Indivisible Tucson Action Alliance Meeting Notes November 6, 2019
ANNOUNCEMENTS—Carol Fiore noted the construction of the Border Wall at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument and the ongoing destruction of native plants (including Saguaros) and the threat to wildlife.There is a planned protest for Saturday Nov. 9, at 12:00 at the Visitor’s Center.Carol spoke on behalf of the Center for Biological Diversity, but she said that other groups will be participating in that protest as well.She also said that Ryan Beam, Public Lands Campaigner, will be coming down from Utah to join the protest.For more information:https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/saturday-protest-planned-to-stop-trumps-wall-at-arizona-national-monument-2019-11-06/ Helen Herziger, of Indivisible and Strong, announced a Meet-and-Greet with Victoria Steele, AZ Senator from District 9, on Nov. 21.Members should contact Helen for further information. Karen Harris announced that Arizona Youth Climate will be holding a strike on Dec. 6 at El Presidio Park 2:30-5:00. Steve Witthoeft of LD 11 told our group that the Pima County Democratic Party presents a series of talks to teach phone banking, RTS, and so forth.There are also talks on civics.For more information:https://pimadems.org/learn/ Eileen Hollowell presented a copy of the newly published We are Indivisible: A Blueprint for Democracy After Trumpby Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin. For more information: https://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Indivisible-Blueprint-Democracy/dp/1982129972 Dana Offerman reminded us that there be a retrial of Scott Warren, of the group called NO MORE DEATHS—a humanitarian group that provides food and shelter to migrants, and that this is the time for people to write letters to the editor on his behalf. Karen Harris announced the “Flip the West” initiative, which recently was launched.This group will coordinate among Indivisible and other grassroots groups.They will coordinate voter registration and get-out-the-vote drives come election time. She said this collaboration can be very effective, and she cited the massive “get out the vote” campaign conducted by such a collaborative group in Kentucky during the recent governor’s race—in fact, they accomplished their drive to get out the vote DURING the Trump rally that was taking place the night before Election Day. There will be a presentation on the census at the Dusenberry Library on November 17 from 2:00-3:00.If you are interested in attending, to the Pima County Democratic Party website. Tig Gardiner,of The Northside Democrats, discussed the tightened up restrictions on how VAN is used, so she says the group has built a system that enhances the Arizona “ground game” by dividing the area into neighborhoods with 60 to 80 Democrats, Green Party, or “other” voters.The group promotes the use of “neighborhood volunteers” (“embeds”) who contact their own neighbors.Tig referenced a study that showed that the most effective voter outreach was one which did two things:1. The person reaching out does so within a social network; and 2. The person reaching out makes contact multiple times with potential voters.This is referred to as the “Familiarity Effect.”Those interested in joining this activity should contact Sue Anderson for more information. REPORTS STATE TEAM—Eileen reminded us that though the summer has been relatively quiet, we will be getting busy now because the Legislature will be coming back to session in January and that there will be a December meeting.The team is working on Request to Speak (RTS), letters to the editor, and gathering signatures for a ballot measure for Automatic Voter Registration. The letters to the editor group will continue to meet at Beyond Bread on Ina and Oracle on Sunday mornings. The next session is November 24 from 9:30-11:00. FEDERAL TEAM--Karen and Jan distributed sign up forms for visits to O’Halleran and Kirkpatrck offices, as well as sign-ups for those interested in voter registration and GOTV efforts. They urged members to get started talking to the staff of Representatives O’Halleran and Kirkpatrick ahead of the 2020 campaign.The staff are accessible and approachable, and it is not too early to begin doing this and paves the way for later communication with the candidates themselves. MEMBERSHIP TEAM--Beth distributed a questionnaire for members to fill out and return to her to indicate what kinds of activities they would want to do to win the 2020 elections and to indicate what team/committee they would want to join. DISCUSSION OF DRAFT OF ITAA GUIDELINES. The draft guidelines were reviewed.As the main author, Eileen walked the members through some of the key elements, such as the code of conduct, the composition of the steering committee, the election of the chair and the vice-chair in January.No changes were suggested to the draft guidelines. The motion was made, by Eileen, to ratify the Guidelines as written in the draft. The motion was seconded by Beth. The motion passed unanimously. We discussed the process for electing the chair and co-chair.Nominations for these positions will be made at the December meeting and a vote will be taken at the January meeting.Dana will provide job descriptions for both of these positions.
PRESENTATION Claude and Misty recently met with the Steering Committee in consultation about developing the new ITAA Website.There will be new business cards printed that has the address of the website. The website address is www.indivisibletucson.org Highlights of the new website include a monthly newsletter, a calendar with a “hover” feature, and a legislator page, a “join us” feature. The website will have our guidelines, and mission statement.All members are encouraged to go to the website and fill in the forms under the “join us” section.Although information such as phone numbers and addresses are not mandatory fields, it would be helpful to have this information. Claude and Misty presented the site “live” so that members could call for corrections on the spot. INDIVISIBLE NATIONAL ISSUES Dana reported on a recent inquiry by the national Indivisible organization to know if local chapters would want to consider endorsement of a presidential candidate ahead of primary results.The discussion was lively, and many members spoke their minds.Kathy then made the motion NOT to endorse early, before the candidate is chosen in the primary, and the motion was seconded by Beth.The vote NOT to endorse was passed unanimously. Our next meeting will be Monday December 2 (back on our regular schedule of the first Monday of the month) at 3:30 at the Oro Valley Library. Happy Hour.Beth reminded everyone that the Happy Hour has now been moved to The Keg in Oro Valley (https://kegsteakhouse.com/en).The next Happy Hour is November 20 from 4:00-6:00.Please let Beth know if you are attending.