two nearby seats and elect Democrat Jamie MacLeod-Skinner in OR-2 (Oregon's 2nd Congressional District) and elect Democrat Carolyn Long in WA-3. Sign up to Storm the Midterms with INCO.


•  Who's running for what in Clatsop County? Check out this list of candidates and ballot measures. INCO's Vote the Future website is all about elections: candidates, ballot measures, articles, opinion, voting, etc. If you'd like to help administer this site, please contact incoregon@gmail.com.
POSTCARDS WORK!  283,000 postcards were sent to voters in 8 key New York State Senate races to help defeat conservative Democratic incumbents who usually voted with the GOP.  Six of the newcomers won - including one the INCO postcarders wrote for!

The most recent postcarders in Gearhart were Judy, Carmen, Laurie, Kay, Debby, Olivia, Bebe, Eric, Ann, Ane, Judy, Laura, Frank, Laura, Nadine, Carrie, Sharon, Geneia, Paul, Judy, Kathi, Meridee, and Jeanne! Welcome to old and new postcarders!


You can help elect Jamie McLeod-Skinner in OR-2, in a quiet corner or while discussing - and solving - issues of the world. Write postcards to voters at INCO's postcard parties in Gearhart and Manzanita. See HAPPENINGS for dates, times, and locations.  
 CLEAN ENERGY JOBS  ACTION DAY IN SALEM  
Tuesday, September 25  •  9 AM - 2 PM
 
Legislators are in Salem for 3 days for "Legislative Days".  More than 70 people from around the state have already RSVP'd to Renew that they will be coming to Salem to support CEJ. Let's make a show of force from the North Coast - and enjoy a free tamale lunch!

Eric Halperin is CEJ regional coordinator and needs passengers to take with him from Clatsop County to help amortize his fossil fuel emission/carbon footprint for driving down to Salem! For more info, including the day's schedule, contact Eric Halperin at 
ehod1@yahoo.com or 503-812-2200.
HAPPENINGS
Check for details and new posts on our events page.
All Indivisibles are welcome at all these events and meetings.
 
THIS WEEK
Wednesday, September 19  INCO Vote the Future Team, 6:30 pm, Seaside Library Board Room. All Indivisibles interested in voting and elections are welcome.

Wednesday, September 19 - INCO Book Club, 6:30 pm, in Astoria. We're back after our summer break! The book we’ll discuss is THE AGE OF AMERICAN UNREASON IN A CULTURE OF LIES by Susan Jacoby, Vintage Books, New Updated Edition, 2018. Contact cebeady@outlook.com for directions.

Wednesday, September 19 - Seaside AAUW C
andidates Forum, 7 - 8:30 pm, Seaside City Hall. Confirmed as coming are candidates for Seaside mayor, Seaside City Council, Gearhart City Council, and Tiffiny Mitchell for Oregon Legislature, HD 32.    

Friday, September 21 - Postcards to Voters Writing Party - Gearhart, 4 - 5:30 pm.  Contact Bebe at littlebylittle4change@gmail.com for address. Most Fridays, same time, same place. We appreciate donations ($1-5) to help defray costs for postage. If you'd like, join us afterwards for food and drinks at the Sand Trap.

Friday, September 21 Postcards to Voters Writing Party - Manzanita, 4-5:30. Contact Cheryl at coastalmomma@yahoo.com for directions. 

UPCOMING
Tuesday, September 25 - INCO Voter Registration Drive - with birthday cake,  10 am - 2pm, Clatsop Community College, Towler Hall, 3rd floor. Register or update registrations with new name, address, or handwriting. Indivisible member Beeb is celebrating her 35th birthday on September 25th - which also happens to be National Voter Registration Day. So to celebrate, she and her husband are hosting this voter registration drive. Beeb hopes to get 35 new voters registered for her 35th birthday! She will be serving free birthday cake to everyone, so stop by and say hi!

Tuesday, September 25 - Clean Energy Jobs Action Day in Salem, 9 am - 2 pm. Meet with legislators, enjoy free tamale lunch. Schedule and carpool information available from Eric at ehod1@yahoo.com and 503-812-2200.

Wednesday, October 3 -  AAUW Candidates Forum, 7pm, Astoria High School auditorium, 1001 West Marine Drive. Candidates for Astoria City Council and mayor, county commission, Oregon House District 32, and governor are invited. 

Saturday, October 6 - Astoria INCO Community Group meeting, 8 a.m., Street Fourteen Cafe, 1410 Commercial; no purchase necessary. On the agenda: another group LTE. What do you want to write about?

Tuesday, October 9 - Seaside-Gearhart INCO Community Group meeting, 6:30 pm. Email incoregon@gmail.com for location

Saturday, October 13 - Warrenton INCO Community Group Meeting, 11 am, Dooger’s Seafood and Grill, Highway 101, Warrenton. No purchase necessary. We'll write postcards after the meeting to support Carmen's friend who's running for office in Iowa.

Tuesday, October 16 - the deadline to register to vote or update your registration with new name, address, or signature for the November 6th election. Register or update online or at the Clatsop County Elections Office, 820 Exchange, 2nd floor, Astoria.
"I WILL VOTE" - INCO Essay Contest for High School Students
To promote the importance of voting, high school students in Pacific and Clatsop Counties are invited  to participate in an essay contest entitled “I Will Vote.”  The contest is sponsored by INCO and the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and will award cash prizes to the winners in late October. The rules are at area high schools and on the INCO website. This contest was developed by the Vote the Future Team. Attend a VTF meeting to work on other important projects.
ACTION PRIORITIES
Focus on the issues you care about most 

Tell Your Members of Congress to:
• Uphold the rule of law and protect our democracy. • Condemn the administration's authoritarian speech, actions, and policies. • Pressure your GOP colleagues to assert Congress' role as a co-equal branch of government, not as a servant of the President. • Protect Mueller, Rosenstein, and the Russia investigation that has already led to indictments and convictions of Trumpsters and Russians. • Restore trust in the judiciary, media, and in all the other civic institutions being purposely undermined by Trump and his administration • Defeat the administration's white supremacist actions and promotion of bigotry against people of color, naturalized citizens, foreign students, and non-Christians. 

• Stop the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh as the new Supreme Court Justice. Here's the latest guide from Indivisible. Delay the hearings and confirmation until after the winners of the November election take office.  Mr. Kavanaugh is a well-known Washington insider, anti-environmentalist, and right-wing extremist, even in his judicial decisions. 

•  Develop and enforce a humane, practical bipartisan immigration policy.

• Protect all Americans. • Stand with people who need help getting medical care and enough food to eat. • Stop the administration's attacks on America's allies and embrace of America's totalitarian enemies. • Demand effective government actions to deal with climate change. • Provide meaningful help for Puerto Rico's recovery from Hurricane Maria. • Oppose  nominees to be federal judges who fail to support equal rights for all people. 
 
Check out the new Americans of Conscience website where you can sign up for the weekly Action Checklist. This week's checklist is here. 
www.indivisible.org    Contact elected officials here.    www.incoregon.org
LinMarie, Laura, Bebe, and Cathey love INCO's Agree/Disagree signs we had at Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici's Town Hall in Seaside on Saturday. She answered intense questions about democracy, Congress, separated families, and more. Kudos to all who attended!
INSIGHTS
We have to vote this Nov 6th but the wave following the blue wave, the wave that will repair the damaged content of our democracy and restore its arc toward increased fairness, those waves will be the Millennial generation and our great wealth of first and second generation immigrants.

—Liam Jumper, NY Times, Readers Comments
We're Ready! 
Here's INCO's plan if Trump crosses one of three red lines that threatens the rule of law as it relates to the investigation: fire Mueller, fire Rosenstein, or pardon key figures. 
  • If actions are triggered BEFORE 2 p.m. local time —> events will begin @ 5 p.m. local time.
  • If actions are triggered AFTER 2 p.m. local time —> events will begin @ noon local time the following day.
We'll take to the streets to Rally for the Rule of Law at 16th and Marine Drive in Astoria. Indivisibles across the nation will be gathering according to this schedule.  

We'll post info about a Rally for the Rule of Law on our INCO Facebook page and email an Action Alert. You can also sign up (RSVP) for a notification here.  
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
INCO has Community Groups in Manzanita-Cannon Beach, Seaside-Gearhart, Warrenton, Astoria-East County, and the Washington Peninsula. All INCO Indivisibles are invited to get active with INCO's Events Team, Oppose Bigotry Team, Vote the Future Team, and Book Club. Contact Laurie at incoregon@gmail.com for more information.
 
Questions, suggestions, & photos to INCO at incoregon@gmail.com.
Elections, voting, issues, and more at INCO's Vote the Future website:  incovotethefuture.org.

Our newest website is Really Do Care INCO Under 40s
 Join INCO's closed Facebook group for more actions, information, and discussion.
Share this newsletter and our website with other resisters. Check spam if you can't find it.

INCO is supported entirely by donations. Please donate here or mail your check to INCO c/o PO Box 536, Warrenton, OR 97146

Deb Vanasse and Laurie Caplan, INCO Co-chairs
INCO Weekly Newsletter   September 17, 2018