Participating Organizations: Democrats.com, Progressive Democrats of America, After Downing Street, Gold Star Families for Peace, Hip Hop Caucus, Democracy Rising, Velvet Revolution, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Traprock Peace Center, Consumers for Peace, CODE PINK,
With your help, we want to organize grassroots teams in all 435 Congressional Districts plus 5 Delegate Districts (DC, PR, VI, GU, and AS). Please volunteer below!
Our Mission: to persuade each of our Representatives to support
The Problem: For a year, we have tried all of the traditional lobbying techniques including marches, petitions, emails, letters, calls, town hall forums, and even face-to-face meetings with our Representatives. Yet despite all this effort, not one Representative is willing to introduce Articles of Impeachment, while fewer than 30 have co-sponsored Rep. Conyers' Watergate-style investigation. On Iraq, John Murtha's bill has nearly 100 co-sponsors but not the 218 needed to force a floor vote; Jim McGovern's bill has fewer than 20 co-sponsors, even though George Bush just asked for $120 billion more for a war America does not support and cannot afford.
The Solution: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King faced far worse resistance from political leaders when they tried to end segregation in the South. So they took their movement to the streets and marched peacefully directly into the face of that resistance. We will take our inspiration from them, and bring our movement peacefully into the face of our resistance: the 435 Members of Congress who are supposed to represent us but refuse to do so. (We'll make an exception for the House Honor Roll - Members who support our three priority bills above. For those Members, we will focus on Member Meetings to persuade them to introduce Articles of Impeachment.)
Volunteers: For each Congressional District chapter we will need volunteers with these skills:
Tasks: Our CD volunteers should aim to accomplish these tasks:
If you really want to organize a chapter but cannot find 6 volunteers, you can certainly take on more than 1 task.
Of course all the volunteers should work closely together so get to know each other by having non-political fun!
1. Create or Update your Democrats.com User Account
2. If you want to be a lead organizer in your CD, apply to be a Congressional District Point Person with Progressive Democrats of America. If your application is approved, you (and possibly one other person) will be our primary contact(s) in your CD.
After You Volunteer:
House Protests: "Extra Credit"
Cellphones
Caravan/March
Outreach to Democrats.com Members
Every member of Democrats.com can post announcements using our "local" system:
http://democrats.com/local
Just click [Post] next to your Congressional District, County, or State, whichever is appropriate.
Your announcement will appear on the "local" page for all Democrats.com members in the appropriate area.
If you would like to organize our members in your Congressional District, we can also give you permission to email them directly from our system - just tell us what you'd like to organize here:
http://democrats.com/contact
Outreach to Local Activist Groups
Reaching out to progressive allies is fun because you get to meet committed activists who share your values.
But it can also be a challenge to find the groups, and to find the right activists within the groups who would like to work with us.
Below is a list of national groups that have local chapters. We have provided the best links we know of to help you find chapters in your area.
There is no requirement to contact any of these groups - these are just meant to be helpful suggestions.
If you do reach out to these groups, you might find it helpful to put links to their local chapters on your CD web page - both to help you keep track of your outreach efforts, and to make it possible for other members of your chapter to help. Ask your Web coordinator to help if you want to post these local links.
On the example page (http://democrats.com/ny-07) we put the names of the local chapters and linked to the best web page about that chapter.
1. National Groups with Local Chapters
2. Political party outreach
3. Grassroots outreach ideas (adapted from ACLU)
Outreach to Democrats.com Petition Signers
Please follow the steps below at your convenience - you don't need to do them all at once. Each of the links will open a new page in your browser, and you will need to go back and forth between these pages.
1. Create a permanent home page for your Congressional District (CD)
We are using this standardized format:
http://democrats.com/st-dd
where st is the 2-digit postal abbreviation for your state in lower case
where dd is a 2-digit number for your district, such as 15 or 07 (for 1-digit districts) or 00 (for single-district states like ND, SD, MT, VT, WY as well as AS, DC, GU, PR, VI)
Here is a model page we would like you to copy (it will open a new page showing the example):
http://democrats.com/ny-07
Click here to create your permanent page (it will open a new blank page)
To make sure you created the page properly, view the state page and click on your state. You should see your CD listed. If you don't see it, hit Shift-Refresh to clear your cache. If you still don't see it, you put it in the wrong place so hit Back until you find the page, then edit, then change the "parent" to your state.
Now click edit to add all of the information into the body area, following the example page and the instructions below.
Note: You should save your work periodically so you won't lose much if your computer crashes.
2. Add content to your CD page
Organizer: Type "Organizer:" and then your name. Click here for the URL of your Democrats.com user page. When it loads, copy the full address in the URL box. Go back to your CD page, highlight your name, click the link icon above (the chain link below right-justify), and paste the URL into the "Link url" field. For target, select "Open link in new window," then click "Insert."
Announce upcoming activities using bullets here. You can use this text as your default announcements and modify/add/delete at will.
Representative Name: use the nickname (just like the page title) followed by party. Then hit [return] and press the bullet icon above (far left). For each item below, start the line by typing the word in bold.
These Members of Congress have endorsed our top three bills for 2006:
HR4232 - McGovern (D-MA): cuts off funding for the war;
HJR73 - Murtha (D-PA): troops out, but leaves some in region;
HRes635- Conyers (D-MI): Creates committee to investigate grounds for impeachment of Bush;
CA-6 Lynn Woolsey
CA-9 Barbara Lee
CA-13 Pete Stark
CA-35 Maxine Waters
GA-5 John Lewis
IL-9 Janice Schakowsky
MI-14 John Conyers
NJ-10 Donald Payne
WA-7 Jim McDermott
Source: ACLU North Carolina
Q. Can my free speech rights be restricted because of what I want to say – even if it's controversial?
A. No. The First Amendment prohibits restrictions based on the content of speech. However, this does not mean that the Constitution completely protects all types of free speech activity in every circumstance. Police and government officials are allowed to place certain non-discriminatory and narrowly drawn "time, place and manner" restrictions on the exercise of First Amendment rights.
Q. Where can I engage in free speech activity?
A. Generally, all types of expression are constitutionally protected in traditional "public forums" such as streets, sidewalks and parks. In addition, your speech activity may be permitted to take place at other public locations which the government has opened up to similar speech activities, such as the plazas in front of government buildings.
Q. What about free speech activity on private property?
A. The general rule is that free speech activity cannot take place on private property absent the consent of the property owner. However, in California, the courts have recognized an exception for large shopping centers, and have permitted leafleting and petitioning to take place in the public areas of large shopping centers. The shopping center owners, however, are entitled to impose regulations that, for example, limit the number of activists on the property and restrict their activities to designated "free speech areas." Most large shopping centers have enacted detailed free speech regulations that require obtaining a permit in advance. It is unclear whether the courts will extend this "shopping center exception" to other types of private property, such as the walkways in front of large free-standing stores, such as a Safeway or a Costco.
Q. Do I need a permit before I engage in free speech activity?
A. Not usually. However, certain types of events require permits. Generally, these events are: 1) a march or parade that does not stay on the sidewalk and other events that require blocking traffic or street closures; 2) a large rally requiring the use of sound amplifying devices; or 3) a rally at certain designated parks or plazas, such as federal property managed by the General Services Administration. Many permit procedures require that the application be filed several weeks in advance of the event. However, the First Amendment prohibits such an advance notice requirement from being used to prevent rallies or demonstrations that are rapid responses to unforeseeable and recent events. Also, many permit ordinances give a lot of discretion to the police or city officials to impose conditions on the event, such as the route of a march or the sound levels of amplification equipment. Such restrictions may violate the First Amendment if they are unnecessary for traffic control or public safety, or if they interfere significantly with effective communication with the intended audience. A permit cannot be denied because the event is controversial or will express unpopular views
SPECIFIC PROBLEMS
Q. If organizers have not obtained a permit, where can a march take place?
A. If marchers stay on the sidewalks and obey traffic and pedestrian signals, their activity is constitutionally protected even without a permit. Marchers may be required to allow enough space on the sidewalk for normal pedestrian traffic and may not maliciously obstruct or detain passers-by.
Q. May I distribute leaflets and other literature on public sidewalks?
A. Yes. Pedestrians on public sidewalks may be approached with leaflets, newspapers, petitions and solicitations for donations. Tables may also be set up on sidewalks for these purposes if sufficient room is left for pedestrians to pass. These types of free speech activities are legal as long as entrances to buildings are not blocked and passers-by are not physically and maliciously detained. No permits should be required.
Q. Do I have a right to picket on public sidewalks?
A. Yes, and this is also an activity for which a permit is not required. However, picketing must be done in an orderly, non-disruptive fashion so that pedestrians can pass by and entrances to buildings are not blocked. Contrary to the belief of some law enforcement officials, pickets are not required to keep moving but may remain in one place as long as they leave room on the sidewalk for others to pass.
Q. Can the government impose a financial charge on exercising free speech rights?
A. Increasingly, local governments are imposing financial costs as a condition of exercising free speech rights, such as application fees, security deposits for clean-up, or charges to cover overtime police costs. Unfortunately, such charges that cover actual administrative costs or the actual costs of re-routing traffic have been permitted by some courts. However, if the costs are greater because an event is controversial (or a hostile crowd is expected) – such as requiring a large insurance policy – then the courts will not permit it. Also, regulations with financial requirements should include a waiver for groups that cannot afford the charge, so that even grassroots organizations can exercise their free speech rights. Therefore, a group without significant financial resources should not be prevented from engaging in a march simply because it cannot afford the charges the City would like to impose.
Q. What should I do if my rights are being violated by a police officer?
A. It rarely does any good to argue with a street patrol officer. Ask to talk to a superior and explain your position to her or him. Point out that you are not disrupting anyone else’s activity and that your actions are protected by the First Amendment. If you do not obey an officer, you might be arrested and taken from the scene. You should not be convicted if a court concludes that your First Amendment rights have been violated.
Specific questions about Members of Congress:
Q. Are there any restrictions on protests on the sidewalk in front of the home of a Member of Congress?
A. These states prohibit residential picketing: Arkansas, Arizona, Hawaii, and Michigan.
These cities and towns prohibit residential picketing, sometimes with a specified number of feet ('):
Source: Legal Momentum / Feminist Majority, 1996
For more details, consult a local attorney or the nearest office of the ACLU.
Q. What will happen if we organize a sit-in at the office of a Member of Congress?
A. If a Member chooses to call the police, you will be arrested and charged with criminal trespass. (If you resist arrest, you will face more serious charges.) What happens after that will depend on the facts of the case and the judge you go before.
