Glens Falls DFA-Linkup Wednesday Meeting Reminder: Special Guest Denise King
Hello Everyone!

In this update:

1. Glens Falls DFA-Linkup Wednesday Meeting Reminder: Special Guest Denise King
2. Petition Season
4. Online Action Call: The Paris Hilton Tax Cut
5. Spitzer In Saratoga: Now For Paper Ballots
6. ABA To Review Bush Signing Statements
7. Friday Film Fest
8. Vigil Saturday
9. O'Donnell Drops Out

1. Glens Falls DFA-Linkup Wednesday Meeting Reminder: Special Guest Denise King

This is a reminder that Glens Falls Area Democracy For America will be holding a special June Link-up at the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe in Downtown Glens Falls this Wednesday, June 7th at 7pm.

We'll have a special guest : Denise King, the Chair of the Executive Committee of New York State Democratic Party, a member of the Democratic National Committee, Chair of the DNC's Rural Council, one of the founders and leaders of the Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee and former Columbia County Chair. Denise is also a close personal friend and supporter of Governor Dean.

Denise will talk about the DNC's recent annual convention in New Orleans, what Governor Dean has been up to since arriving at the DNC, what's going on nationally in the Democratic Party and answer questions.

We will only have Denise for an hour, so we will be starting promptly at our usual time of 7pm. We expect a lot of interest! If everyone could please click on this link for DFA-Link and RSVP so we know how many are coming, that would be greatly appreciated. http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=8009

You will need to register with DFA-Link to RSVP if you haven't done so: http://dfalink.com/register.php?c=g&id=91042f3ae603ef90&

To reach the cafe, take Exit 18 of the Northway east into downtown Glens Falls. Past the Hannaford, bear right at the Stewart's and go past the Post Office and the Glens Falls Hospital. Past the Hospital, the cafe is on the corner by the light, that is Elm and Exchange Streets and Hudson Avenue, just before the main five corner intersection downtown.


2. Petition Season

As most of us know, candidates in NYS have to file nominating petitions to get on the ballot. One of the best things we can do to support our candidates is to carry a nominating petition door to door to get the needed signatures.

I will be doing a short tutorial on circulating a petition (it's easy) following Denise's talk. Then we will pass out petitions and lists with voters in easy walking order. If everyone could circulate in their neighborhood, that would be great.

The Gillibrand campaign wants to combine circulating petitions with canvassing, and reach as many Democratic voters as possible. Their goal is to get 12,500 signatures. If 125 people go out and get 100 signatures each, the goal will be reached. So this is in fact very doable.

Petitions to get candidates on the ballot have to be filled out between June 6th and July 13th. We will collect them in July.

Again, this is one of the best things we all can do to help our candidates.

Also, Dr. Tim Merrick of Plattsburg, who is running against Betty Little for State Senate, will be coming down to say hello.

4. Online Action Call: The Paris Hilton Tax Cut

Several different groups sent out an emergency call this weekend for us to contact our Senators on the Paris Hilton Tax Cut issue: Senate Republicans are going to try this week to abolish Estate Taxes, which is a tax on unearned, inherited wealth over about a million dollars. In virtually every case this wealth has never been taxed before. There's a great new word coined to describe Paris and her ilk: celebutard. Should a brainless hotel heiresses like Paris Hilton and her chihauhaus really get a tax break? Isn't the $400 million she got from daddy enough?

Here's some facts on the Estate Tax-- first is that abolishing it will drive up the deficit by one trillion dollars over the next twenty years: http://www.coalition4americaspriorities.com/getthefacts.htm
Contact your senators at: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/estatetax
or: http://action.truemajority.org/campaign/tax_cuts

5. Spitzer In Saratoga: Now For Paper Ballots

A large crowd greeted the next Governor Of The State of New York last week at an ice cream social at the Carousel in Congress Park in Saratoga Springs. A big news report emerged from his Saratoga visit: Spitzer reportedly stated he is now in favor of paper ballots, not unreliable and fraud prone touch screen machines. If this is true, the final battle in securing our right to have our votes counted may have been won.

6. ABA To Review Bush Signing Statements

Drew sends along this encouraging story from the Globe: The American Bar Association is now weighing into the uproar over Bush's so-called signing statements, where after signing a bill into law he writes his own caveat on the bottom, usually how the law he just signed doesn't apply to him. Each signing statement brings us back close to monarch and dictatorship, so the ABA decision is encouraging: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/06/04/bar_group_will_review_bushs_legal_challenges/?p1=MEWell_Pos1

7. Friday Film Fest

The Frirday Progressive Film Fest is up again at the Rockhill Bakehouse Cafe in downtown Glens Falls. This Friday at 8pm the Cafe is showing: HORNS AND HALOS (www.hornsandhalos.com). HORNS AND HALOS captures the unlikely connection of three men - an ex-con turned celebrity biographer, a janitor cum underground publisher, and U.S. President George W. Bush - whose paths to power and popularity become tangled in a controversial book; an unauthorized biography of George W. Bush.
Director: Suki Hawley & Michael Galinsky Running time: 79 min.

8. Vigil Saturday

Last week's vigil to bring our troops home and for peace got washed out due to the heavy rain. But the weather promises to be good this Saturday, so we will be back at 11am at the Five Corners in downtown Glens Falls. Please come and bring a friend-- it's only one hour a week for peace. For more info or to RSVP go to: http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=8916

9. O'Donnell Drops Out

News came this weekend that Attorney General candidate Denise O'Donnell, who was a Dean delegate and supporter, has dropped out of the race. This is too bad, because she was the candidate who had real prosecutorial experience, since she is a former U.S. Attorney for the Buffalo area.

Thanks everyone! See you Wednesday!

Larry
- posted by Larry Dudley @ 8:55 AM