Call Your Rep. TODAY Re: Tomorrow's Vote on Trump Investigation

Tomorrow (Tuesday) the House Judiciary Committee members will debate and vote on investigating Donald Trump and his administration thanks to Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler's clever resolution of inquiry I wrote about here a couple of weeks ago.

That means you need to call your Representative TODAY to urge him/her to co-sponsor Rep. Nadler's demand that the Department of Justice turn over all relevant material about Trumps ties to Russia and his tax returns.

1. Find your Rep's number(s) here (and add it to your activism cheat sheet or just put them all in your phone if you haven't already - makes calling a heck of a lot easier).

2. Check to see if they've already co-sponsored Nadler's inquiry (111) here.

3.. Here's what you say - remember to be polite: "Hi, my name is NAME. I'm a constituent calling from TOWN/CITY. I'm calling to urge Rep. NAME to co-sponsor Rep. Nadler's resolution (number 111) of inquiry into President Trump's ties to Russia, conflicts of interest and ethical violations, including turning over his tax returns."

The staffer should tell you they'll pass that along (and they may ask for your address), after they do, press them a little for more information by saying, "Can you please tell me if Rep. NAME has already signed on to Rep. Nadler's resolution?"

Unless your Rep. has already signed on to Nadler's inquiry, in which case you should ask them to say thank you, the staffer will just say they don't know. If that is the case, you can close by saying, "Please tell Rep. NAME that I urge him/her to put the safety and sovereignty of our democracy ahead of party affiliation and that I will be paying attention to see whether HE/SHE stands up for our country." Always be polite and friendly.

3. Report back. MoveOn is tracking people's reports of their calls and it only takes a second to share a quick report of your interaction with your Congressperson's staff. 

4. Share this post with anyone you think will join you in calling.

More info below if you'd like it (via MoveOn).

Rep. Nadler's resolution directs the Department of Justice to provide the House of Representatives with any and all information relevant to Trump and his associates’ conflicts of interest, ethical violations, and ties to Russia.

Nearly every day, more and more questions surface concerning Donald Trump’s ethical violations and questionable ties to Russia. Donald Trump has refused to step away from his business interests in any meaningful way. Trump's foreign entanglements are likely unconstitutional. He has repeatedly refused to disclose his financial assets, and he is severely compromised by known Russian interference in our election and by continued revelations about ties that he, his campaign, and his administration might have to Russian officials.

Rep. Nadler's resolution represents one of the best chances we have right now to pull apart Trump's web of corruption and foreign entanglements.

Help Place Ads Urging Congress to Save the ACA

Greetings from sunny Costa Rica where I am ostensibly on vacation with my family. Although I have been going for hours at a time without thinking about Trump, I'm still lying awake in the middle of the night worrying about what's happening at home.

So it was nice to wake up this morning (unfortunately, at the crack of dawn - my kids do not even make it until sunrise here) to this fundraising appeal from Ultra Violet about the ads they're placing urging members of Congress to save the ACA - something that two of my friends have actually been pursuing on their own (go Mitzi and go Peter!)

I'm really sick of getting requests for money from nonprofits who don't seem to be doing all that much to counter Trump's threat, but this is one I endorse wholeheartedly!

Since it's Sunday and you can't call Congress anyway, please chip in a little bit to help Ultra Violet place more ads that it will be hard for members of Congress to ignore.

P.S. Those of you who live in my district (NY 19) please let me know if you'd be interested in chipping in to pay for some newspaper ads targeting John Faso at some point in the near future.

Support Jon Ossof's Campaign In Georgia

Republican Tom Price left a vacancy in Congress as the Representative for Georgia's 6th Congressional District when he took the post as Trump's head of Health and Human Services (shudder). Although Price won re-election handily as an incumbent, Trump only won Georgia's 6th district by one measly point which means that the Democrat who's running for Price's vacant seat has a real chance of winning in April.

The Democrat in question is Jon Ossof - an investigative film maker and former congressional staffer who worked with civil rights legend John Lewis. Click here for more background on him.

You can help Dems restore a balance of power in the House by supporting his campaign for the upcoming special election on April 18th.

I just donated to his campaign and also signed up to make calls.

You should donate, too. Whatever you can afford will be helpful.

If you're in Georgia, you can also sign up to knock on doors or volunteer in some other way. Here's the link to sign up for volunteer activities.

Please do something to help him win!

Join a Recess Resistance Meeting THIS WEEK

Your Members of Congress (MOCs) are back in their home districts this week to meet with their constituents - something that's typically done via large public meetings called townhalls.

Your job this week is to show up. If you disagree with how our MOC's have been representing you, you need to hold them accountable. And if you think your MOC's have been doing a good job, you need to show your support to provide political cover for them.

Please watch this short, sweet video by Robert Reich about why townhall meetings are so important.



Unfortunately, many members of Congress - primarily Republicans - are opting out of townhall meetings because they can't take the heat of an engaged (and enraged) citizenry.

Just look at the awesome job Utahans did with Rep. Jason Chaffetz (a genuine "swamp creature" who is still vowing to investigate Hillary's emails in his role as Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform but seems unconcerned about looking into Trump's ties to Russia and massive conflicts of interest...) at a recent townhall. I've watched this a few times when I'm feeling down and it never fails to cheer me up :)


Here are your marching orders:

1.  Read through the Indivisible guide to Recess Resistance - it's got all the information you could possibly need.

2a. If your members of Congress are actually holding townhall meetings, go to one! Check the listings at the Town Hall project as well as at the Resistance Recess listings by MoveOn to see what's happening If you like what your member has been doing, show your support by bringing a sign and speaking up. If you disagree with what your member is doing, show your disapproval by bringing a sign and speaking up against their actions/votes.

2b. If your members of Congress are too cowardly to hold a townhall meeting, you need to go to whatever alternate meeting or protest is planned (find one here) to highlight the fact that they're not willing to meet with their constituents. You can print out a life-sized picture of your Congressperson's face and glue it to a piece of cardboard with a little handle (or go the full cardboard cut out route if time and funds allow)!

3. Record whatever happens at the meeting. Take lots of pictures of the crowd and of yourself and your friends posing with that cardboard cut out of your member of Congress. Try out Facebook live or just take a regular old video.

4. Share your photos, videos and quotes on social media using the hashtag #resistancerecess and #resisttrump along with whatever specific hashtags might be relevant for your members of Congress.

5. Tweet and email your photos and quotes to local reporters, newspapers and news sites.

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For example, we're dealing with a no-show here in NY's 19th congressional district -- our first-term Republican Congressman, John Faso refuses to participate in public meetings or to post his schedule.

So we're having a townhall meeting without him (although he's cordially invited - we really would prefer for him to participate) and inviting the press.

Yesterday, I ordered a life-sized cardboard cut out of Where's Waldo with Faso's face (thanks again for the photoshop help, Phil!) so that people can pose with it for photos. Then they can post them to social media using hashtags like #WheresJohnFaso and #NotSoFaso It's the next best thing to actually being able to meet with him.