Help
Elect a Progressive Greenfield
FCCPR
is excited to
endorse
the
candidacy of five individuals for Greenfield town elections November
7 (from L. to R.): Tim Dolan (Town Council, Precinct 5),
Otis Wheeler (Town Council, Precinct 7),
Doug Mayo (Town Council, Precinct 8),
Sheila Gilmour (Town Council, Precinct 6),
and Bob Cooley (School Committee, Write-In Candidate).
Greenfield
overwhelmingly voted for Bernie and then Hillary in 2016, but the
Town Council is controlled by Republicans. We can change this.
We
urge our entire FCCPR membership–Greenfield and non-Greenfield
residents alike–to pitch in and help with their campaigns in the
coming weeks. Every Saturday, and possibly Sunday, between now and
the end of October, we’ll be out on the streets working for a
progressive Greenfield.
Sign
up to canvass, phone bank, leaflet, sponsor a house party, and
fundraise. Please email us at info@fccpr.us, and let us know what
you can do to help out.
Please
donate to the FCCPR Progressive PAC
To
support the campaigns financially, send a check payable to “FCCPR
Progressive PAC” to FCCPR Office, P.O. Box 216, Greenfield, MA
01302, or donate online.
To
earmark the money for a specific candidate or purpose, put that on
the memo line. If amount is greater than $50, include your
address. If amount is greater than $200, include name, address,
employer and job title.
Elections
for FCCPR Coordinating Committee
At
the FCCPR General Assembly we discussed the upcoming elections to the
Coordinating Committee.(CC)
These
elections will take place at the December 3rd General Assembly, to be
held at the Grange, 401 Chapman St. Greenfield, 2pm – 4pm For those
who are unable to make the meeting, there will be on-line voting from
Nov. 27 to Dec.1st.
There
are currently 8 members of the Coordinating Committee, half with 1
year terms and the other half with 2 year terms.
At
the General Assembly we voted to expand the CC to 11 people. Of the 4
members whose 1 year term is expiring, 1 is running for re-election,
so there will be 6 open spots.
Nominations
To
nominate yourself or someone else, please send an email to
info@fccpr.us. In this email please include a brief statement of why
you are running. This statement will be sent our to the membership.
If you are nominating someone else please indicate if they accepted
your nomination to run, and include a statement from them as to why
they are running. Please include contact information for each
candidate.
Nominations
and statements must be received by Nov. 19th.
News from the Single Payer Task Force
Now
that the Trump and Republicans’ Repeal and Reform Bills have died
their umpteenth self-inflicted deaths, it’s time to turn our
attention back to the kind of Health Care that will actually mean
something for everyone.
The
movement continues and the momentum grows for single payer
legislation – “Medicare for All” – on the national and state
levels.
Bernie
Sanders has introduced his bill along with 16 co-sponsors in the
Senate.
In
the House the bill that John Conyers has introduced every year since
2003 now has 116 co-sponsors.
In
Massachusetts-Lobby Day for “Improved Medicare for All”
legislation
In
Massachusetts the single payer legislation is Senate Bill 619, which
was introduced by Senator Jaime Eldridge.
There
was a meeting with Senator Eldridge in late July to find out where
the Medicare for all bill is at in the legislature.
Senator
Eldridge was not optimistic that that bill would be reported out
during this legislative session. This was discouraging, and typical
of the way things happen in the Legislature that unless the Senate
President and the House Chairman want to bring legislation to the
floor, it doesn’t get out of committee. In the face of this
legislative tie up we are getting together with all the other single
payer groups to come up with a plan that will have a better chance of
success in the next legislative session.
The
statewide coalition, Mass Care, is organizing a Lobby Day at the
State House, on November 14 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the
State House in Boston.
If
you would like to attend, please contact Judy Atkins,
judithga@comcast.net
Raise
Up Massachusetts!
At
the General Assembly we endorsed the campaign to put two questions on
the ballot Statewide.They are for a $15 minimum wage and Paid Family
Medical Leave. Over 200,000 signatures have to be collected from
Massachusetts voters.
If
you would like to help please contact Eric Bauer, eric@massjwj.org.