Tag Archives: Washington

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sensiblewashington.org -Yes on I1149


UPDATE 7/3: The State deadline for signatures is Friday, July 8th. Please allow sufficient time for your petitions to arrive at our headquarters for processing. Given the July 4th holiday, anything being mailed at this point needs to be sent via overnight delivery.

If you’re holding completed or partially completed I-1149 petitions, it’s time to get them back to Sensible Washington headquarters.  No amount of signatures is too small. By all means, keep collecting signatures for the next two weeks, but it’s critically important to submit those signatures already collected.

To make things easy, there are several ways to get them back to the mothership:

Sensible Washington
PO Box 1184
Seattle, WA 98111-1184

  • Call our campaign number at 206-707-5502 and arrange pickup.
  • In the Seattle area? Drop off your petitions in the lobby of The Joint Cooperative in the U-District (Monday-Friday 11-7).

Don’t wait until July. Send those petitions back to us. And thank you for your continued hard work in the fight for freedom.

About I-1149

Help us make cannabis legal in Washington in 2011.

Many people don’t know this, but there are now dispensary-like businesses and cooperatives in Washington where you can obtain tested medical marijuana safely over the counter with a credit card.

Unfortunately, medical marijuana is only available in these kinds of safe environments for those who know the right people and can afford or find a doctor who will make the recommendation.

Sensible Washington intends to fix that.  We are organizing a team of 10,000+ activists statewide to gather signatures and place Initiative 1149 on the November 2011 ballot.  The initiative is simple:  it removes all criminal penalties for possession, use, manufacture or delivery of cannabis among adults and directs the Legislature to create taxation and regulatory system as appropriate.

It makes medicine safely available to patients without having to go to the black market.

Legal strategy: learn from the repeal of prohibition

Why take this simple approach to the initiative?

History shows that the best way to end prohibition is to simply repeal prohibition language.  In 1932 Washington was one of the states that repealed prohibition on alcohol through a statewide initiative.  The initiative removed all state laws criminalizing alcohol, leaving the Legislature the task of creating regulations, which it did.  Their initiative language gave nothing for the Federal Government to attack since it simply removed state prohibition laws and nothing new was being added that would conflict with Federal law.

This is still the best strategy.  When trying to legalize a federally controlled substance, there is always the problem of conflict with the supreme law of the land.  If we pass code that includes regulation for something that is not allowed federally, the government has the power to trump the law leaving us back at square one, but with our funders and our volunteers demoralized.  It could happen immediately or years down the road when a hostile Federal administration takes power.

Polling and political strategy

Polling this year affirms that we can win in Washington as soon as legalization is put to the popular vote.  Washington is one of the best polling states in the country for legalizing cannabis, with 52% of the public in favor of legalizing marijuana and only 35% opposed statewide.

Looking at the bigger picture, it makes sense nationally as well as locally to repeal prohibition in Washington in 2011.  National legalization organizations are gearing up for a big push in 2012.  Their resources could be used in tougher states if Washington were to legalize in 2011 and no resources were then needed here in 2012. Sensible Washington can get on the ballot with minimal funding because of the breadth of our volunteer base.  Plus, if Washington State does not have an initiative running in 2011, the issue will be quiet for a year at a time when we need to make it louder.  An early victory in Washington would be a powerful precedent in the 2012 elections for other states.

But there is another reason to proceed in 2011.  This issue is just too urgent to wait until it’s a sure thing.  We all know the terrible toll of marijuana prohibition– 15,000 arrests in Washington every year, $100 million-plus of tax dollars wasted, dying medical patients being prosecuted for medical use, organ transplants denied to legitimate medical cannabis patients, people losing their children.  .  .  We lawyers see the dark side of prohibition in our work.

We can’t allow this to go on.  Many of us have been fighting to protect people in the courts, and some of us have even made our livings defending marijuana cases, but the time is right to fix the problem.  We can’t wait any longer to repeal prohibition knowing that every year, 15,000 people will be harmed and that the public supports us now.

Sensible Washington is already on the ground recruiting and mobilizing thousands of grass-roots activists, developing our cutting edge online networking technology, keeping the issue alive in the press, and filling positions in our vast campaign infrastructure.

During the 2010 effort, our I-1068 initiative got 2/3 of the required signatures with a base of 1,500 activists and little money. Next year, we’ll be starting with 10,000 people or more.   We have the early endorsement of NORML (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) and many others.  We anticipate beginning signature gathering in January or February of 2011.

Give back some of the money you’ve made from pot prohibition.

If you believe in this cause, now is the time to support it.  You know firsthand just how dysfunctional prohibition is.  Dig Deep. This year your dollars will actually make a difference.

Click here to give online or to mail a check or credit card contribution in the address listed there.

Thank you and we look forward to your response!

Jeffrey Steinborn – Initiative Co-sponsor

Douglas Hiatt – Initiative Co-author

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Deadline: Thursday – 2012 BARACKOBAMA.com


June 30th at 11:59 p.m. is the first big deadline of this campaign. At that moment, we’ll close the books on this financial quarter and begin preparing our fundraising report to the Federal Election Commission, the press, and the public.

Our opponents are chasing Washington lobbyists and special-interest PACs for big checks ahead of the deadline. To them, and to most of the pundits, campaigns are all about how many millions of dollars each candidate can raise.

We disagree. Of course we have a budget and financial goals. But we believe that the true strength of our campaign is the number of everyday people owning a piece of it.

So we refuse money from Washington lobbyists and special-interest PACs. And rather than setting a goal of millions of dollars, we’re setting a goal of 550,000 grassroots donations by the June 30th deadline.

The number of contributions we earn in this quarter will be the definitive record of how strong our support was at the very start. If you’re one of this campaign’s earliest supporters — thank you. Will you chip in another $5 or whatever you can afford to help us hit our goal?

 

 

A lot of people out there are wondering whether this campaign can inspire the kind of grassroots support that has been the foundation of our success. A lot of people out there are already saying we can’t.

So we’ve got something to prove.

What happens between now and Thursday will shape the story of how the 2012 race began.

Help write that story with a donation of $5 or more here:

 

Thanks,

Messina

Jim Messina
Campaign Manager

P.S. — This Thursday also marks the end of the Dinner with Barack contest. When you give, you’re automatically entered for a chance to win. Throw your hat in the ring:

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Our plan this summer …Mitch Stewart, BarackObama.com


You’ve been hearing from Messina about our overall strategy and what’s at stake in this election. My job as the Battleground States Director is to report back to you on the nuts and bolts of what we’re building in communities across the country.

  I want to take you through it in detail, so you can understand how to get involved and shape our organization where you live.

   We’re going to build it from the ground up. And we’re going to use this summer to roll out our team model and organizing structure through grassroots planning sessions in homes and by videoconference.

 Here’s the full briefing — watch it here, and if you’re willing to get involved now and be part of the organization in your community, let me know:

Some of these planning sessions are already under way, and we’re starting to get some feedback. I got one email from a supporter named Steven, who hadn’t been involved at all since 2008, and only went to his grassroots planning session on a whim.

 As a result, he’s all-in — he wants want to get involved fast, and also has all sorts of new ideas for how he can apply his skills better this time and which friends and colleagues he can reach out to about joining the campaign.

 The subject line of his email about the meeting was “Inspiring night.”

 This kind of organization-building isn’t just an electoral strategy — it’s a reflection of what we believe in as voters and citizens. It’s a commitment to the kind of politics that begins in backyards and living rooms and empowers every single American to get involved and organize for the changes they want to see.

 At a moment when it feels like the only thing that separates our opponents is how quickly they want to end Medicare as we know it, winning this way — driven locally, powered by the grassroots — will be a rebuke to those in Washington who still think that people across the country don’t have a seat at the table where decisions are made.

 I’m asking you to pull up a chair. If you’re willing to get involved now, at this crucial point in the campaign, let me know here:

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Battleground States Director
Obama for America

 P.S. — If you don’t have time to watch the video, here’s a quick rundown on where we stand:

      — Messina mentioned the one-on-one initiative last month. We’re going to talk with every person who volunteered or made a donation last time. So the staff and I started making calls and meeting with people one-on-one. And then those people started having their own one-on-ones with others. So far more than 75,000 individual conversations have happened across the country. The results are a massive army of newly energized volunteers, plus thousands of pages of ideas and feedback that will inform how we shape our organization nationally.

      — Grassroots planning sessions are under way across the country — we’ve had dozens so far with more than a hundred still to come. Everyone has been or will be invited to one.

      — You heard about our Summer Organizer Program when we asked you to help recruit them. Well, there are now hundreds across the country, and they start next week. We were pleasantly surprised that the number of applicants far exceeded what we saw when we launched this program in 2008, and you’ll be hearing more about them — and in many cases from them directly — in the coming months

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Our plan this summer …Mitch Stewart, BarackObama.com


You’ve been hearing from Messina about our overall strategy and what’s at stake in this election. My job as the Battleground States Director is to report back to you on the nuts and bolts of what we’re building in communities across the country.

I want to take you through it in detail, so you can understand how to get involved and shape our organization where you live.

We’re going to build it from the ground up. And we’re going to use this summer to roll out our team model and organizing structure through grassroots planning sessions in homes and by videoconference.

Here’s the full briefing — watch it here, and if you’re willing to get involved now and be part of the organization in your community, let me know:

———————

Some of these planning sessions are already under way, and we’re starting to get some feedback. I got one email from a supporter named Steven, who hadn’t been involved at all since 2008, and only went to his grassroots planning session on a whim.

As a result, he’s all-in — he wants want to get involved fast, and also has all sorts of new ideas for how he can apply his skills better this time and which friends and colleagues he can reach out to about joining the campaign.

The subject line of his email about the meeting was “Inspiring night.”

This kind of organization-building isn’t just an electoral strategy — it’s a reflection of what we believe in as voters and citizens. It’s a commitment to the kind of politics that begins in backyards and living rooms and empowers every single American to get involved and organize for the changes they want to see.

At a moment when it feels like the only thing that separates our opponents is how quickly they want to end Medicare as we know it, winning this way — driven locally, powered by the grassroots — will be a rebuke to those in Washington who still think that people across the country don’t have a seat at the table where decisions are made.

I’m asking you to pull up a chair. If you’re willing to get involved now, at this crucial point in the campaign, let me know here:

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Battleground States Director
Obama for America

P.S. — If you don’t have time to watch the video, here’s a quick rundown on where we stand:

— Messina mentioned the one-on-one initiative last month. We’re going to talk with every person who volunteered or made a donation last time. So the staff and I started making calls and meeting with people one-on-one. And then those people started having their own one-on-ones with others. So far more than 75,000 individual conversations have happened across the country. The results are a massive army of newly energized volunteers, plus thousands of pages of ideas and feedback that will inform how we shape our organization nationally.

— Grassroots planning sessions are under way across the country — we’ve had dozens so far with more than a hundred still to come. Everyone has been or will be invited to one.

— You heard about our Summer Organizer Program when we asked you to help recruit them. Well, there are now hundreds across the country, and they start next week. We were pleasantly surprised that the number of applicants far exceeded what we saw when we launched this program in 2008, and you’ll be hearing more about them — and in many cases from them directly — in the coming months.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Going to cost them


Absolutely incredible!

Democrat Kathy Hochul has surged to a dead heat in a New York special election that could dramatically alter the political landscape in Washington. Ever since Republicans took the majority in the U.S. House, they’ve pushed a non-stop platform of unpopular and destructive ideas, like ending Medicare while preserving tax breaks for millionaires.

Kathy’s special election, in one of the reddest districts in the state this May 24th, is our first chance to show them how much it’s going to cost them. Let’s get her over the top.

http://www.dccc.org/page/m/1d63ca61/1b9dd8ab/4ae5ef98/4e0ce962/1372734153/VEsH/

Kathy is exactly who we need in Congress. She is a tireless fighter for jobs, someone who will always do right by middle class families in her district, and a strong leader who will stand up to the hard right.

Washington insiders and the media are closely watching this race. If Kathy can win a dramatic grassroots victory in this Republican stronghold, it would give Democrats the momentum in our fight to preserve Medicare and stop the Republicans’ reckless agenda.

That’s why hard right groups have just launched a smear campaign against her.

http://www.dccc.org/page/m/1d63ca61/1b9dd8ab/4ae5ef98/4e0ce962/1372734153/VEsE/

This race is winnable, but time is running short. We must keep TV ads on the air so Kathy can keep fighting back against the special interest-funded attacks.

With the eyes of the world watching, let’s show them exactly the kind of victory that grassroots Democrats are capable of.

Senator Chuck Schumer