METRO EAST

Address:
1270 Mercantile Drive

Group:
Downstate Democrats for Change

Cost:
free

Description:

The Downstate Democrats for Change is an already formed grassroots organization with members from Glen Carbon, Collinsville, Troy, Marine, Highland, and Maryville, IL. They have had a speaker's forum and are planning to actively support Dan Stover, the candidate for IL's US Congressional District 19. There will be someone in the office in Highland all afternoon if you can only participate in part of the canvass. The group will also be meeting on Wednesday, April 26 at 6:30 PM to organize. Please, sign up here for the canvass, so they can have an idea of how many people will be coming and keep you informed of updates.

Address:
Gateway Center, 1 Gateway Drive, Collinsville

Group:
Health Care Justice Group

Cost:
free

Description:

Over the past seven months, the Campaign has been working to make sure that the voice of Illinois consumers is heard at all the public hearings of the Health Care Justice Act. We have worked with a number of coalition partners and other constituencies to turn folks out to testify, creating insightful testimony, generating suggestions for solutions, and ultimately highlighting the need for a health care system that operates on the principle Everybody In, Nobody Out.

We are now approaching the final hearings, and we still need your help. On April 18, the last hearing in Southern Illinois will take place at the Gateway Center in Collinsville, located at 1 Gateway Drive. If you have been debating whether or not to attend, we need you to be there to share your knowledge and experience, and to testify to the unique health care needs of central and downstate Illinois. The health care crisis exists throughout the entire state of Illinois, from Chicago to Cairo, and we need to make sure that the regional difficulties in accessing affordable, quality care are articulated at each hearing.

Address:
Kool Kids Day Care, 210 E US Highway 40, Troy

Group:
East End Precinct Committeemen

Cost:
free

Description:

Monthly meeting of the precinct committeemen in Eastern Madison Co.

Address:
Venice Social Club, 4168 State Route 162, Pontoon Beach

Group:
Retired Steelworkers

Cost:
free

Description:

Retired steelworkers luncheon

Address:
IBEW Hall, Humbert Rd, Godfrey

Group:
Godfrey Precinct Committeemen

Cost:
free

Description:

Monthly meeting

Address:
Holiday Inn, 1000 Eastport Plaza Drive, Collinsville - (618) 345-2800

Group:
Downstate Democrats for Change

Cost:
free

Description:

The forum is for the 19th CD (Dan Stover of Centralia & Vic Roberts of Taylorville) & 5th Appellate (Bill Berry of Collinsville & Bruce Stewart of Harrisburg).

A grassroots organization of concerned citizens in So. IL will host a candidate forum for congressional & appellate court Democratic candidates. Those candidates invited to attend, date, time, and location are listed below:

19th CD Representative:
Dan Stover
Vic Roberts

IL 5th Appellate Court:
Bill Berry
Bruce Stewart

The group will have a press release available for all 37 counties of the 5th Appellate & 30 counties of the 19th CD. Additional details will follow. If there are any questions, feel free to send an email message.

Hello All!

I had a chance to collect signatures at the St. Louis Pride Fest for our Progressive Talk Radio campaign, which covers the Greater St. Louis listening area. The Stonewall Democrats and Common Sense Mom were kind enough to allow us to share a booth with them. It was very successful, so hopefully this campaign won't take too long. But, at the time, they were talking like they need a whole lot more signatures.

We discussed some ways for us to expand the on-the-ground campaign over here to Illinois. Afterall, we are about half of the audience and are in the same boat with them. They already have downloadable/printable petitions and letters of interest from businesses for circulation. But, they're also talking about offering a flier to help spread the word. Computers aren't everywhere, yet, ya know.

How bad is the Rightwing death-grip on our Media? Our cousins in St. Louis -- a major midwestern city which consistently votes blue year-in, year-out -- is force-fed a diet of Limbaugh, Hannity & O'Reilly with no alternative progressive voices.

Talk about repesenting the community? How did things get so out of whack? We've got a 21st Century American Metropolitan area captured in an Iron Curtain of Rightwing Propaganda. It's gotten so bad that the people in and around St. Louis have taken to passing around a petition imploring radio station managers "to consider switching all or part of their programming to Progressive Talk radio". The same group that's passing around the petition is also trying to line-up potential advertisers.