Peace with Justice Committee meeting 12 Mar 2006 Walker church 2 pm

(Submitted by Kristine, and with a few edits by Paul)

Attending: Bonnie Beckel, Linda Berglin, Steve Cobian, Steve Sandberg, Jim Feldman, David West, Paul McHugh, Paris Dunning, Kate Danucci, Kristine Smith. Absent: Joe Hesla, Marg Rozyski, Janet Court, Rebecca Kloek, Sally Kuehn. Paris led the meeting.

Paul was thanked for getting the minutes from last meeting organized and distributed. For the time being he will coordinate email information. Members requested an email contact list of committee members. Paul will see to this.

It was noted that the Sunday announcement do not contain information on committee meetings or the upcoming rally. Jim noted that the information was on the website. Kristine will contact Jennifer to ensure the committee information goes on announcement sheets.

Committee members report to the committee. David West talked about his caucus experience. He was unable to get the resolution passed because of opposition and lack of information on his part. Jim Feldman was able to get the resolution passed at his caucus. Ditto Kristine. Quite a few Walker people not connected with the committee are delegate members from their caucuses.

Kristine reported on her liaison with Joel Albers & UHCAN. They are enthusiastic about our efforts. Kristine will continue to liaison with them. Joel expressed interest in getting committee members to do direct action. Paris reported conversations with Mary Jo George of the steering committee. He is in the process of finding out exactly what we can be doing for, and during the rally. Steve Sandberg is in the middle of writing a song for the rally.

Linda’s report to the Committee They have been unsuccessful in finding a Republican sponsor for the bill in the House. Several are going to co-author, with the leading House Democrat as sponsor. Neva Walker had a health care reform (single-payer) bill before the legislature; it was demolished by the Republican chair of the House Health & Human Services (?) Committee, with possible negative repercussions possible for our amendment bill. Linda was able to get the CEO Methodist hospital to lobby on behalf of the amendment bill, however. She has teleconferenced for the purpose of increasing media attention with editorial boards in the outstate regions, coordinating with (hopefully) the CEO’s of local hospitals, or emergency room nurses; Linda has also met with Laurie Sturdevant of the Trib. Linda believes we are fast approaching telephone time, i.e. the deadline for consideration of our bill by the House, which is April 4). If it is not taken up by the House at that time, it will be a dead issue for this legislative session.

Postcards: Bonnie requested help in sorting and mailing the collected postcards. David suggested that we also have blank ones available. Discussion ensued over how much time to allot to postcards. Linda said it did no good to hand them out blank; postcards require some babysitting. Various comments were directed towards how that might happen. Paris told about past efforts involving poster board with the messages and using a variety of sizes for the mailings. No conclusion was reached except we will be using postcards, or petitions as part of the campaign.

Power Map Using the visual aid provided by Paris, and information from Linda, we targeted three potential areas; Char Samuelson/New Brighton, Joyce Peppin/Maple Grove; Jim Abeler/ Anoka. These are key swing votes on the Health & Human Services Committee in the House. Linda feels that the bill is at less risk in the corresponding committee in the Senate.

Actions & Solutions With only 3 Sundays remaining to approach churches, and the March 28 rally coming up in less than two weeks, time is very short.

• Kristine will generate a list of churches in the area that will allow presentation or presence during that time.
• Kristine will continue to work on gathering facts for a rap sheet, with the help of Linda and facts she already has
• Paris will get a definitive answer from Mary Jo regarding time at the Rally.
• Paris will also find out if we should have a petition (besides the postcards).
• Signage for rally: David, Kate, Bonnie, Linda
• Chants for rally: David, possibly Steve, others?
• Bonnie & Joe volunteered to arrange a training for members to counteract negative reactions
• Jim promised to get surveys to everyone.
• Paris agreed to take the list of names of potential volunteers (from our questionnaire survey of Walkerites) and funnel the various people to committee members working on tasks.
• Plans for a doorknocking campaign in the key legislative districts were discussed but not finalized. David & Kate expressed interest in it.

Rally Linda reports that Mary Jo George is linking this with Nurses Day on the Hill and is anticipating a large turnout, hopefully around 900. There will be microphones for the speakers and musicians. It is outside though and plans should be made accordingly. She recommended against any theater other than visual. Signage and chants are the most important.

Meeting adjourned at 2:45pm with an inspirational poem from Paris.