Meeting With State Legislators Sunday Jan 11th

Progressive Groups Hold Successful Meeting With State Legislators (District 20 and 18) in Silver Spring
Next Up--Public Meeting at Wheaton Library this Sunday afternoon--Please Join Us!

When: Sunday January 11th, 1:30 p.m.
Where: Wheaton Public Library, 11701 Georgia Ave., Wheaton 20902. (The meeting room is on the lower level.)

Progressive Working Group Participants and Friends,

Despite the bad weather, 53 progressive activists met last night with the 8 state senators and delegates from Districts 18 and 20 to present the Progressive Working Group's legislative priorities. Representatives from environmental, immigrant rights, housing, voting rights, community, health care, and peace groups presented 15 progressive priorities for the 2009 state legislative session. Also attending were representatives from Congressman Chris Van Hollen and State Comptroller Peter Franchot's offices. The eight legislators attended generally expressed with support for almost all of the priorities (see below) with some dissent on the ICC and discussions about the Health Security Act continuing.

The Progressive Working Group will hold a similar meeting at the Wheaton Library this Sunday with state legislators from Montgomery and Prince George's Counties. We have already received definite or tentative confirmations from Senators David Harrington, Mike Lenett, and Paul Pinksy, and Delegates Kumar Barve, Jolene Ivey, Roger Manno, Doyle Niemann, Victor Ramirez, Kirill Reznik, Craig Rice, and Herman Taylor. All state legislators are welcome to speak. Other elected officials and members of the public are welcome to participate in Q&A. Please RSVP to me: mikehersh@mikehersh.com to confirm you will attend or if your plans change.

We invite you and progressive organizations to join us on Sunday as we continue to make the case for a progressive agenda for the upcoming legislative session. Please also spread the word to other activists and groups. The Progressive Working Group is building a coalition for progressive legislative change in the state of Maryland and we need your participation.

Legislative priorities presented to legislators will include: the Global Warming Solutions Act, combined taxation reporting for corporations, protection for immigrants, public financing of General Assembly campaigns, Workforce Anti-Fraud Bill, defunding the ICC, Health Security Act (single payer), bill on electoral integrity and transparency, protection for students from military recruiters, Civil Marriage Protection Act, gender identity and expression protection, and no police spying on lawful activities

The Progressive Working Group Steering Committee: Mike Hersh, Elbridge James, Dana Beyer, Wally Malakoff, Norm Oslik, Sharon Dooley, and Mike Tabor will host and moderate discussions.The Progressive Working Group is a coalition of progressive groups, primarily in Baltimore, Montgomery ad Prince George's Counties, working to create a broad-based progressive presence in Annapolis. Progressive groups that need more information on the coalition should contact malakoff@starpower.net