This is a quick action diary. Obviously this goes for residents of all 50 states, but it’s also specific to California because our Senators simply aren’t getting enough contacts. Article text below also specifically calls out Maine and Alaska, presumably in hopes that Murkowski and Collins are swayable.
From my local Indivisible newsletter today:
Action #1: For pity’ s sake, call about Kavanaugh
Deadline: today and every day - Senator Feinstein's staff recently told us point blank that they aren't hearing from us opposing Kavanaugh's nomination. Some numbers: She's had fewer than 33,000 contacts opposing the Kavanaugh nomination, with Judiciary Committee hearings starting in less than three weeks. She'd received a hundred thousand contacts opposing Neil Gorsuch by the time of his 2017 Judiciary Committee vote. In a recent poll, only 37% think the Senate should vote to confirm Kavanaugh, making him “the least popular SCOTUS pick in decades” — so the current response is pitiful. TL;DR: this is winnable but only if we act like we want to win. So call. Email. Tell Senators Feinstein and Harris — they're both on the Judiciary Committee — that you don't want Kavanaugh on the US Supreme Court. Thank them for insisting that his papers should be released. Read our article for more info and a call script, if that will help. But say something. NOW.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein
(415) 393-0707 • DC: (202) 224-3841
Sen. Kamala Harris
(415) 355-9041 • DC: (202) 224-3553
Action #2: Tell 3 friends to call about Kavanaugh
Deadline: today and every day - Send an email to three friends (hell, call your frenemies also!) with a link to our article and tell them it has everything they need: a call script, phone numbers, info about why it matters. Or post it on facebook and tag three people you know who care about this. Or use any other form of social media or electronic communication; or, what the heck, tell people face to face. Just tell people to do it.
Action #3: Call (or email) every day about Kavanaugh
Deadline: today and every day - Yes, really. How do you think the NRA does it? Senator Feinstein's staff tells us that they tally numbers of contacts per zip code per issue every day and give those numbers to the Senator. Our MoCs use these numbers to justify actions they take and how strongly they push. And if we don't call, you can bet they're still hearing from the other side. Emails are just fine, too. Put both senators on speed dial, or whatever makes it easy for you. We've got a script, and more info, here. But contact the senators. Every. Day. Please.
This is from the article:
Back-channel reports to some Indivisible East Bay members confirm what press reports are starting to say: Senators aren’t hearing from their constituents about Brett Kavanaugh, and there’s no groundswell against him.
[...]
What’s in the documents that Kavanaugh won’t turn over from his tenure in the Bush White House? Well, we don’t know, since we haven’t seen them, although there are now reports that Kavanaugh might have advised President Bush on how to get around the ban on torture during that time, and that we’d find information about this in the records that Judiciary Committee Chair Chuck Grassley won’t supply.
There’s still time to make our voices heard. The SF Chronicle quotes prominent local professor and Constitutional Law expert Rory Little as saying that “a ‘galvanized grassroots movement’ might change the equation.” And even the head of the libertarian/right-wing Federalist Society told the ultra-right wing corporate overlord Koch network that we have a chance to scuttle this nomination. BUT: you need to pick up that phone AND then get all your friends to pick up their phones. Especially your friends who live in Maine and Alaska, home of crucial swing Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski – these Senators felt the heat on health care and voted the right way, but they’re not feeling the pressure now, and they need to.
In brief: They need us to call them. California Senators are practically begging us to call them.
Neither Sen. Feinstein nor Sen. Harris need persuading, I am sure. But they do need our contacts.
FDR famously told activists: I agree with you, now make me do it. President Obama echoed this sentiment.
It’s up to us.
(Note: I will have some limited availability for comments until sundown (a little before 8:00 PDT), and then offline until Saturday night. The above is on my to-do list for Monday morning, and Tuesday morning, and…...)