January 4, 2024
Political New Year resolutions, substantive election coverage, keep asylum separate from budget, and more!
*** SUBMITTING YOUR ACTIONS TO ROGAN’S LIST ***
We’ve set up a “tip line” so Rogan’s List subscribers can send in their ideas or submissions for action items at roganslisttips@gmail.com. Please don’t hesitate to email and pass on your suggestions. We look forward to hearing from you!
Contact all members of Congress:
By phone: (202) 224-3121
By email: democracy.io
By US mail: Representatives / Senators
By fax: Representatives / Senators
By Resistbot: Resist.bot
Contact White House or other federal agencies:
POLITICAL NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS?
New Year resolutions often get a bad rap, but the intentions are usually good. As we begin this new year, and such an important one at that, let’s take a look at Jess Craven’s (of Chop Wood/Carry Water) 2024 New Years (Politics) Resolutions! and consider adopting some of them ourselves. Let’s do this together!
DEMAND SUBSTANTIVE ELECTION COVERAGE
In the three months leading up to Election Day 2016, the New York Times ran 150 articles on the campaign. “Only a handful mentioned policy; the vast majority covered horse race politics or personal scandals. Most strikingly, the Times ran ten front-page stories about Hillary Clinton’s email server.” In the 2022 midterms, the Times and the Washington Post “both emphasized the horse race and campaign palace intrigue, stories that functioned more to entertain readers than to educate them on essential differences between political parties.” At the Times, of 408 front-page articles, “a generous interpretation found that just ten of those stories explained domestic public policy in any detail.” At the Post, of 393 front-page stories, only 4 discussed policy. Let’s share this article with the executive editors of these important American newspapers (and any other newspapers we wish) and tell them that we need an educated electorate and we want 90% of their coverage of the 2024 presidential campaign to focus on the policy implications if the Republican or the Democratic candidate wins.
Joseph Kahn, Executive Editor, New York Times Company, 620 Eighth Ave., New York, NY 10018-1405, or national@nytimes.com.
Sally Buzbee, Executive Editor, Washington Post, sally.buzbee@washpost.com
KEEP ASYLUM ISSUES SEPARATE FROM BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS
Congress is scheduled to reconvene next week with just 10 days before the stopgap budget bill expires. Republicans are still looking for large concessions in immigration policy, including changes that cut at the heart of people’s right to asylum as guaranteed by international law, and the House is again threatening to impeach DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Let’s make sure to remind all our MoCs that people at our border need to be treated with dignity and respect and attempts to manage the border situation should be kept separate from the budget process in order to assure that policy changes are not rushed or coerced, but instead are well thought out and incorporate concerns of all stakeholders. We should also tell our House members that with only ten days left before the government shuts down, their main priority should be passing appropriations bills, not spotlighting immigration in order to draw people’s attention away from reproductive rights and GOP dysfunction.
HELP TAKE BACK THE HOUSE WITH VOTER REG PHONEBANK TO NY DEM VOTERS
Election year is here and it’s time to flip the House blue! Getting the House back can help us pass much needed legislation and shore up protection against possible election interference. We can start by helping Field Team 6 make sure that more NY-19 Democrats are registered and ready to safely vote from home if they want. It’s a close, flippable race, in a district that went for Biden by 4 points. Now we can help our side win! There will be two phone banking events, one on Saturday, January 13, from 5-7 Eastern Time, and one on the following Saturday, January 18 5-7 Eastern time. We can sign up for either, or both, if we like. When we sign up, we will get training and can join this virtual event from wherever we are. So much is at stake this year, so let’s hit the ground running and get our House back! We can sign up here to make sure NY-19 Dem voters are registered and ready to vote!
THANKING ELECTED OFFICIALS
A reader has reminded us of the importance of thanking elected officials who, quietly doing their jobs, succeed in passing laws or implementing policies that better the lives of the American people. This reader singled out Democratic Congressman Jeff Jackson (14th District NC) whose bipartisan bill expanding parental leave to new fathers and adoptive parents in the National Guard and Reserves has passed both chambers of Congress. And his bill to close the Charlotte, NC weather radar gap has passed committee. Those of us in Rep. Jackson’s district can thank him via email. The rest of us can thank him by calling his Washington, D.C., office, 202-225-5634. And let’s tell Rogan’s List about elected officials we believe deserve our thanks!
STATE-SPECIFIC ACTIONS
WI - NO FAKE ELECTORS ON WISCONSIN’S STATE ELECTION COMMISSION
Nine of Wisconsin’s ten fake electors have stepped down. However, Bob Spindell has not, and he is supported by Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu. Wisconsin Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski (D) is calling for his removal. Spindell and other nine fake electors conceded in a legal settlement that Biden had won the state and agreed to not serve as electors in next year’s election or in any in which Trump is running. Let’s contact Devin LeMahieu, the state election commission, and our own legislators to tell them we want Spindell off the state elections commission.
Thank you, and Happy New Year!