Action Item - Today! Write and Call now

By: rhkennerly
Published On: 1/25/2008 12:59:08 PM

Notice how hot button issues like adverse actions to citizen participation always comes on Friday for early Monday legislative action, exactly when people aren't paying attention?.  Don't lose focus.  This is important--Rick

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In this Edition:

Immediate Action Alert!
The Bill
what YOU must do
Why it's Important to YOU
Talking Points
Follow-up with your Members and the Governor
Report Back
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Jefferson believed that our government belonged to citizens, not to politicians or to special interests.  To guarantee the continued ownership of this government by its people, we must always look for opportunities to safeguard and improve citizen participation.

--Governor Timothy M. Kaine, State of the Commonwealth Address, 09 January 2008. 

The Bill:
This move to defang the Citizen Boards (SB423) will be heard in the Senate Agriculture,Conservation and Natural Resources committee for a hearing early Monday morning, 28 January 2008.  BTW the companion House bill is HB 1332.  More information here:

http://www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2008/sb423/


Your Action Item:
Time is short, so no time for letters.  Here are the email addresses for the committee members (cut and paste the following list into the "TO:" field of your email):

district30@sov.state.va.us, district14@sov.state.va.us, district25@sov.state.va.us, district24@sov.state.va.us, district02@sov.state.va.us, district04@sov.state.va.us, district09@sov.state.va.us, ralph@northam2007.com, district26@sov.state.va.us, district38@sov.state.va.us, district20@sov.state.va.us, district15@sov.state.va.us, district10@sov.state.va.us, district31@sov.state.va.us

And then call each of the committee member's directly:


Why this is important to all Virginians:

decisions on any public or private project will be in the hands of a single, politically appointed person, the Director of the Department of Environmental Quality.  
This move is:
  1. anti-democratic,
  2. anti-citizen, and
  3. frankly unAmerican
Talking Points:

(Do not say "save the Citizens Boards"; they're all for saving them.  Instead say  "the POWER of the Citizens Boards must be preserved". )  Follow-up:

contact your delegate and senator today with the same message: 

http://conview.state.va.us/whosmy.nsf/main?openform

Finally, also call AND write Governor Kaine and remind him of his words during his State of the Commonwealth Address.  Right now he is for defanging the Citizens Boards of Virginia. 

http://www.governor.virginia.gov/AboutTheGovernor/contactGovernor.cfm
 

Report:
Please report back to me completion and any reactions by the legislature.

--

Rick Kennerly
Tidewater Climate Action Network
www.twcan.org
rick.kennerly@twcan.org

We are environmentalists, but we're not just "environmentalists." We are also citizens and we are ratepayers; we are customers and employers; we are business owners and educators; we are members of communities of faith who take seriously our stewardship of God's gift and we are patriots who care about energy independence for the nation; we are parents and grandparents concerned about the sustainability of the legacy we leave our children, who all just happen to also care about our environment.

Comments



Your contact list changed. (jsrutstein - 1/25/2008 6:25:33 PM)
Last time you alerted us to this, you listed these Senators:

* (Alexandria)Ticer (Chairman),
  * (Arlington)Whipple, Hanger,
  * (Midlothian)Watkins,
  * (Martinsville)Reynolds, Puckett,
  * (Clarksville)Ruff,
  * (Chesapeake)Blevins,
  * (Charlottesville)Deeds,
  * (Harrisonburg)Obenshain,
  * (Mechanicsville) McDougle,
  * (Richmond)McEachin,
  * (Fairfax)Petersen,
  * (Norfolk)Northam,
  * (Montross)Stuart

Based on this list, I posted a comment to Chap Petersen's Ox Road South blog and got a response from Chap that seemed to promise that he'd vote against the bill.

Just in case, I did the same this time both at his blog and with an e-mail message to info@fairfaxsenator.com.

Thanks for keeping on top of this.



thanks (rhkennerly - 1/26/2008 9:24:19 AM)
I get my list from Richmond Sunlight, but the GA's constantly changing assignments.  

Thanks for taking the time.  At some point every delegate and senator will get to vote on the issue, so no call is wasted.  

Rick