5/2/09 AT 2:00PM - ORGANIZING MEETING AT 517 MANILA AVE.,JERSEY CITY

5/2/2009 POWERUP AMERICA ORGANIZING MEETING

To sign up click here:
http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/event.html?event_id=93104&id=-8727613-zXE1H4x

On May 28, all over the country, we'll be organizing a Clean Energy Jobs Day -- a national day of action to turn up the heat on Congress by showing the promise of the clean energy economy to our senators and representatives, the media, and the public. We'll highlight the clean energy jobs and businesses that already exist in our communities, and we'll showcase the ways in which they could expand. During the Jobs Day, we will organize a press conference at a clean energy business, and then lorganize tours of a few other clean energy sites. We'll call on our senators or representatives to support President Obama's plan for a new energy economy.

To effectively plan for and build up to the Jobs Days, we'll hold an Organizing Meetings on May 2nd at 2:00pm.

In order to run Clean Energy Jobs Days-- we need to recruit clean energy business leaders! Click here for an outline for your conversations with clean energy business leaders in your community to invite them to join with the Council for the Clean Energy Jobs Days.
The best way to find clean energy business leaders who are willing to participate in the Jobs Day is to ask everyone on the Council to brainstorm local clean energy business leaders who they know in the community.

We also should call all of the small business leaders recruited through the Small Business drive to ask them to help recruit clean energy business leaders specifically. We can also contact members who who signed MoveOn's online petition.

HEALTHCARE UNDER ATTACK

Conservatives are running $1 million in ads, starting today, to crush the public health insurance option (1) —the heart of Obama's health care plan. And they've promised to spend tens of millions more.(2)
To win against the powerful insurance lobby, we'll need to be everywhere. Hundreds of thousands of MoveOn members have already made calls, signed petitions, faxed Congress, rallied at events—and we'll even run our own ads soon—all in support of the public health insurance option.
But with the insurance industry in all-out attack mode, we now need to go even further. Can you drop by your senator's local office today or tomorrow to tell him or her to stand up for a public health insurance option that would guarantee coverage and reduce costs by up to 30%? (3)
Here's the office closest to you (or at least we hope so; see the P.S. for other options):
Sen. Frank Lautenberg's District Office One Gateway Center, 23rd Floor Newark, NJClick here to print out your flier and let us know you're going:

http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSNJ_1.FSNJ_2&cp_id=891&id=16015-1052156-QoScU_x&t=4



Just stopping by your senator's office for two minutes has more impact than a call, an email—even more than a handwritten letter. And if enough of us show up at the local office, a staffer will call Washington to explain how strongly voters back home are feeling.
Dropping off a flier is easy:
Write a short, personal note on your flier. Your visit will be more effective if you tell your senator how saving 30% on health care will have a positive impact on your life.
Bring a friend if you want, but you totally don't have to. Don't worry about coordinating with other volunteers—just get to an office! The more individuals who stop by the office, the more powerful the message will be to Congress.
Tell the staffer that you're there to express support for the public health insurance option. Be polite and friendly, and don't feel like you need to stay more than a minute. Just stopping by is a huge statement.
In this economy, the public health insurance option is especially crucial. Saving up to 30% on high-quality coverage could help families struggling to pay for their insurance—and those with no coverage at all right now.But with insurance companies using their vast resources to attack Obama's plan, we can't just sit back and hope Congress does the right thing. We all need to speak out for the public health insurance option to make it a reality.
Can you stop by your senator's office today?
Thanks for all you do.

P.S. Can't make it to that office up above? Here is another office near you:
Sen. Robert Menendez's District Office One Gateway Center, 11th Floor Newark, NJ

P.P.S. If you'd like to look up office addresses yourself, you can do so here: http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/index.html?action_id=173&id=16015-1052156-QoScU_x&t=5" target="_blank">http://pol.moveon.org/event/events/index.html?action_id=173&id=16015-1052156-QoScU_x&t=5


Sources:
(1). "Health group launches $1M ad buy," Politico, April 27, 2009 http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21746.html
(2). "Group launches health care offensive," Politico, March 3, 2009 http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19542.html
(3). "The Cost and Coverage Impacts of a Public Plan: Alternative Design Options," The Lewin Group, April 6, 2009 http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51315&id=16015-1052156-QoScU_x&t=6


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NEW IDEAS - Local Connections

On Friday 4/24 our council held a meeting to discuss the council's organization and to brainstorm about what we would like to do, what we need MoveOn to do , how can we improve the information exchange between the council and MoveOn.org, and what we want to plan for the future.

Many ideas and opinions were tossed on the table.
MaryAnn Sherman, our regional co-ordinator, is going to bring them to the attention of the MoveOn people and we'll try to restructure the council to better suit everybody's needs.

One of our goals would be to reach out to many community groups and faith base groups to see if it would be possible to coordinate local initiatives asking for change and make them stronger. Many of us would like to join actions taken by local groups other then MoveOn, and if we cooperate with local groups we can lend support for their causes. We toyed with the possibility of becoming a clearinghouse for local action initiatives promoted by other groups.

MoveOn.org basically acts on national issues but as a council we feel the need to be more connected to the local community. We'll continue to promote MoveOn events at the national and local level but at the same time we'll make every effort to advertise and promote local initiatives.

In that spirit we hope to show in this post links to many local organizations and groups that share similar interests.

Members feedback

We'd like to get feedback from all council members.

Please share your thoughts on:

• what MoveOn has done right during this year campaign and where it was lacking
• what excited you about MoveOn and what turned you off,
• what MoveOn is planning and what you would like to see MoveOn do in the coming months,
• how our council can engage the local community and work with local community and faith based groups
• how can our council grow
• how do we keep people interested and active
• any other feedback members would like to share

MOVEON AGENDA FOR NATIONAL GREEN JOBS DAY

"We're in a pivotal moment on passing ground-breaking clean energy jobs legislation through congress. We need to quickly ramp up pressure on the House Energy & Commerce Committee, which is writing the legislation now; and we need to begin organizing to place pressure on the Senate, so that conservative senators can't kill the legislation later. So in Energy & Commerce committee districts, we're organizing small-business district meetings by May 11th (Note: Frank Pallone, Jr., is the only representative in NJ on the committee and he represents the Sixth District of New Jersey which covers most of Middlesex County and a good portion of Monmouth County, including the Bayshore and 16 communities on the Atlantic Ocean. It also encompasses small portions of Somerset and Union counties). And all over the country, we're organizing a "Clean Energy Jobs Day" during the next congressional recess -- a national day of action to highlight clean-energy businesses and the local opportunity of the new energy economy."

"In the coming weeks, we have an important window of opportunity for our Power Up America campaign:

• The Energy and Commerce Committee, sometimes called the Waxman Committee, is debating a big, potentially economy-shifting and game-changing energy bill. We're hearing that this committee's bill is increasingly important -- so we need to quickly organize some extra pressure on ALL members of that committee.
• At the same time, we need to take our target-focused campaign to the next level, so that this big energy bill can't be watered-down and killed in the Senate.
  We know that the biggest obstacle to progress is fierce lobbying by pollution-based companies like Big Coal and Big Oil. To counter them, we need to continue to elevate the voices of small business owners, and look for ways to highlight clean energy businesses. So, we're planning two exciting tactics to rise to this pivotal moment:
• In House Energy & Commerce committee districts, we're organizing district meetings featuring small business owners. We need to move quickly on these, since the committee will begin voting on amendments to the legislation around May 11th. These meetings will include some media work -- a press conference outside the office, so that media can cover it and other members can come.
• And all over the country, we're organizing a Clean Energy Jobs Day -- a national day of action in late May (28th) to turn up the heat on Congress by showing the promise of the clean energy economy to our senators and representatives, the media, and the public. We'll highlight the clean energy jobs and businesses that already exist in our communities, and we'll showcase the ways in which they could expand. During the Jobs Day, each Council will organize a press conference at a clean energy business, and then lead a tour of a few other clean energy sites. They'll call on their senator or representative to support President Obama's plan for a new energy economy. To effectively plan for and build up to the Jobs Days, we'll hold an Organizing Meeting on May 2nd.
  
  IN BRIEF: We're organizing Clean Energy Jobs Days all over the country for late May. In House Energy & Commerce committee districts, we're also organizing small business district meetings with Congress. And there will be other additional tactics for councils that are really energized and want to do more.
  In all our organizing for the coming weeks, we're pivoting out of the small business outreach that we've been doing. It should be an exciting drive, and it's directly relevant to the political moment we're in."

Intense negotiations over Waxman Markey

ISubject: intense negotiations over Waxman Markey

f the testimony from Al Gore yesterday spelled out just how important this bill is, the top stories in this summary of the news shows you why our efforts over the next few weeks are so important -- there are significant backroom negotiations underway right now that will determine just how strong a bill this is. We need to let Congress know that passively going along on this bill is not enough. We want them to be among those pushing for this bill to stay strong.
http://climateprogress.org/2009/04/25/energy-and-global-warming-news-for-april-24-25-the-inevitable-watering-down-of-waxman-markey/

GRACO

GRACO (Garfield-Randolph-Arlington-Clerk-Ocean) is the committee protesting the chromium field on Garfield Avenue. It's chairperson is Felicia Collis. The group meets the first Wednesday of the month. Should one or some of us plan to attend? Cheryl Clarke