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Some of you may have already heard about this through the Occupy Wall-Street or Occupy Faith grapevines, but here is your official invitation to the “Money-Out/Voters-in” Day of Action on Saturday Afternoon, January 19^th… join us at the Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square South.  Doors open at 12:30p, program starts at 1p.

After the main program at the Kimmel Center, we will then be heading down to 1 Federal Plaza at 4p for an actual marriage ceremony between two corporations.  Can’t miss that, right?  Bring your handkerchiefs… it’s going to be a real tear-jerker.

Join OWS Faith Leaders and many other allies from around the city and the state for this important and exciting program, designed to kick off a united effort to support our three objectives:
1.     Overturn Citizens United
2.     Enact Publicly Financed Elections in New York State and Washington
3.     Expand the Vote

You and/or your institution can help make this day a success by taking two steps:
1) Allow us to add your organization’s name to our list of endorsers (reach out to Sam to let him know: SMassol@commoncause.org)
2) Reach out to all of your members and supporters and encourage them to participate in the day of action on January 19th.

Together we can make a difference. Can we count on your support?
You can find out more about the Money-Out/Voters-In Day of Action, Jan. 19 below or on their website.

JANUARY 19 EVENT SCHEDULE
The Skirball Center at NYU
60 Washington Square South
12:30 – 3:00
-         Forum with speakers and entertainment
-         Facilitated breakout sessions to discuss how to move forward on each of our three objectives
1 Federal Plaza
4:00 Outdoor Public Event
-         In honor of the notion of that a corporation is a person, help celebrate the marriage ceremony between a person and a corporation.

Organized by Occupy Wall Street
SPONSORING ORGANIZATIONS
The Brennan Center for Legal Justice, NYU
Citizen Action
Common Cause/NY
Demos
Judson Memorial Church
MoveOn
New Roosevelt Initiative
Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Faith
Public Citizen
SEIU 32BJ
United Federation of Teachers

STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES
Money-Out/Voters-In Day of Action, Jan. 19, 2013
We Demand Democracy!

 
In 2012, big money Super PACS and voter suppression schemes assaulted our system of self-government and lost…this time. But they’ll be back to try to buy or steal our democracy unless we stop them.

That’s why New Yorkers and Americans across the country – along with a large labor, public interest, voting rights, faith and environmental coalition – are organizing a national Money-Out Voters-In Day on January 19, 2013. That weekend is the intersection of the 3rd anniversary of Citizens United, Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and the Inauguration of a pro-democracy President.

With over 80 cities participating, the centerpiece will be New York City and our target Albany, which we hope will take up the Fair Elections Act in the coming months.

 
Our system of government isn’t so much broken as rigged. The Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United disastrously overturned a century of campaign finance law to concentrate even more political power in the hands of special interests and billionaires. At the same time, 22 states tried to restrict the freedom to vote by erecting unnecessary and discriminatory barriers to registration and voting. In most of those states, voters successfully fought back and stood up for the rights Dr. King was talking about in his historic address at the Washington Monument in 1957, when he exhorted, “Give us the ballot! Give us the ballot!”

Instead of only defensively fighting off attacks on democracy, however, the groups participating in Money-Out/Voters-In Day are positively advocating three broad solutions because we demand democracy!

*Overturn Citizens United with a constitutional amendment so that a momentary five conservative Supreme Court majority doesn’t enshrine the ethic that money is speech and corporations are people. Already, 140 Members of Congress, dozens of cities and nine states — most recently Montana and Colorado by over-whelming majorities — are in favor.

 
*Enact Publicly-Financed Elections by extending to New York State and Washington the kind of small donor matching system we have in New York City. Then the impact of a voter’s voice won’t depend on the size of her wallet.

*Expand the Vote by not merely fighting back suppression efforts like restrictive ID Laws laws but also by expanding the electorate with such approaches as early voting, universal voter registration, same day registration, voting by mail, and a National Democracy Day on a Saturday in November.

After the public backlash against the Adelsons, Kochs and Roves — and the electoral majorities of pro- democracy candidates for the House, Senate and President — this is the most opportune moment since the Watergate reforms to galvanize and organize around a Democracy-for-All Program. For unless we “fix this,” to use President Obama’s election night phrase, it’ll be harder if not impossible to pass so many other advances such as climate change, a living wage, a more progressive tax code, violence control and immigration reform.

We come together for a National Day of Action on January 19 not because it’s easy to reverse Citizens United but because it’s essential. Unless we act, money and suppression will continue to veto popular majorities on issue after issue. While there are important organizations working separately on campaign finance reform and voting rights, it’s also urgent that we unite to work together on the two sides of the same coin of democracy. That can only happen when elected officials in state capitols and Washington listen more to voters than donors.

•          Rev. Richard Cizik, President of The New Evangelical Partnership for the Common Good
•          Rev. Bob Edgar, CEO, Common Cause; Former head of National Council of the Churches
•          Rev. Michael Ellik, Judson Memorial Church, NYC; Occupy Faith/Occupy Sandy
•          Green Hevra, community members
•          Rev. Philip Lawson, Pastor Emeritus, Easter Hill UMC Church, Oakland, CA; National Council of Elders
•          Rev. John Merz, Rector, Ascension Episcopal Church Brooklyn, NY; Occupy Faith/Occupy Sand
•          Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, Social Justice Organizing Program,  Re-constructionist Rabbinical College
•          Nipponzan Nyohoji Buddhist Community
•          Jacqui Patterson, NAACP – Director, Climate Justice Initiative
•          Rabbi David Saperstein, Director, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
•          Dr. Rajwant Singh, Sikh Council on Religion and Education
•          Father Louie Vitale OFM, Franciscan Friar, Co-founder Nevada Desert Experience
•          Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., President, HipHop Caucus, Washington, DC

•          Sister Simone Campbell, Executive Director, NETWORK
•          Dr. James Hansen
•          Interreligious Eco-Justice Network of CT
•          Chief Oren Lyons, Faith keeper, Turtle Clan, Onondaga Nation
•          People of the Onondaga Nation
•          Bill McKibben
•          National Council of the Elders

• Rev. Tom Carr, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Hartford, CT, Interreligious Eco Justice Network, CT
• Rev. Terry Ellen, Executive Director, Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice in the National Capital Region
• Ted Glick, Chesapeake Climate Action Network
• Cynthia Harris, Interfaith Moral Action on Climate
• Dr. Mark Johnson, Fellowship of Reconciliation
• Fr. Paul Mayer, Climate Crisis Coalition
• Ibrahim Ramey, Muslim American Freedom Society
• Karen Scott, Center for Liberty of Conscience
• Lise Van Susteren, MD, Advisory Board, Center for Health and the Global Environment,  NWF
• Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Shalom Center, Philadelphia, Pa.

As people of faith and spirituality we are deeply concerned about the effects of climate change ravaging our planet, and we are compelled by our traditions and collective conscience to take action together on this deeply moral challenge. Therefore, we call for interfaith actions across the USA to awaken our nation’s elected officials, as well as all civic and business leaders and households, to the urgent need for immediate and effective action to address the climate emergency.

As a first step, we call on our leaders to enact policies that dramatically reduce wasted energy and significantly shift our power supplies from oil, coal and natural gas to wind, solar, geothermal and other renewable energy sources. We must equitably phase-out all fossil fuel subsidies. We also call on our leaders to enact policies to help people here and abroad prepare for and withstand the terrible impacts of climate change that are already occurring and that will grow much worse in the years ahead.

We are compelled to heed Martin Luther King Jr’s call to appreciate the “fierce urgency of now” and his warning that “in this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late.” 

Our Call is:  To do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).  We must hold forth a brighter vision for our human future within the community of creation as we seek commitment to a set of clear, widely held moral principles.First, it is morally wrong to unjustifiably cause human suffering and death. Human-induced climate change is correlated with storms, floods, droughts, crop failures, diseases, and water and food shortages, as well as associated breakdowns in political, economic, social and ecological systems. These breakdowns compromise human security and are already harming and killing people here and abroad. The greatest impacts are falling on low-income people, communities of color, Indigenous peoples, and others who have contributed little to climate change. We have a moral obligation to rapidly reduce our carbon pollution to minimize these disproportionate impacts.

The second principle is to honor our moral obligation for equity and justice. The shift to a sustainable, energy efficient and renewable energy economy can create millions of good jobs and support healthy families and communities. We must ensure that this shift is a ‘just transition’ that protects the most vulnerable among us and prepares all of us for the impacts of a changing climate. It should spread the investments in solutions and the benefits of new approaches equitably, enable whole industries to make the changes needed, provide adequate resources for workers and communities adversely affected by the shift, and ensure that all Americans have a democratic voice in how those decisions are made.

The third guiding moral principle is to protect the Earth, which is the source of all life. Virtually all the world’s religious and spiritual traditions proclaim that we have a moral obligation to be good stewards of the Earth and all of its creatures and processes. To disrupt the climate that is the cornerstone of all life and to squander the extraordinary abundance of life, diversity, and beauty of the planet is a moral failure of the first order.

Our capacity for repentance and forgiveness inspires hope in a future where we can recover from the errors of our past, repair the damage we have done and share in the act of healing the Earth. May we rely on the guidance of our faith traditions and spiritual teachings to find the power to act with courage and conviction to create a brighter, more secure and sustainable future for all of us, our children and all future generations.

We will be holding an emergency information meeting this Thursday (12/6) at 10a at Judson Memorial Church (enter at 239 Thompson Street and look for the Garden Room) to update faith leaders with the evolving recovery situation.  As can be expected, there are far too many people living in houses with dangerous mold, and we will need to take a stand to have Bloomberg and city agencies recognize this and take action.