Progressive Democrats Sonoma County

PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS OF AMERICA presents an evening with:

JOHN NICHOLS, Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine,

MICHAEL LIGHTY, Policy Director of the California Nurses Association,

and NORMAN SOLOMON, Co-chair of the national Healthcare NOT Warfare Campaign.

Doors open at 7:30 pm.

Go here for a campus map

This is a rare opportunity to see these three dynamic leaders and speakers together in one room. Join us for an evening of community and celebration in support of Healthcare NOT Warfare!

No entry charge. Donations accepted. Wheel-chair accessible.

Cosponsored by the Expressions Program of the Humanities Department, Dominican University.

Location

PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS OF AMERICA presents an evening with:

JOHN NICHOLS, Washington correspondent for The Nation magazine,

MICHAEL LIGHTY, Policy Director of the California Nurses Association,

and NORMAN SOLOMON, Co-chair of the national Healthcare NOT Warfare Campaign.

WHEN: Saturday, October 15, 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. Doors open at 7:30.

WHERE: Guzman Hall, Dominican University; 50 Acacia Ave., San Rafael, CA 94901.

Go here for a campus map

This is a rare opportunity to see these three dynamic leaders and speakers together in one room. Join us for an evening of community and celebration in support of Healthcare NOT Warfare!

No entry charge. Donations accepted. Wheel-chair accessible.

Cosponsored by the Expressions Program of the Humanities Department, Dominican University.

An Evening with:

JOHN NICHOLS
Washington correspondent for
The Nation Magazine

MICHAEL LIGHTY
Policy Director of the California
Nurses Association

and
NORMAN SOLOMON
Co-Chair of the national
Healthcare Not Warfare Campaign

___

Join local PDA members as we welcome PDA Advisory Board member and honored guest Lynn Woolsey, Healthcare NOT Warfare co-chair Norman Solomon, PDA Advisory Board member and Director of Administration and Public Policy for the California Nurses Association (CNA)/National Nurses United (NNU) Michael Lighty, along with Tim Carpenter, Conor Boylan, and Dr. Bill Honigman of the PDA National team for the last leg of the PDA California Healthcare NOT Warfare Tour. Celebrate with us as we honor Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey and her six years with PDA.

Read the Rest Here & RSVP

UPDATE: Michael Lighty WILL be with us in Santa Rosa on April 28. Along with Rep. Lynn Woolsey, he will be joined by Norman Solomon, Co-Chair of the Healthcare Not Warfare Campaign and Tim Carpenter, Conor Boylan, Dr. Bill Honigman and Steve Cobble of the PDA national team. Space is limited. RSVP required: http://www.pdamerica.org/events/view/pda-roadshow-is-coming-to-santa-rosa

Join local PDA members as we welcome PDA Advisory Board member and honored guest Lynn Woolsey, Healthcare NOT Warfare co-chair Norman Solomon, PDA Advisory Board member and Director of Administration and Public Policy for the California Nurses Association (CNA)/National Nurses United (NNU) Michael Lighty, along with Tim Carpenter, Conor Boylan, and Dr. Bill Honigman of the PDA National team for the last leg of the PDA California Healthcare NOT Warfare Tour. Celebrate with us as we honor Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey and her six years with PDA.

Click Here to read the rest or RSVP. RSVP required but no charge to attend.

Location

PDA is proud to introduce “The Agitator: Voices of PDA” a series of kitchen table conversations with members of the PDA community led by Tim Carpenter, PDA National Director. We hope you enjoy the conversation!

Guests in the inaugural broadcast include Thom Hartmann, author, radio host and PDA Advisory Board member; California Nurses Association/National Nurses Union Policy Director and PDA Board Member Michael Lighty; and PDA’s own Deputy Director and Communications Coordinator. Laura Bonham.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

______

Don’t despair —
single-payer healthcare is still alive and gaining support

They said single-payer was off the table. In the next two weeks there will be a floor vote on HR 676 in the House. They said Democrats would never support single-payer, yet PDA led the successful effort to get key state parties to adopt resolutions in support of HR 676. And the national party adopted “everybody in, nobody out” as a plank in their platform. They said the AFL-CIO only supports the public option, but hundreds of local unions endorsed HR 676, leading to adoption by the AFL-CIO convention of their first single-payer resolution in over 25 years.

When they say a patient can’t be saved, nurses keep trying. When they say it’s not politically possible, PDA organizes harder.

As the nation debates the future of our health care system, the California Clean Money Campaign invites you to join State Senator Loni Hancock and leaders of the California Nurses Association, Health Care for All, and the California Fair Elections Campaign in a forum focusing on how special interest money corrupts the health care debate and how the California Fair Elections Act on the June 2010 ballot will change the system.

WHO:
State Senator Loni Hancock
Trent Lange, Chair Californians for Fair Elections
Michael Lighty, Director of Public Policy California Nurses
Association
Andrew McGuire, Executive Director Health Care for All – California

WHEN: Friday, October 2 from 12:30 pm – 2pm

WHERE:
BART Board Room
Kaiser Center 20th Street Mall, 3rd Floor
344-20th Street,
Oakland, CA 94612

NOTE: -Light lunch and refreshments provided
REGISTER NOW!

The national health care conversation has focused critical attention on the need for reforms that will protect our families and enable businesses to remain competitive globally. It has also focused attention on the fact that insurance companies, HMOs, hospitals, and other interests have spent hundreds of millions of dollars lobbying and on campaign contributions influencing the process.

California, with the largest population of uninsured families, has the most to gain from health care reforms and the most to lose if health care is not expanded and insurance costs are not reined in.

Appearing on the June 2010 ballot, the California Fair Elections Act, authored by Loni Hancock and signed by Governor Schwarzenegger, would establish a voluntary pilot public financing program for the 2014 and 2018 Secretary of State races. The initiative aims to mitigate the influence of big donors and special interests in elections and ensure that elections are about ideas, not money.

________
September 29, 2009

The national team has just returned from California. We thank everyone who found time to come to one of the six scheduled meetings. We covered a lot of territory—organizationally and geographically—from Los Angeles to Sacramento, then Oakland and Santa Rosa.

We discussed the nuts and bolts of PDA, our electoral strategy and next steps concerning Medicare for All and the Afghanistan War. In addition, we got the chance to meet many newcomers to PDA and catch up with our old friends and stalwart activists. Read about it here.

Please listen to this pod cast from Peter B. Collins. In it, Peter interviews PDA-endorsed candidate Marcy Winograd, who is challenging Jane Harmon in California’s CD 36, and Michael Lighty, Policy Director for the California Nurses Association.

September 29, 2009

Ed. Note – article contains a nice shout out to PDSonoma County!

National and grassroots leaders from Progressive Democrats of America attended a series of meetings in California, culminating with the Western Regional Meeting at the headquarters of the California Nurses Association in Oakland on September 26.

The one-day conference covered the nuts and bolts of PDA organizing: Chapter building, congressional district organizing, issue organizing, electoral strategy, broadening outreach and organizing tools.

Participants heard from PDA CA-endorsed candidate [Marcy Winograd www.winograd4congress.com/]. Winograd is challenging Jane Harmon in California’s CD 36. This is her second attempt to defeat Harmon, a defense industry favorite. Winograd jumped into the 2006 race just three months before the primary but garnered 35% of the vote.

In addition, CD 10 candidate for Congress John Garamendi made an impromptu visit to address the 70 activists present. Garamendi is running to fill the seat vacated by Elen Tauscher. Former California Insurance Commissioner, Garamendi is a supporter of single-payer healthcare.

Michael Lighty, California Nurses Association Political Director, delivered a compelling presentation on the politics of single-payer healthcare and the next steps in this human rights battle.

________________
PDA Western States Regional Meeting
September 26, Oakland, CA
California Nurses Headquarters

In an effort to make it easier for members of the PDA community to attend our conferences, the PDA national team is scheduling regional meetings, which we hope are more accessible. The next meeting is September 26 in Oakland, graciously hosted by our friends, the California Nurses Association.

We’ll be evaluating our progress and effectiveness, addressing ways to improve, sharing ideas and strategies for success, learning some nuts and bolts, and building our 2010 timeline. Click here for details and to RSVP.

These meetings give us a chance to step away from conference calls and interact with one another in a more meaningful way than a phone call or email ever could. PDA really is a community and it is hard to express how much we gain from the personal interaction at our gatherings. We hope you’ll join us.