AFTER RIDING HIS COATTAILS AND PROMISING TO WORK WITH HIM, IF ELECTED, SENATOR HAGAN REJECTS OBAMA’S BUDGET

On a recent website entry, US Senator Kay Hagan vowed, ”I ran an open and accessible campaign – to the public and to the press – and I intend to be open and accessible as your U.S. Senator.”

Hagan, an undistinguished five-term state senator and clear longshot when she threw her hat into the ring last year to unseat popular Republican incumbent US Senator Elizabeth Dole, was able to convince powerful black leaders across the state like the Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association, the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People and Congressman G. K. Butterfield (D-NC-1) that if they endorsed her candidacy, African-Americans would have a friend in Washington. (Wilmington Journal)

Baltimore MD – Celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the NAACP with the New Book Chronicling its Groundbreaking History

The NAACP and The Crisis Publishing Company have joined with Gibbs Smith to bring you a visually stunning and groundbreaking new book that captures the 100 years of the NAACP and The Crisis, NAACP: Celebrating a Century, 100 Years in Pictures ($40.00; 1-4236-0527-6; HC; 600 Color and B&W Photos; 472 Pages; February 2009). The NAACP is built on the collective courage of thousands of people of all races, nationalities and faiths united in one premise: that all men and women are created equal. From the ballot box to the boardroom, the NAACP has led the fight for civil rights and social justice. NAACP: Celebrating a Century, 100 Years in Pictures covers the founding of the organization by Ida Wells-Barnett, W. E. B. Du Bois, Henry Moscowitz, Mary White Ovington, Oswald Garrison Villiard, and William English Walling, and follows it through to its widespread influence today. Featuring over 600 photos from the NAACP and Library of Congress archives, some of them published for the first time, NAACP: Celebrating a Century, 100 Years in Pictures is a must-have! Copies of this groundbreaking book are available for sale directly at www.NAACP.org as well as all major book retailers, independent bookstores and online retailers. Buy your copy today! India Artis The CRISIS Magazine ©2009 NAACP, 4805 Mt. Hope Drive, Baltimore, MD 21215 You are receiving this email because the email address cdancyii@embarqmail.com was subscribed to our email list. Click here to unsubscribe from this newsletter.

Note: I wanted to celebrate by being a Life Fully Paid Member so I paid my 2009 and 2010 final payments. I have received my Life Fully Paid Card and I am waiting on my plaque any day now. C. Dancy II – DCN Publisher

Washington DC – Justice Dept. to Name New Leader of Internal Ethics Unit

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. is preparing to name a new person to lead the Justice Department’s internal ethics unit, moving to put his stamp on a department reeling from the dismissal of criminal charges against former senator Ted Stevens and accusations of political motivation during the Bush years. (Washington Post)

Baltimore MD – Make it easier to join a union – because civil rights and workers’ rights go together

Make it easier to join a union – because civil rights and workers’ rights go together.

Tell your representatives to support the Employee Free Choice Act to make it easier for workers to join a union.

Dear Curmilus,

When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, he was helping sanitation workers win the freedom to form a union and bargain collectively with their employer. The struggle of those workers continues today as Congress works to pass the Employee Free Choice Act to improve the lives of working men and women regardless of race, color or creed.

You’ve probably heard about the fight over the Employee Free Choice Act. The bill would make it much easier for American workers to join unions – and make it harder for bosses to put pressure on their employees to oppose a union.

As someone who gained invaluable organizing experience working with unions to protect and promote civil rights, I’m writing to ask you to join me in supporting the Employee Free Choice Act – and to tell your representatives to vote for it.

At the NAACP, our fight is a fight not just to make sure everyone has a job, but to make sure everyone has access to a good job. And unions have been one of the best ways to ensure that African Americans and all Americans have good jobs, with good pay and benefits and safe working conditions. In fact, the struggle for civil rights and the struggle for workers’ rights have always been linked together in this country.

As you know, working people’s income has flat-lined – while the wealthy have gotten ever richer. Putting more money in the pockets of working people is good for the entire country – it’s our own stimulus bill.

It’s a fact. Union workers make more money than non-union workers in the same industry, have better health care, and have more ability to bargain with their bosses.

Please, tell your representatives to support the Employee Free Choice Act.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Todd Jealous
President and CEO

NAACP

P.S. By empowering workers to join together to have a strong and united voice in their workplaces and throughout our society, the Employee Free Choice Act will bring new energy to every effort to eradicate discrimination in all its forms. E-mail your representatives today!

©2009 NAACP, 4805 Mt. Hope Drive, Baltimore, MD 21215
You are receiving this email because the email address cdancyii@embarqmail.com was subscribed to our email list.
Click here to unsubscribe.

MoveOn.org – Fire them (CEOs)

Dear MoveOn member,

Last week the Obama administration took tough, decisive action with the auto industry, forcing the resignation of the CEO of General Motors.

The president knows that we can’t trust the same folks who got us into this mess to help lead us out.

It’s time to do the same for the banks. And the best way to start is by firing Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis. He’s the worst of the worst.

Lewis’s poor management helped ruin his company and our economy. Shareholders are calling him “reckless” and citing “disastrous missteps.”¹ Worse, Lewis accepted $45 billion in taxpayer bailout funds, but instead of using all the money to get the economy going again, he let $3.6 billion go to bonuses for top execs.²

There can’t be real reform on Wall Street until the CEOs who brought down the banks we had to bail out are long gone.

Can you sign our petition asking Treasury Secretary Geithner replace the leadership at bailed out banks-starting with Ken Lewis? Clicking here adds your name:

http://pol.moveon.org/lewis//o.pl?id=15895-14480561-nTtvaFx&t=4

The petition says: “We can’t trust the same people who got us into this financial mess to help lead us out. Replace the leadership at the bailed-out banks, starting with Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis.”

Lewis is the CEO of the biggest bank in the United States.³ If Secretary Geithner forces him to resign, it’ll send a strong message to the rest of Wall St.: The era of zero accountability is over and reckless behavior that puts our economy at risk won’t be tolerated.

Of all the folks who helped bring about the recession, Lewis is one of the worst:

• Shareholders say he helped drive the company into the ground. Bank of America has lost billions-and 90% of its value-in part because Lewis “hastily arranged the ill-considered acquisition” of Merrill Lynch.⁴
• Even after the crisis, he hasn’t changed his ways. He ensured that high-level staff received bonuses-despite recent announcements that the bank was laying off another 35,000 employees.⁵
• On top of all this, he’s fighting against more rights for workers. Three days after receiving $25 billion in bailout money, Bank of America brought together powerful banking interests to figure out how to defeat the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill that makes it easier for workers to form unions.⁶

Ken Lewis has got to go. And we need to look closely at the other bailed-out banks that may need new leadership too.

Our friends at Service Employees International Union (the country’s fastest-growing union) have been leading this campaign for a few weeks-and they’re building momentum quickly. If hundreds of thousands of us act, together, we’ll be impossible to ignore. Please sign today!

http://pol.moveon.org/lewis//o.pl?id=15895-14480561-nTtvaFx&t=5

Thanks for all you do.

-Daniel, Patrick S., Eli, Lenore and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. “Investment group calls on BofA to fire Ken Lewis,” WCNC, March 5, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51294&id=15895-14480561-nTtvaFx&t=6

“Union to B of A: Fire Ken Lewis or Risk a Shareholder Revolt,” Talking Points Memo, March 5, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51295&id=15895-14480561-nTtvaFx&t=7

2. “Thain tells investigators BofA’s Ken Lewis knew of bonuses,” CNN Money, February 20, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51285&id=15895-14480561-nTtvaFx&t=8

3. “Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis scores another deal,” Fortune, September 15, 2008
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51289&id=15895-14480561-nTtvaFx&t=9

4. “Investment group calls on BofA to fire Ken Lewis,” WCNC, March 5, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51294&id=15895-14480561-nTtvaFx&t=10

5. “Ken Lewis, What’s Really in Your Company’s Best Interest?” SEIU Blog, February 12, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51290&id=15895-14480561-nTtvaFx&t=11

6. “Bailout Recipients Hosted Call to Defeat Key Labor Bill,” Huffington Post, January 27, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=51292&id=15895-14480561-nTtvaFx&t=12

Want to support our work? We’re entirely funded by our 5 million members-no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.

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PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. This email was sent to Curmilus Dancy II on April 8, 2009. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.

Durham NC – Stella Adams & Dr. Lavonia Allison Oppose Instant Runoff Voting At Council Meeting

This is some good stuff. I know both of these strong women for justice and they will speak truth to power.  I say thank you to both of these women for keeping hope alive. C. Dancy II – DCN Publisher

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Durham Community leaders oppose Instant Runoff Voting at City Council Meeting

Instant runoff voting was not on the agenda at the Durham City Council meeting last night, but opposing it was on the minds of local community leaders. Further, one very influential leader threatened legal action if Durham City Council decided to try for Instant Runoff Voting. On April 6, the City Council after hearing comments from the public and voted 7-0 to keep Durham’s current runoff system. The city had been considering a switch to “non partisan plurality” in order to avoid expensive runoff elections. The Raleigh News and Observer ran a brief article:

Durham council lets elections be Change to plurality system rejected By Jim Wise – Tue, Apr. 07, 2009

The N&O reported that the majority of folks wanted to keep the current traditional runoff system, and also that some citizens suggested instant runoff voting. The report failed to tell you that two of the most influential people at that meeting spoke strongly against against instant runoff voting.

What the News and Observer didn’t report was what community leaders had to say in opposition to Instant Runoff Voting. Dr. Lavonia Allison, president of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, and the NC State Democratic Party Vice Chair Stella Adams had plenty to say. Both are influential leaders who voiced their strong opposition to instant runoff voting. Here is an excerpt of their comments, transcribed from video. Its pretty much to-the-point:

You can see video of the meeting at the Durham County City Govt website. There’s a drop down list where you can jump right to the part of the agenda discussing Durham’s elections:

44. Proposed City Charter Amendment to Change the Process of Conducting Durham Municipal Elections

Dr. Lavonia Allison – President of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People (around 2:49)
“I stand opposed to this. Democracy is an open process, you should not come up with any process which we limit participatory democracy. This whole idea is that voting is a landmark of the people… even if its expensive. We spend a whole a lot of money on…..
Just vote it down (non partisan plurality elections).
I’m not going to be for instant runoff voting either, because I’ve got a whole lot of things to say about that too..”

Stella Adams – Vice Chair of NC Democratic Party (around 3:02)
“I am here to speak, to inform and then to speak. I was an elected official in Durham 20 years ago and I …the Soil and Water races are local races that are plurality races…so and my daughter Danielle was elected in November in a plurality race… So it is not a new form of election in Durham County.. That’s just a fact.. I m not supporting or opposing.

But I am here, to absolutely put it on the record that I am absolutely to the core opposed to instant runoff voting. And I believe that the issue of Instant runoff voting has clouded the discussions. And I want to make it very clear that that will cost the city money, not save the city money. Because I promise you that I will be protecting my right to vote, with legal action should you choose to do that. .

People in my family have died for the right to the vote I mean buried in their graves for the right to vote… My aunt was denied the vote because she could not explain Article 3 of the constitution. Through a poll, a literacy test. We have a family ritual that which we will carry out on May 6 of this year, when my son turns 18 and we walk our children to register to vote. And we tell them that history.
Instant runoff voting disenfranchises black people, And I will fight to protect that.
NO to instant runoff voting!”

This took my breath away. Fierce defenders of our vote, thank you, and thank you especially to Stella Adams, who recognizes and who meets threats to the vote head on. Voters have a fierce advocate in Ms. Adams.

http://irvbad4nc.blogspot.com/2009/04/durham-community-leaders-oppose-instant.html

Joyce McCloy
NC Coalition for Verified Voting
www.ncvoter.net
336-794-1240

Tarboro NC – Owner, lawmaker debate labor bill

TARBORO — The owner of an Edgecombe County boat manufacturer told a congressman on Monday that his company, which plans to triple its local work force over the next three years, might not prosper if federal lawmakers pass a controversial labor bill that’s building momentum in Washington, D.C. (Rocky Mount Telegram)