KetyE's blog

I came across this article and thought it could be very helpful for us as we put together & send out our questionnaire.

http://www.independentsector.org/programs/gr/electionquestions.html

Public Policy

Nonprofit Advocacy and Lobbying

Know the Rules

Election Dos and Don'ts for Public Charities (pdf)
Election Dos and Don'ts for Private Foundations (pdf)
Election Dos and Don'ts for 501(c)(4)s
Election Dos and Don'ts for 501(c)(3) Staff (pdf)

Candidate Forums

Candidate Questionnaires

IRS Insights on Nonprofit Political Activity (PPAN Call Summary)

Issue Advocacy vs. Electioneering (PPAN Call Summary)

IRS Guidance

Election 2008: Candidate Questionnaires

Candidate questionnaires are a valuable tool to foster discussion among candidates, public officials, and voters about the issues that affect your organization. There are a few basic rules to follow to ensure that your organization does not run afoul of IRS restrictions and election regulations prohibiting nonprofits from engaging in partisan political activities:

1. Questionnaires must be sent to all candidates running for any particular office. Follow up to make sure that your questionnaire was received by all candidates.

Fascinating article by Daniel Burke of Religion News Service. Funny though that it hasn't reached the people in the pews... Did any of you hear about this?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2008-06-18-obama-evangelicals_N.htm

By Daniel Burke, Religion News Service
WASHINGTON — With the Democratic presidential nomination in his grasp, Sen. Barack Obama is making a full-throttle push for centrist evangelicals and Catholics.

It's a move that's caught off guard some conservative evangelicals, who say they are surprised and dismayed to see a progressive-minded politician attempting to conscript their troops. At the same time, they say Sen. John McCain has done little to court their affections.

"I've never seen anything quite like it before," said evangelical author Stephen Mansfield, who wrote The Faith of George W. Bush and has a forthcoming similar book about Obama.

"To be running against a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, and to be reaching into the Christian community as wisely and knowledgeably as (Obama) is — understanding their terms and their values — is just remarkable."

Earlier this month, the Illinois senator held a closed-door meeting in Chicago with nearly 40 Christian leaders, including evangelical heavyweights like the Rev. Franklin Graham, publishing magnate Steve Strang and megachurch pastor Bishop T.D. Jakes.

I think we need to come up with one and send them to both campaigns.

Thoughts?

This story just published in NY's Daily News by Albor Ruiz speaks to the national travesty of justice that ICE has become. Consider just this one line from the story below:

"Shockingly, between January 2004 and November 2007, more detainees have perished while in custody of ICE than in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo combined."

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/05/18/2008-05-18_immigrations_h...

Immigration's human rights shame is now a moral crisis
Sunday, May 18th 2008, 4:00 AM

The human rights scandal that immigration has become gets worse with every new revelation of official abuse, neglect and lack of accountability.

Over the last couple of weeks, it has become clear that the scandal goes beyond the raids that terrorize thousands of immigrant families, or the hodgepodge of local - and often racist - anti-immigrant laws that have emerged after Congress failed to pass a rational immigration law.

Recent revelations have exposed the blatant disregard for the lives of those detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its private subcontractors around the country. What goes on inside immigration detention centers points to a moral crisis that threatens to shred the nation's basic values.

My manager's mother has just been admitted to the ICU. CrossLeft community, would you please keep her and her daughter in your thoughts and prayers? Thank you, Kety

CrossLeft community,

Tomorrow the Chicago Tribune will be interviewing a few of the founders of the Sanctuary in anticipation of a larger scale launch.

The Sanctuary (http://thesanctuary.soapblox.net/) is an online community that is pro-migrant, pro-humanity and pro-social justice. It is a safe space for organizing, sharing information and stories and discussing this issue which is crucial to us as a nation and a world.

This space has been created from the grassroots by a handful of volunteers who have been working on the concept since last year. I feel honored to be among this group as I believe that this space will truly make a difference in the immigration debate in the days, weeks, months and years to come. I write you this note to invite you to be one of the voices speaking on behalf of change.

Please note that the site is still in beta and there are still bugs being worked on. The success of this initiative will come from the passion of the community that is built thus I wanted to invite you to join in the conversation from the start. Please stop on by, sign up now and begin posting your own diaries.

CrossLeft community,

I thought you would enjoy this- I am re-posting the following article for Stefanie C.--- Frank C's daughter. This piece (her first published piece) is beautifully written. We are indeed blessed to have such gifted writers such as this father & daughter duo in our midst.

-K

Frank C.
By Stefanie C., Staten Island, NY

When I get off the bus, I’m usually greeted by the sounds of news on CNN and taps of a keyboard. My father welcomes me, and I help him with the usual things – changing the channel, getting seltzer, bringing him his keyboard, and some other tasks. Why doesn’t he do this himself? Well, he can’t. My father has muscular dystrophy, a disease that has eaten away at his muscles to the point where he can’t walk. Of course, this doesn’t seem strange to me. I’m used to it. But the fact that my father can live just about as normally as any other parent, caring for his family, is all I need to believe in him as a role model.

I was taught never to judge people by their appearance. It’s unfair, and I could miss out on a potential friend. I learned that when I see someone of a different race or stature, I am equal to them, no matter who they are. My dad is a modern-day Atticus Finch. He read to me from infancy, and made sure I had a sense of morality and intellect.

IPC Declaration on Immigration Rights

On May 1st, a day of protest for immigrants rights, the Institute for Progressive Christianity offers the following declaration:

Immigration As Definer of Our Character: In the context of the May 1st Immigrant Rights Marches

On the question of undocumented immigrants the religious left have an important choice: Will we act as fearful xenophobes or as enlightened patriotic people of faith?

I write this declaration confident that a politically dynamic religious left will step forward in defense of the stranger among us.

But what should a religious left approach to immigration in 2008 look like? Let us assume that it will be an active, interfaith political movement. The immigration marches of 2006 helped pave the way for us to imagine that this is possible. Religious institutions joined political groups in the street in support of the undocumented alien and in opposition to harsh xenophobic legislation.

http://www.instituteforprogressivechristianity.org/

A letter from our friend Rabbi Arthur Waskow

Dear Friends,

The military funding bill is before the Senate RIGHT NOW. Two important amendments have been proposed - one to restore the ancient and crucial right of habeas corpus, abolished for some prisoners by the last Congress; and one (by Senator Russell Feingold) to set a firm six-month step-by-step process for bringing our soldiers in Iraq safely and swiftly home no later than next April.

La lucha continua (The struggle continues)

Kety

Press Release : Statement of Familia Latina Unida on the recent events surrounding Elvira Arellano
Contact Information:
Emma Lozano 773-671-1798
Rev. Walter L Coleman 773-671-1755
PRESS CONFERENCE
Saturday, August 25 th, 2007, 12 noon
Adalberto United Methodist Church
2716 W Division St., Chicago, Il .

Elvira Arellano: A Victory of Faith,
A Still Strong Voice

Arellano's Journey of Faith Restores Immigration Debate

in Congress, Reunifies the Movement and Sets the Stage

for September Showdown.

"We Are All Elvira Arellano"

For three years on the streets and one year in sanctuary, Elvira Arellano's courageous witness of faith brought the issue of family unity into the middle of the immigration debate. By July of this year the situation had changed and her faith required new action, new commitment.

Not only did the Senate fail to act on comprehensive immigration reform, but the political leadership of both the House and the Senate stated unequivocally that the immigration debate was dead until after the next election. At the same time, Homeland Security began to escalate raids, deportations, separation of families and no match sanctions. Declaring that three years of this holocaust was unacceptable, Elvira said, "I cannot sit by and watch millions of children like Saulito and millions of mothers like myself as their families are destroyed."

A Familia Latina Unida delegation to Washington led by Emma Lozano and representing families from New York, Illinois, Miami and California confronted the democratic leadership on their "political cowardice" in July. Back in Chicago, the families publicly challenged Labor Unions, Democratic Party leaders and the Presidential candidates Clinton and Obama to take up the debate again in September.

After 15 days of prayer and fasting, Elvira determined to leave sanctuary and take the case for September Congressional action to Washington D.C. She began her journey to Washington in California.

"I came to confront two very powerful mothers, Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House, and Zoe Lofgren, chair of the subcommittee on immigration. They are the gatekeepers to the debate in September." While I.C.E. chose to attempt to silence her voice through arrest and deportation, Elvira's faith journey did not go unanswered. Armed only with the bond of love with her son, Arellano confronted the dragon of hate that is devastating this nation and forced the democratic leadership to reopen the immigration debate in the Congress, reversing their July position. Hearings will begin September 6th in Congress.