08/07/23 Missouri Mondays - Fighting to protect our democracy and right to vote 58 years later!
What you can do this week!
Welcome to another Missouri Mondays!
It’s been a historic week for our country. As we mark the 58th anniversary of the landmark Voting Rights Act, for the first time in our nation’s history a former president has been indicted for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. A Washington, D.C. grand jury charged Donald J. Trump with an “alleged conspiracy to defraud the United States, a conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and a conspiracy against voting rights.” Time Aug 1 We encourage everyone to read the full indictment here: https://www.justice.gov/storage/US_v_Trump_23_cr_257.pdf.
Despite Trump facing many state and federal criminal indictments, he remains the Republican Party’s leading 2024 presidential candidate.
Here in Missouri, Republican’s hold a supermajority in the legislature and continue to use their power to attack fundamental rights and freedoms and making it much harder to vote.
We must fight back! Help support and elect those who will protect our rights and defend our democracy!
Thanks for staying informed and taking action with us each week! Help us spread the word and share this link to sign up for Missouri Mondays weekly email https://bit.ly/3pF99Uw.
UPCOMING EVENTS - WHAT YOU CAN DO TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
TAKE ACTION WITH THE MISSOURI VOTER PROTECTION COALITION (MOVPC)
TO PROTECT THE RIGHT TO VOTE
Join the MOVPC weekly meeting MONDAYS at 10 AM
Text “MOVPC” to 66866 or register HERE: bit.ly/protectmovoters
Our work to protect the vote requires our continued attention! So we hope you'll join our next MOVPC call where we will discuss the necessary steps in our fight to protect the right to vote in Missouri. MOVPC is a nonpartisan statewide network promoting access to the ballot and working to remove barriers to voting in Missouri!
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MO House Democrats Summer Caucus Welcome Reception (KC Metro)
Thursday August 10th
6:00pm - 8:00pm
The Rockhill Grille
2000 Grand Blvd
Kansas City, MO 64108
You are cordially invited to the Missouri House Democrats 2023 Summer Caucus in Kansas City, MO. Join us for our Summer Caucus Reception and cocktail hour, where we will be discussing this year's legislative accomplishments, and what the path to victory in 2024 looks like for the House Democrats.
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The Lafayette County Democrat Central Committee & Club
2023 Annual Fundraiser Dinner and Pie Auction
Saturday August 12th
5:00 pm
American Legion Hall
1001 W. 22nd St.
Higginsville MO 64037
RSVP and purchase tickets here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/tickets.auction
For more information contact lafcodems@gmail.com
Join the Lafayette County Democrat Central Committee & Club for the 2023 Annual Pie Auction, silent auction and dinner on August 12th @ 5pm.
Speaker lineup: Gubernatorial candidate Crystal Quade, Lt. Gov. candidate Richard Brown, US. Senate candidate Lucas Kunce, Attorney General Candidate Elad Gross, and Senator Greg Razor. MDP Chair Russ Carnahan, MDP Vice Chair Yvonne Reeves-Chong, and MDP Ex. Director Matthew Patterson will also join us. Other guests Sen. Barbara Washington, Representatives Emily Weber, Patty Lewis, Keri Ingle, Peter Meredith, Aaron Crossley and Kemp Strickler. This is your chance to meet and hear from our candidates and representatives in Jefferson City.
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HELP SUPPORT AND ELECT MISSOURI HOUSE DEMOCRATS
Get involved! Join the MO Democratic Legislative Network!
The Democratic Legislative Network is building a community of dedicated activists to support our ideals, our message and our candidates in Missouri. Get involved in your area: https://www.mohousedems.com/get-involved
Make a donation!
Every. Election. Matters. Every gift can help.
Donate today and help us keep building the infrastructure needed to recruit, train, and support local candidates in Missouri.
Organizing efforts require year-round work, not just when there is an upcoming election, and your donation will help build the groundwork needed to bring real change benefitting all Missourians.
Donate here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/mhd-donate-now
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VOLUNTEER TO HELP GATHER SIGNATURES!!
Help Gather Signatures for Abortion Action Missouri!!
Have you heard that Missourians might have a chance to vote on abortion at the ballot box? Every Missourian deserves the right to have their voice heard in our democracy and the power to help shape the laws that govern our lives, bodies and futures.
The Initiative Petition Process (IP Process) is the most effective tool that Missourians currently have to participate in democracy, shape policy, and build a statewide movement for abortion access. Missourians have used this process for years to build a Missouri where every person, family, and community can live with dignity. In the last 6 years alone, Missourians have used the IP process to pass Medicaid Expansion, raise wages, clean up money in politics, and protect union rights.
And guess what? We're not done yet. At Abortion Action Missouri, we're training teams of volunteers across Missouri to use the IP process to build the Missouri we all deserve.
As a volunteer you will learn how to:
Collect signatures for the Initiative Petition Process
Engage the public at community events, farmers markets, shopping centers and more
Build teams of volunteers to take action with you
Organize your families, friends and neighbors in the movement for abortion access
You'll also join a thriving community of people dedicated to building a Missouri where we all can thrive.
Are you ready to join us? Sign up at http://bitly.ws/Pwxp and a member of the Abortion Action Missouri organizing team will get in touch with you!
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Missouri Jobs With Justice Voter Action
Pledge Your Support for Fair Wages and Earned Sick Time!
TAKE THE PLEDGE AND VOLUNTEER TO GATHER SIGNATURES HERE:
Missourians for Healthy Families and Fair Wages has launched a ballot initiative to gradually raise Missouri’s minimum wage to $15 by 2026 and allow employees to earn paid time off to care for themselves and loved ones.
Missourians for Health Families and Fair Wages rewards hardworking Missourians by making sure they can care for their families and keep food on the table. By gradually increasing the minimum wage, we can ensure wages can keep up with rising prices. By ensuring that all workers have the ability to earn paid sick leave, we can make sure no parent has to choose between taking care of themselves or loved ones and affording the cost of necessities like medicine or utilities.
NO ONE should have to choose between their paycheck and their family's health. NO ONE working full-time should have to live in poverty. However, this is NOT the reality in Missouri, which is why we are coming together again to do what the legislature won't do for hardworking Missourians.
Take the pledge to show your support for fair wages and earned paid sick time and sign up to volunteer here: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/pledge-your-support-for-fair-wages-and-earned-sick-time
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FIND MORE WAYS TO GET INVOLVED AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19AZUdtRH5WXefOC4Q5D9u-HyuzhBEL8rYX9Ospn3n18/edit?usp=sharing
Missouri in the News
“Trial set for Sept. 11 on ballot title for Missouri abortion rights amendment”
A Cole County judge promised Thursday he would rule quickly after a Sept. 11 trial over the language voters will see when they consider an initiative petition to reinstate the right to an abortion.
At a hearing on challenges to the ballot titles written for six proposed petitions, Circuit Judge Jon Beetem told attorneys that he knows whatever he decides will be appealed. And after a recently resolved dispute between State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick and Attorney General Andrew Bailey delayed other action on the petitions for more than 100 days, time is short for the collection of roughly 170,000 signatures needed to make the 2024 ballot.
Beetem asked ACLU of Missouri attorney Tony Rothert and Assistant Attorney General Jason Lewis to have proposed findings ready for him at the trial on Sept. 11 so he can quickly render a judgment.
“My goal is to get something pumped down pretty quick so you can go wherever you want to go next, depending on who’s unhappy,” Beetem said.
In early March, Anna Fitz-James, a St. Louis doctor, filed 11 versions of a proposed constitutional amendment on behalf of a political action committee called Missourians for Constitutional Freedom. The proposals would amend the constitution to declare that the “government shall not infringe upon a person’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom.”
That would include “prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care and respectful birthing conditions.” Penalties for both patients seeking reproductive-related care and medical providers would be outlawed.
Before supporters could collect signatures, they had to wait for Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft to write a description of the proposal and for Fitzpatrick to write a fiscal summary. That process, which by law can take up to 56 days, was stretched out to almost 150 days because Bailey, who has responsibility to certify that the description and fiscal summary meet legal requirements, refused to accept Fitzpatrick’s work.
The Missouri Supreme Court finally resolved the issue on July 20, ruling that Bailey had exceeded his authority by questioning the content of Fitzpatrick’s analysis.
The case currently pending is over Ashcroft’s description of the proposals. There are differences among them and Ashcroft has language that varies depending on the details.”
Full story here: https://missouriindependent.com/2023/08/03/trial-set-for-sept-11-on-ballot-title-for-missouri-abortion-rights-amendment/ Missouri Independent Aug 3
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“Missouri ACLU Sues Platte County School District for Denying Transgender Student Access to Bathroom”
“The ACLU of Missouri filed a lawsuit on behalf of a former Platte County High School student challenging the district’s actions that discriminated against her based on her transgender status, her sex designated at birth, and her clinical diagnosis of gender dysphoria. The lawsuit is brought under the Missouri Human Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause of the Missouri Constitution and urges the court to find that the Platte County School District’s practices and policies are unconstitutional and award damages and fees.
“Forcing transgender students to use the bathroom or locker room that matches their sex designated at birth is not only discrimination but dangerous and causes serious harm to Missouri’s youth,” said Gillian Wilcox, Deputy Director of Litigation at the ACLU of Missouri. “Both through the constitution and by statute the government, a school in this case, is prohibited from discriminating against the people it is supposed to protect on the basis of either their sex or disability.”
Full story here: https://www.aclu-mo.org/en/news/missouri-aclu-sues-platte-county-school-district-denying-transgender-student-access-bathroom Missouri ACLU Aug 1
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“False fraud claims a focus of Rudy Giuliani’s 2020 Missouri testimony, St. Louis defamation suit”
“The former New York mayor admitted he spoke falsely about election fraud in Georgia, statements that featured prominently in his testimony to a Missouri House committee and in a lawsuit against the Gateway Pundit.
Weeks after former President Donald Trump lost his bid for a second term, the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election found its way to Missouri.
Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and one of Trump’s lawyers, appeared via Zoom before a Missouri House oversight committee in December 2020 to tout disproven claims about hacked voting machines and phony mail-in ballots.
He also told lawmakers that Georgia election officials had surreptitiously counted illegal ballots in order to steal the presidency for Joe Biden, pointing to a video from Atlanta he insisted “shows demonstrably the theft of about 40,000 ballots right in front of your eyes.”
None of it was true.
Before his testimony, Giuliani’s allegations about Georgia had already been debunked by government officials, law enforcement and the media.
And last week, three years after his virtual appearance in Missouri, Giuliani conceded in a carefully worded court filing that his assertions about Georgia election workers committing fraud during the 2020 presidential race were false.
That concession — made as part of a defamation suit against him filed in Washington, D.C., by two Georgia election workers — has rekindled interest in Giuliani’s 2020 Missouri testimony and the impact it could have in a separate defamation suit filed in St. Louis by the same election workers against the right-wing outlet Gateway Pundit.
State Rep. Peter Merideth, a St. Louis Democrat who sparred with Giuliani during his 2020 committee appearance, notes that the former mayor signed a witness form that declares “false testimony may be subject to criminal prosecution for perjury or other offenses, or contempt proceedings pursuant to Article III, Section 18, of the Missouri Constitution.”
Soon after his 2020 testimony, Merideth pointed to that form in a letter to the New York State Bar Association asking that Giuliani’s law license be revoked. A year later, Giuliani’s license to practice law was suspended after a court ruled he made “demonstrably false and misleading statements” about election fraud.
“Rudy blatantly lied to us, under oath,” Merideth said Wednesday. “That’s perjury.”
https://missouriindependent.com/2023/08/04/false-fraud-claims-a-focus-of-rudy-guilianis-2020-missouri-testimony-st-louis-defamation-suit/ Missouri Independent Aug 4
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NATIONAL NEWS
“Trump pleads not guilty to charges he sought to subvert 2020 election”
“Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to four felony charges in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., after a federal grand jury handed up an indictment against the former chief executive related to the 2020 election.
Trump, the front-runner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, was released under the conditions that he must not violate federal, state or local law and must not communicate with witnesses about the facts of the case, unless in the presence of counsel.
The first hearing in the case, in which Trump is charged with trying to overturn the election, is set for Aug. 28 at 10 a.m. before U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan.”
Chutkan is willing to waive Trump’s appearance at the first hearing.”
https://missouriindependent.com/2023/08/03/trump-pleads-not-guilty-to-charges-he-sought-to-subvert-2020-election/ Missouri Independent Aug 3
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MISSOURI MONDAYS NEWS SUPPLEMENT!
With so much important news each week we don’t want you to miss a thing! Check out our MISSOURI MONDAYS NEWS SUPPLEMENT here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13cokjWlCh2EkY5K6bM357rjVPizZDzxlMqjAuoBQfoI/edit?usp=sharing
THANK YOU! for staying informed and taking action to make a difference!
Invite your friends and neighbors to join us and sign up for Missouri Action Alliance and this Missouri Mondays weekly email at https://bit.ly/3pF99Uw.
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