[statecom-discuss] Re: Local Ballot initiative process

[Ron Francis]

Thanks for the info Bill.

Having attempted both a local initiative and a State Rep one in the last two years, I would say the State Rep one is 10 times easier and covers the same geographic area.

If the main goal is to expose the progressive Democrats as one way of building the GRP, then State Rep is just as good.

And by the way BIll, the "Local Ballots 2008": inttiative which now has 3 to 5 people interested could use your help !  The first meeting will be at my house on the Feb 29th (a change since I had a union meeting scheduled for the 28th.. I will post this soon).  I hope you can come.  It's a Thursday night.

Ron
617 230-2835

BillCunningham <etwee at earthlink.net> wrote: Binding local initiatives are a great idea, but there are a few snags with it in practice.

The State Constitution provides a process for nonbinding initiatives at the municipal level. But binding initiatives are provided only by individual city and town charters. A few cities, like Somerville, do not allow binding intiative or referendum.

Most cities and towns do provide for binding intiatives, but in recent years it has become virtually impossible to win a local binding initiative vote. 

This is a consequence of the 1993 "Motor-Voter Law." By increasing the number of persons on voting rolls and retarding their removal after they move away, Motor-Voter enrolls a phantom contingent on every municipal list. Commonly this contingent amounts to more than one-third of a town or city's total voter registration.

The laws require that, for an intiative to be binding, the number voting for it must be equal to at least one-third of the registered voters. Under these conditions, it is now practically impossible to win local binding initiatives or referenda.

Two items explaining this situation further are posted on The Bridge website. The first is an article from 2004 and the second is a background paper prepared in 2003.

http://bridgenews.org/news/072004/motorvotertrouble/view?searchterm=motor%20voter

http://bridgenews.org/background/votercharts.pdf

What neither of these items says is that same-day registration would solve this problem with the stroke of a pen. Motor-Voter does not apply in states with same-day registration—of which there are six now.

-----Original Message-----
>From: Gracegrnrnbw at aol.com
>Sent: Feb 8, 2007 12:49 AM
>To: statecom-discuss at green-rainbow.org
>Subject: Re: [statecom-discuss] Re: "Local Ballot 2008" Plan !! ...Please respond
>
>Since, we agreed to a strategic planning process - perhaps this planning 
>oculd be a subgourp of the process we already agreed to.   I still think it woul 
>dbe interesting to look at local initiatives that are actually locally binding 
>rather than advisory to a rep/senator - and I think we have lots of things 
>that distinguish us so the options are a multitude - Love, Grace
>In a message dated 2/7/07 10:52:47 PM, ronwf777 at yahoo.com writes:
>
>
>> One more thing...
>> 
>> I don't think the Dems are really passionate about anything actually, and so 
>> I think we would in fact distinguish ourselves by showing some resolve about 
>> some issue.
>> 
>> Too many people can't identify us with any passionate issue... that makes it 
>> tough if not impossible to organize efficiently
>> 
>> ron
>> 
>> Ron Francis  wrote: Hey Elie,
>> 
>> Thanks for the thoughtful response.
>> 
>> I like the constitutional amendment idea as a way to distinguish us.    
>> That's just the kind of idea that I was thinking of but hadn't thought of !
>> 
>> .... something that strikes at the core...
>> 
>> Would you try to draft some language ?
>> 
>> This draft is not supposed to be a strategic plan... it's one proposal to 
>> build us locally that fits into several strategic plans....
>> 
>> Ron
>> 
>> Yarden  wrote: Ron,
>> I will not question, nor do I see any need to questions the schematics
>> of what you propose.  I do believe that choosing issues fails to
>> distinguish us from the parties of the Duopoly, or especially the Dems,
>> who go around, especially in Cambridge, trying to create constituencies
>> for themselves, asking, "What's your issue?"
>> 
>> Living wage, abortion rights, single-payer health plan, local control
>> of land use, low-cost housing, equal marriage rights, protecting the
>> environment, the Charles River geese, provision for disabilities.  We
>> could go on and on.  And you will find that there are plenty of people
>> associating about a given issue, and well-heeled duopoly candidates to
>> support the issues that get them the votes.  Once elected they find it
>> easy to retain their seats through the proper disposition of 'services'
>> and patronage to those who will get them the votes, but mainly the
>> money to run.  It is difficult to unseat a sitting Rep on the 'issues.'
>> 
>> Perhaps something that is not an 'issue,' but a different vision might
>> be a good way to convince the potential electorate that it is
>> worthwhile to vote for us.  Rights, is one area. Another might be
>> education.  It is all very well to talk about the environment in terms
>> of "open space" or pollution, but the social ecology of diminished
>> resources is untouched by candidates for office.  I do not know why it
>> is that liberals and progressives believe so fervently that all people
>> are motivated by enlightened self-interest rather than a vision of what
>> might be for those who come after them.  The Republicans have done very
>> well selling themselves as supporters of Millennialists, and
>> sectarians.  I am not suggesting that fire and brimstone of ecological
>> disaster be our message.  I am suggesting that ou political imagination
>> has to get out of the most well-worn ruts of electoral politics if we
>> are to be considered an alternative to the Duopoly.
>> 
>> What about a constitutional amendment to create a Right of Domicile, or
>> some other such broad principle that everybody except real-estate
>> speculators might support.  Here it might distinguish us.  Or some
>> other item from the U. N. Commission on human rights.
>> Have Massachusetts sign on to the Kyoto accords!  Anything we attempt
>> should be co-ordinated with legislative actions while we are outside
>> the legislature along the lines that have engaged Grace, Jill, and
>> others.  There is much internal education that is needed to develop
>> strategy.  I sat with you for some time on the Membership and Diversity
>> Committee, and we all kept coming up with schema.  But that is not
>> strategy.
>> Peace,
>> Elie
>> 
>> 
>> On Wednesday, February 7, 2007, at 09:43 PM, Ron Francis wrote:
>> 
>> > (please circulate widely to folks interested in building the GRP from
>> > the Ground Up...)
>> >
>> > Dear Green-Rainbow Party folks,
>> >
>> > I am sending this email out to about 200 folks who are GRP members
>> > around Massachusetts.   I have used blind cc (bcc) so that folks don't
>> > have their private emails exposed.
>> >
>> > The purpose of this email is to develop a grouping of GRP people who
>> > are interested in putting forth a coherent GRP message using the local
>> > ballot mechanism (for State Rep districts) in the year 2008, as a way
>> > of growing our party as local levels.
>> >
>> > Background:
>> >Â 
>> > One of the models that the 2004, 2005 Membership Committee of our
>> > State Party explored (based on research of how GRP's were being built
>> > around the U.S.) was the idea of Party-led local ballot question or
>> > questions as a way of developing local chapters. 
>> >
>> > As the elected male co-chair of our State party in 2005 and 2006, I
>> > participated in this research as part of the Membership Committee
>> > during those times.  (I'm no longer on the current Membership
>> > Committee having shifted to another committee and also mainly focusing
>> > on local organizing in West Somerville where I live....)
>> >
>> > The idea of Party-led ballot questions was one of six Models that the
>> > 2004,5 Membership Committee investigated for building the GRP at local
>> > levels.  (For the other 5 Models, please see the end of this email).
>> >
>> > It is high time that this Party-Led Ballot Question strategy be
>> > tried.  It might just work !
>> >
>> > For simplicity I will refer to the plan as Local Ballots 2008.
>> >
>> > Here's the basic plan: "Local Ballots 2008"
>> >
>> > In order to help the public identify one or two key issues that the
>> > GRP really cares about, and
>> >
>> > in order to have us distinguish ourselves from the corporate
>> > controlled Democratic Party, and
>> >
>> > in order to push us gently to focus on local (State Rep) level
>> > organizing as the key to sustainable growth,
>> >
>> > We would aim to have local ballot questions on one key issue in as
>> > many of the 160 State Rep districts as possible.  We would ask local
>> > GRPs and the state GRP to endorse the ballot question so that the
>> > party logo could be used and help establish the widespread geographic
>> > coherency of the campaign.
>> >
>> > We would choose language that helps the public distinguish the GRP
>> > from so-called "progressive" efforts by corporate controlled Democrats
>> > using a root-cause analysis to formulate the language of the ballot
>> > question
>> >
>> > The same question would appear on all 160 local ballots instructing
>> > our State Reps to vote a certain way on legislation.    Note that it
>> > takes only 200 signatures to do such a ballot question in each State
>> > Rep district - so it is relatively easy to do if a team of 4 or 5 can
>> > be established in each district.
>> >
>> > This Spring and we would use a process to identify the one or two
>> > issues that we think that many people would be willing to work on,
>> > including non-GRP people.
>> >
>> > It is tempting to think that we could do this using many different
>> > issues simultaneously since we are a multi-issue entity but the
>> > problem would be that no coherent message would come through as that
>> > particular passion of the GRP.
>> >
>> > Of course in choosing one issue (outside chance of two issues .. but I
>> > think one is better right now), we might lose some people but on the
>> > other hand there might be many people out there who aren't involved
>> > with the GRP who would get involved because of the power and clear
>> > focus of the issue and campaign.  So, if we had 20 or 30 people
>> > willing to push the idea we would grow, and possibly rapidly, as
>> > single issue efforts sometimes do when the general public is engaged.
>> >
>> > In collecting the signatures we could highlight our full social and
>> > ecological justice platform of course, but the focus would be the
>> > ballot question issue.
>> >
>> > We would write the language so that everyone is clear on what
>> > education work needs to be done over the next 18 months so that we can
>> > make a decent showing at the polls.  (By starting now it really gives
>> > us the time to develop the issues and educational materials so that
>> > the public will support us
>> >
>> > We can do it !
>> >
>> > If 45 percent of voters in Somerville can support  the Right of Return
>> > as a fundamental human right for Palestinians using sustained
>> > education, then certainly we can educate people to support some other
>> > closer to home domestic issue at a high percentage.  Think positive !
>> >
>> > Maybe it's living wage, or a root cause housing ballot question, or
>> > maybe some ballot question having to do with money in politics, or
>> > maybe some ballot question that has already been used.  It's not the
>> > particular issue that is paramount here.  The point is that the public
>> > will no longer be confused about where our passion lies.
>> >
>> > (Looking forward to 2010:Â  This propsal is intended to develop a dozen
>> > or so local ballot questions in 2008 that lead to a measurable vehicle
>> > that local State Rep candidates or even better municipal candidates
>> > can run on in 2008 and 2010.   It is also a setup for a 2010 statewide
>> > ballot question that firmly plants in the public's mind what the party
>> > stands for. If this plan works it sets up the party to win a
>> > substantial percentage of the vote in local races)
>> >
>> > So that's the basic plan.  Here is the tentative timeline:
>> >
>> > Early Spring 2007:
>> > Put together the Local Ballot 2008 planning committee and develop
>> > ballot question language for 5 or 6 issues.
>> >
>> > Spring 2007:
>> > Use some process where we choose which issue we will work on,
>> > recognizing that not everyone will agree... that's ok.  If the issue
>> > is compelling and outreach is done then we will grow.
>> >
>> > Develop educational materials and hold several forums to interest GRP
>> > members and the general public on the issue.  Perhaps culminate in a
>> > few large well organized forums, that are organizing driven meetings,
>> > in September with big name speakers.
>> >
>> > Summer 2007:
>> > Start distributing the educational materials in public places, forums
>> > and wherever.   Use usual outreach techniques with colorful flyers,
>> > automated phonecalling and email to bring people to organizing
>> > meetings.
>> >
>> > Immediate Steps:
>> >
>> > 1) In two weeks I will hold an informal gathering at my house so that
>> > people can discuss this idea.  Probably Wednesday evening 7pm on the
>> > 27th of February.  My house is at 44 Benton Road in Somerville. 
>> > (Directions below)
>> >
>> > 2) In four weeks two meetings will be held, one in Eastern MA and one
>> > in Western Mass for people interested in this strategy.  Both meetings
>> > will be held on Saturday March 10thrd and Sunday March 11th
>> > respectively.  Times and places to be arranged but probably noontime
>> > snack meetings.
>> >
>> > 2) We will need two people to host the meetings.  I am willing to host
>> > one meeting at my house on Somerville on either the 9th or 10th of
>> > March.
>> >
>> > 3) We will need someone to host a noontime snack meeting in Amherst /
>> > Northampton Area on the other date.
>> >
>> > 4) We will need some individuals who commit to writing ballot
>> > questions on a few issues.
>> >Â 
>> > Here are some criteria that should be considered in developing the
>> > text.
>> >Â 
>> > a) The ballot questions must be such as to challenge the ROOT
>> > causes of a particular social change issue and possibly associated
>> > with abolishing poverty but not necessarily.
>> >Â 
>> > b) The ballot question must try to clearly distinguishable from any
>> > initiatives that would be supported by reform minded corporate
>> > Democrats - our competitors for social justice minded people.
>> >Â 
>> > Just to get the ball rolling I will throw out one example that I am
>> > not particularly wedded to;Â  I am putting it out so that people can
>> > see an example.  I won't commit on any issue until I can evaluate each
>> > one on its merits.
>> >Â 
>> > "Shall the State Represetative from this district be instructed to
>> > vote in favor of a living wage law that covers state employees that
>> > work over 500 hours per year, the employees of state service
>> > contractors that hold contracts worth over $25,000 per year, and
>> > employees of large retailers with gross revenues over $1,000,000.  The
>> > law would call for payment of $10.00 per hour if the employer provides
>> > health insurance of at least $2.50 an hour, or $12.50 per hour if not
>> > and all amounts are indexed annually."
>> >
>> > (Numbers to be adjusted....with more research)
>> >
>> > So that's it folks.
>> >
>> > I don't know if this will work but it should and I'm willing to put
>> > energy in to make it a reality.  I will need help however.
>> >
>> > Please call if you are interested in spreading the word and helping
>> > out.  I'm at 617 230-2835.  I will send out another email in one weeks
>> > time to let people know who has responded and where we are at.
>> >
>> > Some specific tasks have been identified that people can help out with
>> > immediately.
>> >
>> > I believe that if there are 25 people willing to commit themselves to
>> > participating in this plan by late Spring then some form of this plan
>> > is worth initiating.
>> >
>> > I need to hear from people who AT LEAST want to discuss this plan and
>> > see if it makes sense for them.   I am willing to assemble a database
>> > of interested persons.
>> >
>> > Please respond to this email if you are interested.   I need your
>> > name, physical address (for physical mailings), email and phone.
>> >
>> > I'm willing to coordinate initially by assembling the data base and
>> > hosting the first preparatory meeting on Tuesday Feb 26th at my house.
>> >
>> > Yours in struggle,
>> > Ron Francis 617 230-2835
>> >
>> > Directions to Benton Road:
>> > By Bus or Walking:
>> > Benton Road is off of Highland Ave in Somerville.   To get to the
>> > house you need to go to either Porter or Davis. 
>> >Â 
>> > Davis:
>> > If you go to Davis you can stand in front of the Somerville theatre
>> > and wait for either the 88 or the 90 bus down Highland Ave to Benton
>> > Road (about 15 blocks in the bus).  You can also walk 15 blocks down
>> > HIghland Ave. if youlike). When you get off the bus, take a right and
>> > go one block. The house is on the right on a corner. It is white with
>> > a porch and swing. 
>> >Â 
>> > Porter:
>> > If you go to Porter, then cross the parking lot to Elm street and walk
>> > up Hancock Street until Summer St. Take a right and walk about 8
>> > blocks up hill. Take a left on Benton (just after the church) and go
>> > down 3 small blocks. The house is on the left. It is number 44 , a
>> > white house with a porch and swing.  If you do get lost, call at 617
>> > 230-2835 or 617 666-4343.
>> >Â 
>> > By Car:
>> > Need to get to Highland Avenue in Somerville. Benton Road is off of
>> > Highland Avenue about halfway between Davis Square and City
>> > Hall. Dunkin Donuts on Highland Ave is close to Benton Road. The House
>> > is one block South at the intersection of Bento Road and Gibbens
>> > St. Number 44—a white house with green trimming and swing on a
>> > porch. If you get lost call 617 230-2835 or 617 666-4343
>> >Â 
>> > Six Models to Develop GRP local entities from 2004, 2005 membership
>> > committee work.
>> > A) Candidate based approaches
>> >Â 
>> > 1)Â  Â Â  Candidate campaign turns into an issue based campaign
>> >Â 
>> > e.g. a candidate runs for office for State legislature focusing on two
>> > or three issues. After either winning or losing the race, the local
>> > campaign organization turns its attention to working on a local issue.
>> >Â 
>> > 2)Â  Â Â  Candidate campaign turns into another candidate campaign
>> >Â 
>> > e.g. a candidate runs for State representative with the intention of
>> > building an organization which will be available for the next run of
>> > the same office two years later
>> >Â 
>> > Any of these below can turn into a candidate campaign with the right
>> > circumstances….
>> >Â 
>> > B) Issue based approaches
>> >Â 
>> > 3)Â  Â Â  State level or Local level issue-based campaign run by other
>> > organizations but supported by Green-Rainbow Party
>> >Â 
>> > e,g, An organization is running a Statewide initiative campaign or a
>> > local campaign based on the issue of “bear baiting”.  The
>> > Green-Rainbow Party endorses the campaign, makes some resources
>> > available to the lead organization and develops connections with these
>> > organizations that in turn leads to people eventually becoming active
>> > with the Party
>> >Â 
>> > 4)Â  Â Â  Issue based campaign initiated by the party
>> >Â 
>> > e.g. The Party becomes affiliated with a local campaign or statewide
>> > campaign that truly bears the Parties name
>> >Â 
>> > 5)     “Concerned Citizen Group”
>> >Â 
>> > e.g. Local group of people that is always on the lookout for issues
>> > that come up before local city councils and challenges the council to
>> > take progressive views on a variety of issues
>> >Â 
>> > C) Common Project ideas
>> >Â 
>> > 6)Â  Â Â  Common Project Community Building approach
>> >Â 
>> > e.g. Local groups of people are involved in some non-issue,
>> > non-electoral activity that may have a social component. This could be
>> > a Potluck discussion group about Green Party values, or the production
>> > of a newspaper. In all cases, attention is paid to building a
>> > “community” of the involved people
>> >Â 
>> >Â 
>> >Â 
>> > Organizing Practices
>> >Â 
>> >Â 
>> > A) Recruitment
>> >Â 
>> > 1)Â  Â Â  Use accessible politics (start where people are at on the issue
>> > and bring them forward, or if a candidate try to connect to an issue
>> > that constituents are aware of and can connect to)
>> > 2)Â  Â Â  Have an activity for people to do soon after they have first
>> > encountered the Party so that they can immediately begin to
>> > participate.
>> > 3) Tabling in Public places is a good way to get new people involved
>> > but follow-up is critical.
>> > 4) Ask people what they like to do and have a range of activities for
>> > people to get involved in
>> >Â 
>> > B) Retention
>> >Â 
>> > 1)Â  Â Â  Set achievable goals and objectives for the organization.
>> > 2)Â  Â Â  Break up tasks into manageable parts so that people can do them
>> > in short time period.  Be realistic about the time commitments that
>> > people are able to do.
>> > 3)Â  Â Â  Plan meetings well in advance so that people can attend.
>> > 4)Â  Â Â  Remind people about the need to complete objectives and how
>> > these objectives fit into the overall mission of the organization;
>> > reinforcing the commitment that they are making
>> > 5)Â  Â Â  Have social settings that allow people to get to know each
>> > other personally. Food can help at meetings (limit time of eating
>> > though)
>> > 6)     Have a “new members” meeting now and then
>> > 7)Â  Â Â  Have meetings that involved some active component
>> > 8)Â  Â Â  Facilitate communication between people.
>> >Â 
>> > C) Growth & Sustainability
>> >Â 
>> > 1) Include people in leadership tasks.  Teach people how to use
>> > database or how to run the table, or how to speak about the issues
>> > comfortably.
>> >Â 
>> > D) Other ??
>> >Â 
>> >Â 
>> >Â 
>> >Â 
>> >Â 
>> >
>> 
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Bill Cunningham
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