[GPSCC-chat] Proposed Agenda for GPSCC Thursday Meeting 6-26-14

[perrysandy at aol.com]

Hi everyone,
This looks like a short meeting. Please send any additions or changes.

Sandy


GPSCC PROPOSED AGENDA 6-26-14

7:00 PM Thursday June 26 at San Jose Peace & Justice Center, 48 S. Seventh St., San Jose CA 95112
 
7:00  Speaker: nonescheduled.
 
7:30 Meeting begins.Introductions, announcements, changes or additions to 
        agenda, hat passing.


7:45 IdentifyFacilitator, Note Taker, Vibes Watcher, Time Keeper, Agenda 
       Preparer for July. Meeting.



7:55  Report onSingle Payer Health Care work. 
 
8:10  Report on Climate Change work.
 
 
8:25  Report on DeAnza work
 
 
8:35  Request for aletter in support of Green Party Rev. Edward Pinkney (see story 
         below) (Sandy)

8:45  Report back from the State Plenary if anyonehas any information. 
 
8:55 Adjourn



 
Facing Twenty-Five Years in Prison for Circulating aPetition
GreenParty member and 2008 Congressional candidate Rev. Edward Pinkney of BentonHarbor, Michigan is once again battling political persecution. On July 21, he willstand trial for circulating recall petitions against Benton Harbor’spro-corporate Mayor James Hightower. The state is charging him with five felonycounts and threatening him with up to twenty-five years in prison.
BentonHarbor has 70% unemployment and 90% of its people living below the povertyline, and is also home to one of the richest companies in the world, the $19billion Whirlpool Corporation. 
Rev.Pinkney has led residents in a relentless battle against racism in the criminaljustice system, for jobs, for education, for a better life, and against thestate-appointed “Emergency Financial Manager” (EFM) that took over BentonHarbor in 2011. EFMs are a threat to democracy everywhere, as proven when anEFM declared the bankruptcy of Detroit in 2013. A federal judge subsequentlyruled that its workers had no right to keep their pensions despite explicitprotection in the Michigan State Constitution, a decision that impacts the fateof workers as far away as California.
Thespecific charges against Rev. Pinkney in the recall of Mayor Hightower are thathe altered some of the dates on the petitions. However, the evidence againsthim introduced at his preliminary hearing was flimsy and contradictory, as pointedout in a June 3 article in Voice ofDetroit:
·        AnotherBenton Harbor resident turned in the recall petitions on January 8, not Rev.Pinkney.
·        Rev.Pinkney was formally charged and a warrant issued for his arrest on that sameday, January 8, but the petitions were not turned over to the Michigan StatePolice Forensics Lab for examination until February 26.
·        InMarch, Berrien County Sheriff Deputies conducted a massive campaign tointerrogate and intimidate petition signers throughout Benton Harbor.
·        Sgt.James Goff, who examined the petitions, is not a certified Forensics DocumentExaminer.
·        Sgt.Goff testified that, “I can’t say who altered them or when.”
·        Nooriginal petitions were admitted into evidence, only copies, and the BerrienCounty Sheriff’s Department, Elections Commission, and Michigan State Policedisagree on where the originals are located.
·        Threewitnesses who had circulated petitions testified that they saw petition signersthemselves change the dates on their signatures due to errors, and onecirculator testified that she changed a date she herself entered due to anerror.
·        CountySheriff Sgt. David Zizkovsky stated that he himself asked the Forensics Lab tochange five dates on the petitions.
·        Therewas no confession, no certified handwriting expert testimony, no eye witnesses,no evidence that Rev. Pinkney had exclusive access to the petitions, and lotsof evidence that lots of other people had access to them.
Thecharges against Rev. Pinkney are an attack on our right to petition for redressof grievances and our right to take political action independently of thecorporate agenda and the two-party system. The fight to defend Rev. Pinkney isthe fight for democracy and for the future of America. 
Publicizethis case. Write letters of support for Rev. Pinkney to BANCO (Black AutonomousNetwork of Community Organizations) at banco9342 at sbcglobal.net Donations for legal defense may besent to BANCO, 1940 Union Street, Benton Harbor, MI 49022. 
 
 
 
 
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