[GPSCC-chat] ACTION NEEDED NOW --> more NO on 14 effort

Thu May 27 20:05:47 PDT 2010

This is important, folks! Prop 14 isn't just ineffective election reform, it 
threatens the ballot status of all minor parties. 'Letters to the editor' is 
one of the worthwhile actions we can do (and one we can afford).

Please take a few minutes to read the announcement below about the letter 
writing campaign, then spend the mere 5 minutes it takes to participate in 
this getting-late effort to defeat Prop 14.

Send a letter to the Mercury News and one to a community paper.

Here's the Murky News' letter info:

E-mail your thoughts to letters at mercurynews.com. Requirements: 125 words or 
less; no attachments; include your name, address and daytime phone.

Letters will be edited for length and clarity. Street addresses and phone 
numbers are not published. The Mercury News reserves the right to publish and 
republish your submission in any form or medium.

Jim

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [GPSCC-chat] more NO on 14 effort
Date: Wed, 26 May 2010 10:34:54 -0700
From: Jim Doyle <j.m.doyle at sbcglobal.net>
To: sosfbay discussion group <sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org>

GREEN PARTY COUNTY CONTACTS MESSAGE

This is an announcement from the GPCA Contact List.
For more information, or questions related to the topic of the posting,
please do not hit reply. Follow the contact directions
stated in the email.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Greens -

*Some of you have forwarded our Stop 14 emails to your local list, pressing
for letters to the editor. Thank you!. We need to amp up these efforts
_in the last 2 weeks_ before June 8th. Letters to the Editor are the
quickest way to get a message to the most people.

Current polls indicate that 60% of voters support Prop 14. *_We must act
fast. _*

It is absolutely critical that we get letters to the editor published
NOW. The yes-on-14 crowd has lots of money and connections; their ads
are all over TV and radio. Letters are an important counter-effort
against this.

Our goal is to send 1,000 letters in the next week. We suggest 4 to 10
Greens
send in a letter each to the smaller papers, and 15 to 70 Greens send in a
letter each to the larger papers.

Are there Greens in your county that you can call*, right away*, to find
out if they have submitted letters, or encourage them to do so? If you
do not have time, then we are willing to make some calls. Email me their
names, email addresses, and phone #s.

How many newspapers are in your county? Can you commit to making sure
that each newspaper (small and large) gets a NO ON 14 letter this week?
What a great organizing tool to get your local involved!

There is also a great “tag-team” method. One Greens sends a letter, IF
it gets published, then another Green sends an “in support of letter A”
24 hours after its published. This is how we get 2 letters in to the
same paper.**sample letters at the end of this email.

Letter writing has been made very easy:
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/1488/t/338/letter/?letter_KEY=632 )

I personally went to this link, typed in my zip, got 4 major newspapers,
did a click and copy of what I liked best from the “sample” info, and
sent to all 4. This took me 5 minutes. I also did my own search,
(knowing there are more than 4 papers in Ventura…..local community
papers!) using the same 2 paragraphs and sent to 7 other papers. The
whole thing took me a ½ hour. If I’m published in just the 4 majors, I
may reach *1,500,000 readers – for ½ hour worth of time.* We NEED 100
Greens to do the same !!.

**DO NOT SEND MORE THAN 2 PARAGRAPHS. THERE ARE SIZE LIMITS AND THEY
WON'T PRINT YOUR LETTER IF ITS TOO LONG**

We should do outreach outside of the Green Party too - can you and
fellow Greens post Stop 14 messages on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and any
other networks available?. What other organizations do you work with?

Please spend some time on this - _the future of our Party is literally
at stake!_

Please reply email as to what efforts are being made in your County to
get this letter writing or other outreach done. We need to make sure
lots of Greens are sending in letters. We can help!
--------------

TAG-TEAM LETTERS

Sample Letter 1:

 From what I've learned about Prop 14, it's based on a weak theory that
was disproved by a couple states that tried it. Let's stop nibbling
around the edges and make the real reforms our ailing elections system
needs.

We could solve the Prop 14 problem with a similar electoral reform
solution that Britain is considering after their troubled 3-way Prime
Minister race. We don't convert to a parliamentary system, but we use
“ranked choice voting” to attain proportional representation rather than
winner-take-all elections.

This would allow the creation of three main parties: Left - Center -
Right. Then voters could choose candidates whom they really support. And
candidates wouldn’t have to pander to constituents with whom they don’t
agree.

[120 words]

Sample letter 2:

I agree with [name]'s letter on [date] about Prop 14 not being a
solution and
the need for election reforms. I’ve heard complaints about our election
system for years. Isn’t it time for a change?

I recently learned about Instant Runoff Voting. It uses a ballot where
voters get to rank all candidates instead of voting for just one, which
sounds like what [name]’s letter described. This seems like a fair
system and it solves a lot of problems that people complain about.

I’d rather try that than Prop 14’s idea about doing away with parties in the
primary and limiting the general election to just two candidates.

[108 words]

Prop 14 Resources:

http://www.stoptoptwo.org/
http://cagreens.org/erwg/Prop14/
http://noonproposition14.com/

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