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Submitted by Linda on Mon, 05/21/2007 - 5:29pm.

Linda,

I need your help today to stop the anti-LGBT, anti-marriage
constitutional amendment. We've just learned that the House
Rules Committee has responded to Rep. Moore's attempt to force
this bill to the House floor for a vote by scheduling it for a
hearing in the committee tomorrow (Tuesday) at 12:30.

The far right is generating hundreds of calls to key members of
the committee, and we need to make sure our opposition is known
as well! Linda, please, take a few minutes right now and
call the representatives listed below. Simply ask them to oppose
House Bill 493, the anti-gay constitutional amendment, in the
Rules Committee on Tuesday.

Chairman Bill Owens (Camden, Currituck, Pasquotank & Tyrrell)
919-733-0010
Vice Chair Dewey Hill (Brunswick, Columbus) 919-733-5830
Larry Bell (Sampson, Wayne) 919-733-5863
Jim Crawford (Granville, Vance) 919-733-5824
Jim Harrell (Allegheny, Surry) 919-715-1883
Hugh Holliman (Davidson) 919-715-0873
Jimmy Love (Harnett, Lee) 919-715-3026
Marian McLawhorn (Pitt ) 919-733-5757
Douglas Yongue (Hoke, Robeson, Scotland) 919-733-5821

Making these nine quick calls will only take a few minutes but
will really make a difference!

Please note - this email was received from Equality NC. Please make the phone calls, folks. Emails may not be read in time. Thank you.

Representative Hill

Submitted by James Protzman on Mon, 05/21/2007 - 6:40pm.

Had received 850+ calls when I rang through.

Make sure you add yours to the list.

And Majority Whip Bell's voicemail is full.

Submitted by James Protzman on Mon, 05/21/2007 - 6:44pm.

Looks like it's a war zone. Leave it to the Theocrats to stir up this kind of mess when so many other important things are being ignored.

Rep. Hill's tally

Submitted by Betsy Muse on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 9:06am.

More for it than against it.

I asked the wonderful women answering the phone to please let Rep. Hill know that the folks against it are the ones who actually get out and vote. She laughed and thanked me.

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.

Rep. Owen's office is buzzing

Submitted by Betsy Muse on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 9:09am.

The woman answering the phone took my message, asked me what city I was calling from and when I tried to say anything after that she cut me off and hung up on me. :)

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.

Finished all of my phone calls

Submitted by Betsy Muse on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 9:20am.

Left messages for Crawford and Harrell.

Bell's mail box is still full.

Spoke with very pleasant and very busy folks in Holliman's, Love's and McLawhorn's and Yongue's offices and asked them to pass the message along. All said that they would.

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.

Thank you to everyone who has called.

Submitted by Linda on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 10:52am.

I had similar experiences, SD. I was tempted to tell each one that I was from their district, but that would be, well, wrong. So I didn't. So mostly I just said I was from North Carolina and this was important.
_____________
The Den
It's your democracy; use it.

Thanks for posting the email

Submitted by Betsy Muse on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 10:56am.

It gave me everything I needed to make these quick calls.

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.

Apparently

Submitted by Blue South on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 3:04pm.

this was moved out of committee. But, Speaker Hackney, wishing to preserve equality and protect us from bigots has said it will go straight to another committee.

Draft Brad Miller-- NC Sen ActBlue

Dayum, I'm lovin' me some Joe Hackney

Submitted by Betsy Muse on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 3:17pm.

I just called his office to thank him for protecting the North Carolina constitution. I think they liked taking that message.

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.

ugh

Submitted by Blue South on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 3:35pm.

phones are bad some days.
Joeh@ncleg.net

Dear Sir,
I want to thank you for your efforts to protect our constitution from those who would reject our nation's standards of freedom and equality. Bigotry should never be a part of our public policy, and it most certainly should not be written into our state's constitution. I am proud that you have stood up for what is right, and I hope that you will continue to bury this misguided bill every chance you get.

Thank You.
XXXX

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

Draft Brad Miller-- NC Sen ActBlue

The damn Health Care for All amendment better be....

Submitted by Robert P. on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 3:27pm.

moving out of committee then as well. We can debate sexuality, but not health care?

WTF?

One man with courage makes a majority.
- Andrew Jackson

Disappointed.

Submitted by Robert P. on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 4:19pm.

In Rules today, House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman first tried to re-refer the bill to J1, which, given the upcoming crossover deadline, would effectively have killed the bill for the next two years. His motion was defeated 14-10.

All the Republicans voted against the referral, along with three Dems - Jim Crawford, Dewey Hill (both co-sponsors), and Doug Yongue.

Can we primary these DINOs?

Five Democrats failed to show up to vote one way or the other - Paul Luebke, Jennifer Weiss, Dan Blue, Jim Harrell, and Nelson Cole. One Republican was absent: Danny McComas.

This is not the vote to miss. Luebke HAS to be against it. Harrell has said he wouldn't vote for it, but that is different than voting AGAINST it.

One man with courage makes a majority.
- Andrew Jackson

Im pissed

Submitted by Blue South on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 4:36pm.

Younge represents Hoke, Robeson, Scotland.
Jim Crawford reprsents Granville and Vance.
Dewey Hill represents Brunswick and Columbus.

Im sending an email to those that missed the vote.

Draft Brad Miller-- NC Sen ActBlue

email

Submitted by Blue South on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 4:45pm.

I scaled it back from the first draft

Paull@ncleg.net, Jenniferw@ncleg.net, Jimha@ncleg.net, Danb@ncleg.net, Nelsonc@ncleg.net

Today the House Committee on Rules voted to write bigotry into the constitution of our state. Those of you receiving this email missed that meeting, and therefore missed an opportunity to protect our state.

If those who wrote this amendment had been in office 30 years ago we would still have Jim Crow Laws.
If those who wrote this amendment had been in office 100 years ago women would not have the right to vote.

I hope that if this bill goes to the floor that you will stand up for the principles our country and our party was founded upon, and vote against the amendment, and not miss that vote too.

Draft Brad Miller-- NC Sen ActBlue

He isnt making friends

Submitted by Blue South on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 5:37pm.

from Rep Luebke

A tad more complex than you represent. Certainly I would never vote for the anti-gay-marriage amendment.

--PL

Draft Brad Miller-- NC Sen ActBlue

WTF?

Submitted by James Protzman on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 6:24pm.

What's more complex? The bigotry? The hate? The analogies? The missing of votes?

Seems pretty simple to me

Submitted by Linda on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 6:28pm.

You're elected, you show up, you vote.

You take a stand. If you're too afraid to take a stand, stand down. We will elect another, real Democrat who has the cajones to show up and represent the people. All the people.
_____________
The Den
It's your democracy; use it.

apparently

Submitted by Blue South on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 6:38pm.

hiding behind Hackney and letting him take all the heat is the actions of non cowards who understand complicated issues.

having all 5 of those absentee legislators show up and vote and send it to another committee on their own is apparently too much to ask.

Draft Brad Miller-- NC Sen ActBlue

I suppose

Submitted by Linda on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 6:44pm.

that keeping a Democratic majority in the House is important. (Well, it is, isn't it?) If these 5 felt very strongly that they could not support their vote against this bill to their constituents, then Hackney has big shoulders to hide behind. Hackney will not loose the support of Orange Co. over this - and the small part of Moore Co. he represents won't matter, numbers-wise.

Am I being inconsistent? I suppose. But it is a game, isn't it? To keep the majority - so we have Hackney to send the stupid bill to committee.
_____________
The Den
It's your democracy; use it.

I can say

Submitted by Blue South on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 6:48pm.

without hesitation that Blue, Weiss and Luebke are in safe districts. For Cole and Harrell your view is justified.

Draft Brad Miller-- NC Sen ActBlue

first real

Submitted by Blue South on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 6:46pm.

answer

Thanks for sharing your views about this bill, Will. Some of us arrived late to the meeting because we were in House Environment and the bill was called before the votes were counted and in hand. I have grave concerns about this proposed legislation and will keep your thoughts in mind when the bill comes before me.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Weiss, NC House 35

Draft Brad Miller-- NC Sen ActBlue

From the other page.

Submitted by Robert P. on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 8:58pm.

After that initial defeat, the bill was postponed while both sides worked to round up their missing members. The Dems managed to bring in Luebke and Weiss, and Blue came in about 20 minutes late. Harrell and Cole both stayed AWOL.

One man with courage makes a majority.
- Andrew Jackson

here is the thing

Submitted by Blue South on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 9:04pm.

Paul Luebke doesnt know me from Joe Blow. Why not explain it? Why not say he was late because of X (like Weiss did)?

Draft Brad Miller-- NC Sen ActBlue

Jim spoke at the blogger meetup at NCDP

Submitted by Betsy Muse on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 11:58pm.

He isn't going to be a popular fellow going forward. He'd better have a damned good excuse for missing the meeting or I'm just going to figure the man doesn't have the courage or the time to do the job.

That goes for the rest of them too. All five of these Democrats should thank their lucky stars that this isn't an election year for them. I guess they're just too busy and important to do the job they were elected to do. I.am.pissed.

Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.

Yes, I would argue that -

Submitted by Unique on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 4:31pm.

(Although you could probably argue that any referendum regarding the state's constitution probably ought to be looked at by a Judiciary committee of some sort.)

The Constitution of our state (and our country) is like a fabric - any time you alter it, it weakens the structure of that fabric. It should be done with care and forethought and rarely, and never, ever to impose discrimination, only to correct it.

That's my opinion and I'm stickin' to it.

Just to be clear

Submitted by James Protzman on Tue, 05/22/2007 - 4:49pm.

The Dome is reporting that Joe Hackney will NOT allow this bill to get to the floor.

A thousand cheers for Speaker Hackney!

PS Go read the comments. The Theocrats are out in full force . . . the same ones who wanted Bill Frist to go nukular back when the Dems were threatening to filibuster Alito.