December 2, 2004
Dear Fighting Bob supporters:
At last year's Fighting Bob Fest, the idea of a People's
Legislature garnered nearly unanimous support. The idea is
simple: What would the Legislature take up if the members
represented their voting constituents instead of cash
constituents like Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce,
the Wisconsin Realtors Association, and the 803 registered
lobbyists representing the highway contractors, the utilities,
the insurance industry and the banks? You know, the ones
who would rather have you pay the taxes.
The newly elected legislators are sworn in on January 3.
The concept flowing from the break-out session at Bob Fest
was to meet on January 4, adopt our agenda, and present it
to the legislators at the Capitol.
Rather than making a laundry list of specific issues, the
group has decided to focus on taking back our democracy.
To do that, we need balanced districts, public financing of
elections, an Ethics and Elections Board with teeth, and
open government at all levels. No matter what issue moves
you, from the environment to the transmission line, you
cannot achieve your goals until legislative elections are
truly competitive. With the gerrymandered districts, no one
can defeat an incumbent unless he or she can raise lots of
money. That is not democracy it is plutocracy.
When we started Bob Fest, no one knew if it would fly. We
didn't go to Kitty Hawk to find out, we went to Baraboo
and it was airborne. There were 1,000 people at the first
one, 2,500 at the second Fest and more than 4,000 last year.
One result of all three events is that progressives from
throughout the state now know each other. And we can
communicate through FightingBob.com. We didn't know
if we could pull it off, but because of your enthusiasm and
hard work we did.
So, now comes another challenge. Can we get 804 people
together who consider themselves "politically homeless" to
set an agenda? That is the number because then we would
have one more than the 803 registered lobbyists. I think we
can, but only you can answer that question.
At Bob Fest III, people from 49 of our 72 counties were
present along with attendees from 14 states. That is very
impressive. Our goal is to have all 72 counties represented
at both at Bob Fest IV and at the People's Legislature.
There is a section on FightingBob.com devoted to the
People's Legislature:
http://fightingbob.c.topica.com/maacVG1abceYBboFw7Zb/The date is January 4. We will meet at the Dane County
Expo hall next to the Coliseum. (It is now called the
"Alliant Center," but we prefer the previous name.) To give
people coming from long distances time, we will register at
10:00 in the morning, start at 11:00 and go until 7:00 p.m.
We realize it is a work day and it will be cold and perhaps
snowy. But the fact that it is the day before the legislators
get sworn in convinced us to ask you to take a day off.
There will be a general session and four break-out sessions.
We want Republicans, Libertarians, Democrats, Greens,
Independents, and those who would rather go to jail than to
join a party. In other words, everyone willing to fight for
democracy is welcome.
Consider this your special invitation from Fighting Bob,
Inc., the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, and the Center
for Democratic Action to attend. Once again, this is a
voluntary effort. We ask for $5 per person to cover our
costs. Parking is free. So for five bucks you get it all!
Sincerely,
Ed Garvey
FightingBob.com editor and publisher
Fighting Bob, Inc.
P.O. Box 2131
Madison, WI 53701
E-mail: Comments@fightingbob.com
I'm signing up......but I really don't know what the most primary message is to give to our legislature.
Look here:
http://fightingbob.c.topica.com/maacVG1abceYBboFw7Zb/
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