Taking the Climate Change Initiative to Congress

From morrismeyer.com:

In two days Al Gore will be visiting Congress to testify on the immediate action that needs to be taken to end the climate change crisis. With the Morris Meyer campaign‘s help he’s gathered over 295,000 messages from citizens that he’ll hand deliver to Congressmen and Senators demonstrating the broad public support for stopping our climate crisis.

From AlGore.com:

The reason Congress has so far failed to act is not because there are no solutions to the problem. Nor is it because the majority doesn’t believe that the climate crisis is real. They have failed to act, because they have not yet faced a sufficient expression of political will on the part of the American people demanding they confront our climate crisis head on. You and I know that political will is a renewable resource, and enough already exists to start solving this crisis. We just have to communicate that forcefully to the political leaders of our country.

So what can we do? Well, Mr. Gore’s trying to get 350,000 letters to hand to Congress two days from now. To send a letter of your own and to show your support you can go to AlGore.com and fill out one for yourself demanding Congress take action.

Update: The team now has over 406,000 letters and has raised the goal to 500,000! If you haven’t written yours yet, get over there!

Meyer is All Over the Media

Over on morrismeyer.com you may have read the awesome article written about Meyer and the guys in the Washington Post last Thursday.

If you hadn’t, here’s a taste of Marc Fisher’s “Grass Roots in a Virginia Basement”:

[Nate de la Piedra, Mike Burns, and Sean Sukol] think Meyer can unseat Hugo because the delegate hasn’t had to face any real competition before, because Virginia’s transportation mess has discredited the Republicans who control Richmond, and because Meyer understands how the Internet and concerns about the fate of the Earth are changing politics.

Also, Meyer, along with Dr. Andrew Pouriing and Al Weed, was recently a guest on Mark Levine’s TV show Inside Scoop
Check out the whole thing here:

More at Morris Meyer for Delegate.

Morris Meyer to Deliver Climate Project Speech At GMU

As we previously mentioned, Morris Meyer was recently selected to take part in Al Gore’s Global Climate program. This ultimately means that he has been certified to deliver a Climate Project presentation, which is similar to what the one Gore gave in his Academy Award nominated documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.”

It is as a result of receiving this honor that Morris will be delivering a Climate Project presentation at George Mason University on March 7. The event will take place at 8pm in Room F on the 3rd Floor of the Johnson Center and is open to students as well as the general public.

In addition to the importance of participating in discussion about the environment, I believe this event goes to show how Morris believes it is important to include today’s youth in discussions about the important issues.

For more information about the event, please email info@morrismeyer.com.

Tim Hugo Joins Extreme Right Wing of Republican Party

After the results of the last few elections, Virginia has received national attention for becoming one of the more moderate states in the country. That is especially true in Northern Virginia. Nonetheless, there are some lawmakers in the General Assembly who simply do not seem to recognize this pattern and continue to promote an ultra-conservative, right-wing agenda.

Unfortunately for the residents of the 40th House of Delegates district, Delegate Tim Hugo was one of the delegates who decided to vote against the wishes of many of his constituents by supporting the EXTREME right of the Republican Party. On Monday, Hugo voted in support of HB 2797 which stated “That life begins at the moment of fertilization and the right to enjoyment of life guaranteed by Article 1, § 1 of the Constitution of Virginia is vested in each born and preborn human being from the moment of fertilization.”

There are intelligent people throughout the Commonwealth who are opposed to abortion and their opinions should be taken into consideration whenever abortion is debated. This measure, however, was so extreme that it went well beyond simply banning abortion as a method of birth control. For instance, the bill would have resulted in abortions being illegal even if the life or health of the mother was at risk or the mother was raped. Furthermore, the wording of this bill would have also made some types of birth control illegal.

Thankfully, the majority of Virginia’s lawmakers — including some lawmakers who do not approve of abortion — realized that this bill was not representative of the views held by Virginians. Therefore, the bill was not passed by the House of Delegates.

So, one might ask, why is a bill that did not pass the House of Delegates worth mentioning? The answer is quite simple — it illustrates how Tim Hugo is willing to support an ultra-conservative agenda that is so far out of the norm that even some anti-choice Republicans shy away from it. When that is combined with the fact that Virginia has now become a moderate state, it goes to show why Tim Hugo should not be re-elected next November.

GOP Plan Takes Funding Away From Education

There is no denying that transportation is one of the major issues that must be addressed by our leaders in Richmond. Nonetheless, the partisan agenda pursued by many Republican lawmakers has caused the General Assembly to be filled with as many delays as Virginia’s highways. That is why many Virginia residents were hopeful that last November’s elections might result in the General Assembly coming together in a bipartisan manner to solve our transportation woes.

As the Richmond Times-Dispatch put it, however, the plan that was supported by many of the most partisan Republicans would take $350 million dollars away from the general fund. In other words, it would take millions of dollars away from programs such as public education and public safety.

“Republicans hope to finance Virginia transportation improvements with the government credit card, by siphoning significant dollars from schools, police and the poor and raising taxes and fees for drivers and homeowners.”

As a sign of the changes that must be made to this legislation, there were even some members of the Republican Party who were not fully satisfied with the bill. The Free Lance Star, for instance, quoted Sen. John Chichester (R-Northumberland) as stating that the plan was “a very unhealthy initiative”.

He called the use of general fund money “a very unhealthy initiative, for it will impact every public education system, health and human services organization, and public safety organization in the state.”

Chichester said. “The confrontation that many of us have foreseen, should this come to pass, is now apparent, as transportation competes with public education, higher education, and public safety for a finite number of dollars.”

Although having a plan put forward is a step in the right direction, I believe it is safe to say that many Virginians would like to see a solution put forward that doesn’t take funding away from education and public safety. The transportation agenda promoted by Republican lawmakers doesn’t accomplish that goal.

Morris Meyer On Open Primaries

The following is a statement made by Morris Meyer about the nomination process.

There are 5 different nominating mechanisms that can be used to select a candidate for a general election. From most exclusive to most inclusive they are: Committee, Closed Caucus, Open Caucus, Firehouse Primary and Primary Election.

A Committee nomination is where the county party’s top brass selects the candidate.
A Closed Caucus is a closed meeting where county committee members select the candidate.
An Open Caucus is a meeting where committee members and primary voters select the candidate.
A Firehouse Primary is held at a select few locations over a few hours on a weekend to select the candidate.
A Primary Election is an election at all the normal polling locations held on normal election hours.

At the meeting last night I advocated for using open primaries as a selection mechanism that picks the candidate and campaign with the most momentum to marshal against a seated Republican incumbent.

I’ll try to summarize the arguments pro and con for a Open Primary vs a Open Caucus / Firehouse Primary.

Primary Election – Pros

More convenient for voters as they just show up at their normal polling place

Broadens the candidates’ discussion beyond the circle of Democratic regulars to the electorate at large

Gives campaigns a trail-run of their GOTV techniques to refine later for the general election

Independents and moderate-Republicans necessary for the general included in the churn of the primary process

Primary churn identifies new Democratic and lean-Democratic voters

Campaigns not charged to hold the primary

Primary Election – Cons

Held one month later than Open Caucus / Firehouse Primary

Duplication of GOTV efforts in primary and general for Democratic voters

Open to cross-over voters

Open Caucus – Pros

Held earlier than Primary Election

Cheaper for candidates as the GOTV universe is Democratic party regulars

Exclusive to Democratic voters – not open to Republican activists voting for the weaker candidate

Open Caucus – Cons

Gives campaigns a false sense of security that their GOTV techniques are tested

Campaigns charged for cost of holding the caucus

Democrats talking to Democratic regulars does not broaden our circle of base voters

Campaigns need to educate potential voters about the caucus mechanism. The appearance that this is a “party-insider” process makes it unfriendly to general electorate.

Fewer locations and shorter hours broadens the hurdle for participation, reduces turn-out and increases the cost and GOTV efforts of campaigns to bring out base voters outside of party regulars.

As for the argument that campaigns waste money in a primary, I believe that is a function of how clean the campaigns are run and not the selection mechanism per se. Two candidates talking about Democratic issues in a genteel fashion to the electorate helps further our party. Two candidates tearing at each other turns off voters and is a detriment to our party.

Your circle of friends wins a caucus. The strength of your campaign wins a primary. Displacing an incumbent requires a campaign that reaches out to base voters, as well as independents and moderate Republicans. I believe that an open primary election is the closest approximation to a general election and indicates which campaign is prepared to take the Democratic message to that broader swath of voters.

Warmest regards,

–morris meyer

Democratic Candidate – House of Delegates – 40th District
morris@morrismeyer.com
http://www.morrismeyer.com
703.543.6339

Morris Meyer Campaign Kickoff

The past weekend was a very exciting one for the Democratic Party and there were several events for people to attend. One of those events was the campaign kickoff for Morris Meyer, which was held last Saturday was held at the home of Sharon and Seth Stark. As the 40th has gradually turned bluer and bluer, the approximately 80 people that gathered at the Stark’s beautiful house were extremely excited about the prospect of holding Tim Hugo responsible for his past actions.

In addition to several prominent members of FCDC, some of the guests included Delegates Brian Moran, Chuck Caputo, Steve Shannon, Dave Marsden and Adam Ebbin and the FCDC Chair and Vice-Chair Ginny Peters and Eileen Manning. Furthermore, George Barker and Greg Galligan, who are running for Senate in the 39th district, Mike McClanahan who is running for Springfield Supervisor and Georgette Kohler who is running for Sully District Supervisor were all at the event.

After being introduced as “our next delegate from the 40th,” Morris gave a speech that clearly displayed the passion that he has for this race. He reminded the crowd that “the conscience of our Country – to form a more perfect union – is the essence of the Democratic Party” and that the Democrats need to regain control of the General Assembly in order to ensure that “our values of fairness, opportunity, and equality” remain intact.

Throughout his speech, he touched on several issues including education, transportation, and the climate. Here are a few brief highlights.

Morris believes that we should work with Governor Kaine in order to offer “universal preschool that prepares all of Virginia’s children for their K-12 education and we need to make college more affordable for our young adults.” These programs need to be properly funded because our future lies in the hands of our educational system.

It was extremely pleasing to see that Morris realized that “there is no silver bullet to improve transportation” and it a solution will need to be discussed amongst his future colleagues and members of the community. Morris did, however, propose that we should improve our public transit system and work to promote other programs that would cut down on commute times. Doing so would allow Virginians to spend more time enjoying our beautiful Commonwealth.

As is evident by the fact that he just back from Nashville where he was taking part in Al Gore’s Climate Training Project, Morris is extremely passionate about protecting our climate. He pointed out that even though this it is a world wide problem, Virginia in particular is facing some of the consequences. “We have already lost 13 islands to the Chesapeake Bay,” for instance, which is why it is so important for us to take advantage of some of the technology that is already available and pass Senator Mary Margaret Whipple’s Renewable Portfolio Standard.

Morris has also already begun forming a energetic team and I am confident that he will be the next delegate from the 40th.