Since launching the website for our campaign last month, many of you have responded with your enthusiastic support. Thank you so much! Together, we can build a campaign that will fight to make Massachusetts a model for free and fair elections for the nation.
Here is an update on our work in the past month:
1) Prior to the November 8, 2005 municipal election in Lawrence, Massachusetts, I learned that city officials in Lawrence had mailed notices in late October to some 15,000 voters (nearly half of the electorate) stating that they were on the inactive voter list. The notices arrived with little or no time for voters to meet the October 19 deadline to be placed back on the active voter list. Further, the notices – which the city sent in disproportionate numbers to Latino voters -- did not state that people on the inactive voter list could still vote in the November 8th election, thus discouraging thousands of voters from showing up on election day.
I worked closely with Lawrence city councilors Carlos Matos and Barbara Gonzalez and with Oíste, the Massachusetts Latino Political Organization, in pushing for the filing of a federal lawsuit seeking an additional day of voting in light of the widespread confusion caused by the city’s late mailing of the notices. The ACLU of Massachusetts and Goodwin Procter, LLP filed the lawsuit on behalf of Matos, Gonzalez and Oíste. While the federal judge, unfortunately, refused to order an additional day of voting or postpone the election in any way, he was troubled enough by the case that he ordered the city, the night before the election, to run last-minute radio and print advertisements informing voters who received the notices that they could still vote. That remedy proved ineffective. The thirty percent turnout marked the lowest turnout in 50 years for a mayoral election in Lawrence.
The Lawrence situation only reinforces why we need to make voting easier via election day registration and why we need a Secretary of State who will vigorously fight for the rights of all voters to participate in the electoral process.
2) On Sunday, October 30, 2005, I participated in a voting rights march from Roxbury to Boston Common as a symbolic re-enactment of the historic 1965 march from Selma to Montgomery, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. That march forty years ago followed Bloody Sunday, March 7, 1965, in which John Lewis, a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and hundreds of other marchers were attacked and beaten by heavily armed state troopers at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma. Bloody Sunday and the march that Dr. King led two weeks later resulted in the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Congressman John Lewis was on hand for the October 30 re-enactment in Boston and spoke eloquently about Bloody Sunday, about how Congress must reauthorize the Voting Rights Act, and about how the struggle for voting rights for all continues to this day.
3) In November, I participated as a panelist at three different forums in the state on the Iraq war. On November 5, I joined Congressman Jim McGovern for a forum in Turners Falls, and on November 13, I joined Congressman Barney Frank for a forum in Newton. Both of these forums were co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Democratic Party and Progressive Democrats of America. On November 20, I joined Congressman John Tierney for a forum in Bedford, sponsored by the Middlesex Area Democrats. At each of these events, I spoke about how the president illegally took the nation into this war without a congressional declaration of war or equivalent action, as required by the War Powers Clause of the US Constitution. The question of how we got into this war is a critical democracy issue of our time that I will continue to highlight throughout this campaign.
4) On November 5, we held our first house party for the campaign at the home of my parents, Deirdre and Cristóbal Bonifaz, in Conway, Massachusetts. More than 50 friends and supporters joined us for this kick-off event. On November 30, Progressive Democrats of Jamaica Plain will be hosting a house party for the campaign, and, if you are in the Boston area, we hope you will join us. See the details below.
In the coming days, we will be bringing our campaign to a new and exciting level. As we prepare for that, here are three ways you can help:
1) If you have not already done so, please consider making a contribution today to the campaign to help us demonstrate our early viability. You can make a contribution online at www.johnbonifaz.com; if you prefer to contribute by check, you can mail a check payable to the Bonifaz Committee to:
Bonifaz Committee
P.O. Box 300007
Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts 02130
Individuals may contribute up to $500 to the campaign per calendar year. Massachusetts campaign finance law requires the employer/occupation information for persons who contribute $200 or more in a calendar year. However, in the spirit of full public disclosure of our donors, we ask that you provide this information even if you are contributing less than $200.
2) Please send an email to your personal lists urging your friends and colleagues to visit our website and to support the campaign. Feel free to link in your email to this recent online piece by my friend David Swanson, a longtime activist and co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org, who writes why he is supporting this campaign:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_david_sw_051113_bonifaz_3a_a_candidate.htm
3) As mentioned above, Progressive Democrats of Jamaica Plain will be hosting a reception for the campaign this Wednesday, November 30, at 7 pm, at the home of Kevin Batt and Terry Mason, 63 Peter Parley Street in Jamaica Plain. If you are in the Boston area, please join us.
We look forward to updating you on further developments as we move forward with this campaign. Thank you again for all of your crucial support!
Keep on,
John
