PLEASE order your tickets now for the Nader Super Rally at the MCI Center on Sunday, November 5
*** over the phone at 202-265-1160
*** on the web site http://www.votenader.org
*** at the campaign office at 1416 P Street NW, a 10 minute walk east from Dupont Circle
And please help us sell tickets, distribute flyers, post posters, call friends with an invitation, call talk shows and announce the Super Rally, etc.
We can fill the MCI Center, but we need your help. This might be the BIGGEST demonstration ever of our demand for STATEHOOD for DC--a historical event. Don't let anyone you know miss it!
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If you have not yet signed up to help at the polls on Election Day, Tuesday, November 7, contact Geoff at 202-537-8566 or gbarron@cspinet.org as soon as you can!
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WEEK OF OCTOBER 29, 2000
More information: 202-291-3636 http://www.bowservictory4ward4.net
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Martin Thomas for Shadow Rep Campaign Events
More information: 202-332-6558
Door-to-door campaigning in Mt. Pleasant. Meet at 7:30 pm at 1701 Kenyon Street NW.
Flyering at Judiciary Square metro prior to DCSGP monthly general assembly meeting. Meet at 5:30 pm. Meeting starts at 7 pm.
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A march is being planned, to leave the MCI Center and head through DC, to demand and celebrate DEMOCRACY and STATEHOOD for DC! More on this soon....
Help make puppets for this event at the Gog House in Takoma Park. Meet on Wednesday, November 1 at 405 Beach Avenue in Takoma Park. RSVP to aeidinger@yahoo.com or call 202-986-6186.
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DO YOU KNOW a peace, justice, human rights, environmental, or labor organization that might want to occupy a display table at the Nader Super Rally?
Call us as soon as you can at (202) 265-1160 and ask for Scott.
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Join a discussion with ARTURO GRIFFITHS, DC Statehood-Green Party candidate for DC City Council, and VIRGINIA HARABIN, of the Campaign to End the Death Penalty and the International Socialist Organization, about why a vote for Ralph Nader is so important for the movements for real justice in DC and around the country that will continue beyond election day. "VOTE NADER: Build a Fighting Movement for Real Change" St. Stephens Church, 16th and Newton Streets, NW.
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Tuesday, October 31, 2000
Contacts: Wayne Turner, (202) 547-9404; Martin Thomas, (202) 332-6558
New Trial Set for February 8, 2001
WASHINGTON, D.C.--The trial of the "D.C. Democracy 7" on the charge of "Disruption of Congress" concluded today with the jury of twelve D.C. residents telling Judge Anna Blackburne-Rigsby that they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict after 10 hours of deliberation. The Judge then declared a mistrial and government prosecutors requested a new trial. The defendants were ordered back to courtroom 116 of D.C. Superior Court (500 Indiana Avenue, NW) on Thursday, February 8, 2001, 9:00 am, to begin a new trial.
The defendants--Steve Donkin, Debby Hanrahan, Bette Hoover, Queen Mother ShemaYah, Tanya Snyder, Karen A. Szulgit, and Martin Thomas--were arrested on July 26 in the U.S. House of Representatives Visitors' Gallery after they spoke out on the District of Columbia Appropriations Bill, which contains numerous riders that go against the popular will of D.C. residents. The riders include prohibitions on D.C.'s locally passed medical marijuana initiative and domestic partnership law, restrictions on the District's locally funded needle exchange program, and a prohibition on using city funds to sue Congress for voting rights.
The seven defendants reacted to the floor debate by verbally objecting to the "blatantly anti-democratic" nature of the process which excludes D.C. residents from a voice in decisions that directly affect them. They then cast their "votes" by chanting "D.C. Votes No! Free D.C!" before being arrested by U.S. Capitol Police and charged with disrupting Congress, an offense which carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and/or a $500 fine.
The trial began on October 26 after two days of jury selection and an initial announcement by the U.S. Attorney's office that the charge against co-defendant and Statehood Green Party candidate for D.C. "Shadow" Representative Martin Thomas had been dismissed. The prosecutors gave no reason for dismissing Thomas' charge while continuing with the case against the remaining six defendants. In addition to the defendants' testimony, D.C.'s non-voting Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton testified as a fact witness for the defense. "I did not want to disrupt the democratic process that day in Congress," co-defendant Karen A. Szulgit said in her testimony. "I wanted to participate in it." Queen Mother ShemaYah later said, "I was there to see for myself how Congress is playing with my life."
Four of the defendants were represented during their trial by attorneys Kenneth Page, Reginald Williamson, and Veta Carney; in addition, defendants Hoover and Donkin represented themselves pro se. "It amazes me that the government should waste so much time, energy, and taxpayer money prosecuting citizens who are simply asking for their democratic rights," said co-defendant Debby Hanrahan. This was the third time this year that the government has tried, and failed, to convict D.C. democracy activists on disruption of Congresscharges. The U.S. Attorney's office will make a fourth attempt on November 17, when the trial of Ben Armfield, charged with disrupting Congress during the D.C. budget vote in September, will begin..
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"The Committee to Elect Renée Bowser," 5322 2nd Street
ARTURO GRIFFITHS for At-Large Member of DC City Council. Committee to Elect Arturo Griffiths, Lisa Ranghelli, Treasurer. Contact (202) 265-2659.
Contact (202) 291-3636, visit web site http://www.bowservictory4ward4.net. Contributions:
Contributions: "The Committee to Elect Arturo Griffiths," c/o L. Ranghelli, 2022 Columbia Rd NW, Apt 407, Washington, DC 20009.
DC STATEHOOD GREEN CANDIDATES: To volunteer, call Philip Barlow, 202-483-0174. If you know of an event candidates and campaign volunteers might want to attend, send a note back to us at dcsgweek@yahoo.com.
GAIL DIXON for Wards 5 & 6 Member of the DC Board of Education (currently At-Large Member). Friends of Gail, Bridgette Cline, treasurer. Contact (202) 529-6525.
MARTIN THOMAS for DC "Shadow" Representative. Thomas for Shadow Rep, Philip Barlow, Treasurer. Contact (202) 332-1709. Contributions: "Thomas for Shadow Rep," 1640 Hobart Street NW, Washington, DC 20009. To get on the campaign e-mail list or to volunteer, contact Martin at <martinth@excite.com>.
NW, Washington, DC 20011.
RALPH NADER for President, WINONA LADUKE for Vice President. Nader 2000 Primary Committee, Inc., PO Box 18002, Washington, DC 20036, 202-265-4000 x15.
RENÉE BOWSER for Ward 4 Member of Council. Committee to Elect Renée Bowser, Mike Livingston, Treasurer.
THOMAS E. SMITH for Wards 1& 2 Member of the DC Board of Education. Contact (202) 737-8088.
TOM BRIGGS for Ward 2 Member of Council. (202) 265-9176.
http://www.votenader.com (Spanish version:
http://green.votenader.org/spanish/). National headquarters: 1225 15th Street NW. Campaign volunteer coordinator: Carolyn Danckaert
carolyn@votenader.org. Subscribe to the DC Volunteer e-mail list at http://votenader.org/volunteer.html, or contribute at http://votenader.org/donate.html.
THE MARYLAND GREEN PARTY. Contact Isaac Opalinsky, Coordinator of the Maryland Green Party Ballot Access Drive, at diopey@hotmail.com or 410-267-0224.
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DC Statehood-Greensweek paid for by the DC Statehood Green Party, Philip Barlow, treasurer.
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