Good morning, North Georgians!
I woke up in the wee hours recently, and caught an American University presentation on C-Span 2, which dealt with E-Activism. I thought about you when I learned the following:
7% of us (online) consider ourselves political activists.... and of that 7%, 70% of us have taken direct political action online. We are called 'influentials' as a result of our direct political action. I am writing you to ask you to take that leap into direct political action this morning.
Athens-Clarke County has been placed in real jeopardy by recent legislation submitted by Republican State Senator Ralph Hudgens which would split our tiny Democratic county in half, and have him, and another Republican representing us from adjacent Republican Counties! Under the proposal, Athens-Clarke County would be divided into two Senate districts. All of Oglethorpe County and half of Madison County would be moved from the 46th to the 47th District, and Walton County would be moved from the 47th into the 46th.
This is a blatant power grab by our current State Senator Kemp, who's brother-in-law Bill Cowsert is running for the seat Kemp is vacating (in order to run against Tommy Irvin for State Commissioner of Agriculture.) Of course, Sen. Kemp lacked the backbone to submit this nasty bit of partisanship himself, so he and our local Chamber of Commerce put Sen. Hudgens up to the dirty work. Senator Kemp seems to have abandoned even the appearance of actually representing the folks who elected him, in the interest of securing a seat for his brother-in-law.
I know there are many of us on this huge list who do not live in Athens right this minute. I also know that many of us grew up here, went to school here, married folks who went to school here, worked here temporarily, or simply love the Dawgs. Whatever your connection to Athens, or your concern for fair government in these dark days of Republican supremacy, we need you to make some phone calls, send some emails, and fax fax fax today!
Here's the article that explains the debacle:
IN SENATE, GOP SEEKS ATHENS SPLIT
To read this article, please visit:
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/011306/news_20060113053.shtml
Here's our local paper's editorial against the concept:
Athens Banner-Herald Opinion Against Re-Districting:
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/011506/opinion_20060115001.shtml
Here's how to reach the Chamber of Commerce, who by the way are having their Executive Committee meeting this Thursday at 4 o'clock, (let's all go, with signs, shall we?) and their annual meeting on the 24th at the Athens Country Club. You can call the Chamber and tell them to run for office and win election before they start running Athens thru their crooked cronies at 706-549-6800. I found a different number for Rich Cary, who is organizing the 65$ annual meeting, 706-353-0502. To fax the Chamber, send to 706-549-5636. People just absolutely LOVE to get faxes, please send several! And easier still, you can email the Chamber at info@athenschamber.net, Rich Cary at Rich@athenschamber.net, and Lynn Scott at info@athensga.net.
Contact "our" State Senator Brian Kemp at: office: 706-543-0188 home: 706-548-0048. His email address is: bkemp@legis.state.ga.us
Senator Ralph Hudgens: office: 706-783-2405, FAX!: 706-783-2406 another FAX#: 404-463-2279 email:
ralph@ralphhudgens.com
There is a Town Hall meeting this Wednesday night at the Athens-Clarke County Library on Baxter Street at 7:00 pm. Both our Rep.'s Jane Kidd and Keith Heard will be on hand to answer questions about the current session, including this horrible insult to our community. I will be there too, and the North Georgia Democrats will decide at that point how to use the next two meetings of the Chamber to make them aware of our displeasure. Y'all know I love a good rally! What a great way for the North Georgia Democrats to get rolling this year!
The North Georgia Democrats went out to Oglethorpe County for their Democratic Committee meeting last week. Tom, Paul and I were blown away by their enthusiasm for and commitment to their new phone tree and canvassing programs. We will be in Oconee County Feb. 2nd for their meeting, and hope you'll attend too! Check out our calendar at www.northgeorgiademocrats.org as always, for things you can do. We'll post our efforts to defeat this legislation on the calendar too, so check back after we figure out our strategies on this.
Putting on my other hat briefly, I invite you to attend the non-partisan, non-profit Write to Vote meeting tonight. This is the project we're developing to promote absentee balloting and participation in the process by low-income and minority voters. It's our first official meeting, and we want you involved. We are gathering at 6 pm at the Jittery Joes at the corner of Baxter and Alps. We are still working on our website, we hope to launch it in the next week or so. We'll be kicking off the Write to Vote project on March 17th, so pencil in that date and stay tuned for details!
This is a crucial week for Athens-Clarke County and the State of Georgia. We have got to stand up for our right to fair representation, and let the powers that be know that we will not stand by and watch them continue to dilute our power. The last re-districting put Athens-Clarke County literally in the bottom left-hand corner of District 9, represented by Rep. Charlie Norwood instead of our own home town guy, Rep. John Barrow. We cannot let these folks get away with this!
Let's ring those phones and faxes off the hook, and email 'em all until the cows come home. If that doesn't work, we'll just start showing up for the Chamber's meetings, and see how they like that! We know from their embarrassed cancellation of their fundraiser (which they now deny ever planning) for Ralph Reed that they can be influenced by our calls and emails. We can do this!
Feel free to distribute this freely, and I'll see you soon!
Madelyn Powell
I woke up in the wee hours recently, and caught an American University presentation on C-Span 2, which dealt with E-Activism. I thought about you when I learned the following:
7% of us (online) consider ourselves political activists.... and of that 7%, 70% of us have taken direct political action online. We are called 'influentials' as a result of our direct political action. I am writing you to ask you to take that leap into direct political action this morning.
Athens-Clarke County has been placed in real jeopardy by recent legislation submitted by Republican State Senator Ralph Hudgens which would split our tiny Democratic county in half, and have him, and another Republican representing us from adjacent Republican Counties! Under the proposal, Athens-Clarke County would be divided into two Senate districts. All of Oglethorpe County and half of Madison County would be moved from the 46th to the 47th District, and Walton County would be moved from the 47th into the 46th.
This is a blatant power grab by our current State Senator Kemp, who's brother-in-law Bill Cowsert is running for the seat Kemp is vacating (in order to run against Tommy Irvin for State Commissioner of Agriculture.) Of course, Sen. Kemp lacked the backbone to submit this nasty bit of partisanship himself, so he and our local Chamber of Commerce put Sen. Hudgens up to the dirty work. Senator Kemp seems to have abandoned even the appearance of actually representing the folks who elected him, in the interest of securing a seat for his brother-in-law.
I know there are many of us on this huge list who do not live in Athens right this minute. I also know that many of us grew up here, went to school here, married folks who went to school here, worked here temporarily, or simply love the Dawgs. Whatever your connection to Athens, or your concern for fair government in these dark days of Republican supremacy, we need you to make some phone calls, send some emails, and fax fax fax today!
Here's the article that explains the debacle:
IN SENATE, GOP SEEKS ATHENS SPLIT
To read this article, please visit:
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/011306/news_20060113053.shtml
Here's our local paper's editorial against the concept:
Athens Banner-Herald Opinion Against Re-Districting:
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/011506/opinion_20060115001.shtml
Here's how to reach the Chamber of Commerce, who by the way are having their Executive Committee meeting this Thursday at 4 o'clock, (let's all go, with signs, shall we?) and their annual meeting on the 24th at the Athens Country Club. You can call the Chamber and tell them to run for office and win election before they start running Athens thru their crooked cronies at 706-549-6800. I found a different number for Rich Cary, who is organizing the 65$ annual meeting, 706-353-0502. To fax the Chamber, send to 706-549-5636. People just absolutely LOVE to get faxes, please send several! And easier still, you can email the Chamber at info@athenschamber.net, Rich Cary at Rich@athenschamber.net, and Lynn Scott at info@athensga.net.
Contact "our" State Senator Brian Kemp at: office: 706-543-0188 home: 706-548-0048. His email address is: bkemp@legis.state.ga.us
Senator Ralph Hudgens: office: 706-783-2405, FAX!: 706-783-2406 another FAX#: 404-463-2279 email:
ralph@ralphhudgens.com
There is a Town Hall meeting this Wednesday night at the Athens-Clarke County Library on Baxter Street at 7:00 pm. Both our Rep.'s Jane Kidd and Keith Heard will be on hand to answer questions about the current session, including this horrible insult to our community. I will be there too, and the North Georgia Democrats will decide at that point how to use the next two meetings of the Chamber to make them aware of our displeasure. Y'all know I love a good rally! What a great way for the North Georgia Democrats to get rolling this year!
The North Georgia Democrats went out to Oglethorpe County for their Democratic Committee meeting last week. Tom, Paul and I were blown away by their enthusiasm for and commitment to their new phone tree and canvassing programs. We will be in Oconee County Feb. 2nd for their meeting, and hope you'll attend too! Check out our calendar at www.northgeorgiademocrats.org as always, for things you can do. We'll post our efforts to defeat this legislation on the calendar too, so check back after we figure out our strategies on this.
Putting on my other hat briefly, I invite you to attend the non-partisan, non-profit Write to Vote meeting tonight. This is the project we're developing to promote absentee balloting and participation in the process by low-income and minority voters. It's our first official meeting, and we want you involved. We are gathering at 6 pm at the Jittery Joes at the corner of Baxter and Alps. We are still working on our website, we hope to launch it in the next week or so. We'll be kicking off the Write to Vote project on March 17th, so pencil in that date and stay tuned for details!
This is a crucial week for Athens-Clarke County and the State of Georgia. We have got to stand up for our right to fair representation, and let the powers that be know that we will not stand by and watch them continue to dilute our power. The last re-districting put Athens-Clarke County literally in the bottom left-hand corner of District 9, represented by Rep. Charlie Norwood instead of our own home town guy, Rep. John Barrow. We cannot let these folks get away with this!
Let's ring those phones and faxes off the hook, and email 'em all until the cows come home. If that doesn't work, we'll just start showing up for the Chamber's meetings, and see how they like that! We know from their embarrassed cancellation of their fundraiser (which they now deny ever planning) for Ralph Reed that they can be influenced by our calls and emails. We can do this!
Feel free to distribute this freely, and I'll see you soon!
Madelyn Powell
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