A busy week with the launch of our 2018-19 Election and Legislative Strategy and several actions at the Roundhouse and PRC. And we also look forward to a week of action. Plus one absolutely critical action that will take you 5-10 minutes.
First we review last week’s blogs and actions and after that a look to what is happening this week.
2018-19 Roundhouse Election and Legislative Strategy Launched. We laughed our Roundhouse strategies to a packed hall at the Progressive Summit (at left) and wehave two blogs below describing our 2018-2019 Legislative and Election Strategy. We have one critical action for you. Over the last year, our Retake Roundhouse Activism Team (RAT) has worked with over 20 progressive advocacy organizations across the state and developed a list of 29 must pass bills for the 2019 Roundhouse session. We have created an online survey where you can raise your voice and tell us your priorities. We will use survey results to focus lobbying efforts in 2019, but before that we will use it to vet candidates running for state office in 2018. But we need your help. We need you to complete the survey, hopefully right now (it will take 5-10 minutes at most) and then the big ask: share it on Facebook and email the link to as many New Mexican friends as you can, especially folks in other parts of the state. We’ll keep you posted on how the survey is going. Click here to get to the survey.
Last Week’s Blogs in Review
Preview of Retake’s 2018-19 Legislative Strategy. Tue. Jan 16. For almost a year a Retake action team has been interviewing 2 dozen progressive advocacy groups, meeting with legislative leaders, and researching Roundhouse districts that could be ripe for a progressive victory. We have developed a two-prong strategy to facilitate good bills becoming law. An updated solution is provided in the blog yesterday with summary and link provided at the bottom of the page. We also include today a short video of the national launch of the Poor People’s Campaign. Read on. Click here.
TOMORROW: Action Alert at the PRC and the Roundhouse. Tue. Jan 16 (PM ACTION Alert edition). We have noted that 2018 will be about defense and Wednesday two of our partners need us. At 9:30 at the PRC 350.org needs us to show up and testify and Common Cause, is asking us to show up to support the Secty of State. Details on these actions and others planned for the 2018 Roundhouse Session. The blog also includes sound advice from Sen. Peter Wirth. Click here.
It Was the Worst of Days and the Best of Days. Th. Jan 18. I expect the PRC to make bad decisions (they did, in spades) and the process was an insult to democratic process. Not only did the PRC make two terrible decisions. They scheduled comment on one of the issues for after they voted. You couldn’t have made it up. I was so demoralized as I trudged from the PRC to the Roundhouse, but one Roundhouse hearing restored my spirits. We showed up for our Secretary of State and it looks like she will get the budget she deserves. What a day! Some events of interest, opportunities to get in the game. Click here to read.
A Very Good Description of PNM’s Proposal to Steal $353M from Ratepayers, i.e. YOU. Sat. Jan 20. PNM masks their thievery in gold plating to make a bad deal seem ok. And right now they are trying to sell a real bill of goods at the Roundhouse. I have had conversations with many key legislators about this. They say that they (and some environmental groups) want to at least hear what PNM’s best deal will be and they have assured me that what is on the table now, will go nowhere. We will track this closely and keep you posted. This blog includes contact info for three key legislators who you should contact. You have to read this and we need you to take actions. $353M is a lot to pay….for the right to get screwed. Click here. I wrote about this last week and when speaking with Sen. Peter Wirth Sunday at the Women’s March, he thanked me saying it was an excellent summary. It is worth your review as we need to be knowledgeable on this issue and apply heavy pressure. Click here.
Bundle Up and March Today & Retake Launches Our 2018-19 Electoral and Legislative Strategy. Sunday, Jan 21. After one year of planning and consultation with progressive groups and legislators from all over the state, yesterday we llaunched our 2018-2019 statewide strategy. The blog describes how Retake worked with over 20 progressive organizations statewide to develop list of must-pass bills for the 2019 session AND describes how you can weigh in by completing our survey where you can indicate how much you support each bill. Finally, the blog describes our election strategy and announces two Districts in which progressives are challenging “recumbent” Democrats. Cold or not, let’s march (details)! Also, included is a very clear video on how Ranked Choice Voting works. And check out the photo at left from Sunday’s New Mexican. Retake on the march. Click here.
Events of the Week
Retake Takes Action. Mon. Jan. 22, 6pm-7:15pm, New Energy Economy Conference Room. 343 E Alameda St, Santa Fe. Retake’s Local Research and Activism Team is shifting from research to direct community service. Join Jennifer Johnson is chairing this shift and explore options for direct community group service on projects in Santa Fe, with a lens on under-served communities. The focus through the first of March will be the local elections, Mayoral and City Council. On the 8th, the team will also examine the People’s Platform, a platform of progressive platforms developed by Retake with significant input from partners like Somos Un Pueblo Unido, New Energy Economy, Earth Care, and Chainbreaker Collective. RSVP by writing to Sara Hume at peachmagpie@gmail.com.
Chainbreaker, The Edge of Equity Series. Round II: Education without Displacement. Tuesday, Jan. 23 5:30-7:30pm, Higher Education Center, 1950 Siringo, Santa Fe. First panel was standing room only, so arrive EARLY as this will also be JAMMED and for good reason. Candidate forums, planning meetings, training’s in RCV, and a can’t miss series from Chainbreaker Collective, a series of panels on Equity in Santa Fe. While the Edge of Equity is not the first chronologically, if you have not seen Tomás Rivera speak on equity issues, you will want to mark down these dates and not miss any of the panels. Chainbreaker Collective is key partner in the struggle for racial and economic justice in Santa Fe and no one articulates the lack of equity in Santa Fe and a vision for economic justice in Santa Fe better than Tomás and his colleagues at Chainbreaker. Don’t miss these panels. For more information, go to http://www.chainbreaker.org
January 24, 7pm, The Lensic. Nomi Prins. $8. Tickets went on sale Saturday and the floor was half sold out within hours. Prins is a writer, investigative journalist, and public speaker. The author of six books, she is well-known for the exposé It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bonuses, Bailouts, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street and All the Presidents’ Bankers, a narrative about the relationships between presidents and key bankers over the past century and their impact on domestic and foreign policy. Her new book, Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the World,which explores the rise of central bank power and influence in the global financial, economic, and geopolitical hierarchy, is forthcoming in 2018. Clck here to purchase tickets.
Thursday Feb 1, 4:30-6:30pm Retake Our Democracy’s Roundhouse Activism Team (RAT) at New Energy Economy, 343 E Alameda. Santa Fe. After launching our Legislative and Electoral Strategy, at the Progressive Summit, the RAT now begins to work to develop our strategy for promoting it statewide and for lobbying this session. If you want to work with a great team and change NM, this is the locus of all the action. RSVP by writing to me at paul@retakeourdemocracy.org.Actions
National Action If Mueller is Fired. We will need to be ready at a moment’s notice. Read On for Santa Fe Plan. RISE Stronger New Mexico has scheduled a rapid response #Resistance Action in Santa Fe if special prosecutor Robert Mueller is fired. The local event details will mirror national plan which can be found here: https://act.moveon.org/event/mueller-firing-rapid-response/search/?source=MFT/ The Santa Fe rally will begin hours after news breaks of a Mueller firing: If Mueller is fired BEFORE 2 P.M. local time —> events will begin @ 5 P.M. local time, If Mueller is fired AFTER 2 P.M. local time —> events will begin @ noon local time the following day. Our gathering place will be the bandstand on the Santa Fe Plaza. Click here to RSVP for this event. It is not a Facebook event, so anyone can sign up. For an article speculating that Mueller will be fired on Dec 22, click here.
Reverend Barber leads Poor People’s Campaign Kick-Off in ABQ, Aug 15.
The Poor People’s Campaign (starting this blog with some words of inspiration). A note from Todd Wynberg, one of the NM coordinators for the campaign: “We enter into this new year as newly-cobbled friends and allies joined in a common cause. It is called the Poor People’s Campaign, but we know it is far more than that. We do not know exactly what will happen, but we do know for certain we are embarking on a journey that will be life-transforming, earth-honoring, people-dignifying, spirit-following, empire-resisting, despair-erasing, justice-seeking and society-changing. Maybe you feel it too–this is going to be big, my friends. At the brink of beginnings, during a brief season of quiet, it feels right to me to offer a few brief words. Below are three short pieces I have found of deep value that seem very appropriate for our future work together: a poem, a prayer, and a creative translation of the beatitudes. A most blessed new year to you all.” –Todd. I included the first of the three Todd offered up. Along with a link here to sign up for the Campaign and get information as we advance toward the launch of nationwide civil disobedience on May 13. Click here to RSVP for the kick off on Sunday, Jan 14 (see above).
Solarizing the City: Yes. With PNM as our Partner: No! Write to the Mayor and ask him about his plan to solarize the City with PNM as our partner. Aside from the proposal seeking the arch-enemy of renewable energy as our partner, the plan would leave the City at the mercy of PNM as they would own our renewable energy infrastructure. What’s more, there are significant questions as to whether the plan is even legal or could achieve approval from the Public Regulation Commission. This poorly conceived idea needs to be challenged. Click here for details and contact information for the Mayor and City Council and please let them know why you oppose this proposal.
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