In This Email

April 04 2023

• Party News

  • NEW: An Unprecedented Indictment of a Former President Shows That No One is Above the Law

  • NEW: Rural Michigan and the Pending Gun Safety Laws

  • Spring Fling ‘23

  • NEW: It’s Election Day for the Wisconsin Supreme Court

  • NEW: The Good Things Happening in Lansing Are Taking a Break

  • NEW: Gary Peters Again Rated #1 Most Effective U.S. Senator

• Upcoming Events

  • HCDP General Meeting for April

  • NEW: A Few Slots Left for the Rural Democratic Summit

  • NEW: Campaign & Community Events

It’s finally happened. After much anticipation, including a worried social media post two weeks ago from former President Trump, he was in fact indicted by a New York Grand Jury this past Thursday. Trump becomes the first U.S. president to be charged with a crime.

The indictment revolves around the hush money payment made to adult film star Stormy Daniels, though at the time this is being written the exact charges have not yet been made public.

Trump and his lawyers have said that he will fly to New York and surrender to authorities today. His arraignment is expected to immediately follow.

As you know, there is much political posturing on the right, including calls for protests (and potentially more), going on around this event.

As Democrats we may be tempted to do some political posturing of our own. And, while I admit to taking pleasure in the “Happy Indictment Day” memes circulating on social media, we would do well to listen to California Democratic House Rep. Eric Swalwell who said ”As this case progresses, let us neither celebrate nor destroy. As the former president continues to call for violence in his name, let all of us, as Democrats and Republicans, condemn his efforts to incite."

Unlike Republican officials, who have immediately sought to politicize the indictment, both Governor Whitmer and President Biden have refused to comment, leaving the pursuit of justice in the hands of prosecutors and the courts. Democratic House Rep. Debbie Dingell (6th District MI) tweeted that “All Americans deserve and are entitled to equal justice under the law and I implore everyone to remain calm and peaceful. We are a nation of laws and due process, and now our judicial system will do its job.”

Bridge Michigan had an interesting article this past week. Reporters spoke to ten pistol owners in Michigan’s “Gun Belt” - the counties along the 45th parallel in northern lower Michigan where one in 10 Michiganders have a license to carry a concealed handgun. They found that most were open to the gun safety laws being put forward by Democrats in the Michigan legislature. Many were openly in favor of the laws. The article is well worth your time.

It's that time of year! The planning team has met, and things are getting organized for another Spring Fling. Start thinking Spring, and mark June 10th on your calendar for our annual get together.

We'll have more information on the event as we get closer to June 10th.

It’s Election Day in Wisconsin, after the early voting period that began March 24th. This is an important day for the future of Wisconsin’s Supreme Court. Although Wisconsin's Supreme Court elections are officially nonpartisan, the race could tip the court's ideological balance of power if liberal Janet Protasiewicz beats conservative Daniel Kelly. Kelly is a Trump ally and has ties to the "fake electors" scheme in Wisconsin. Should Protasiewicz prevail her presence on the Court would help protect reproductive and voting rights in Wisconsin.

After several weeks of transformational lawmaking the Michigan House and Senate took a break last week. Both houses will be back in session April 11th. The Democrats left with most of their gun safety bills on the Governor’s desk. Only the red flag law remains.

We'll continue following along and summarizing legislative actions as the Democrats in Lansing return and hopefully continue to keep up the pace.

We’ve had good reason this year to point out how Democrats are getting things done at the state level.

But we also need to point out that we in Michigan are fortunate to be represented in the US Senate by the hard-working Gary Peters. The Non-Partisan Center for Effective Lawmaking has just recognized Senator Peters as the Most Effective US Senator of the last (117th) Senatorial session. Peters earned this recognition by authoring and enacting into law the most Bills (19) of any US Senator. The Center also pointed out that “…substantial portions of the language of another ten bills that Sen. Peters introduced were ultimately inserted into other legislators’ bills that became law.”

This is the second time in a row that Peters has earned this recognition. In the 116th session Peters “had the rare distinction of being the overall most effective lawmaker in the Senate, despite Democrats being the minority party.”

We should note that for this past session Senator Peters accomplished this while also taking on the party role of Chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. For his work in that role Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said “Gary is a battle-tested, proven winner whose hard work led Senate Democrats to defy the political odds and to one of our best midterm results in recent history."

Upcoming Events

Our next General/ Meeting is tomorrow, Wednesday, April 5 at 7 PM. You do not need to be a member to attend our monthly m/eetings, and we would welcome your attendance.

IN PERSON: The meeting will be held in-person at the Super 8 Motel in Houghton.

REMOTE ATTENDANCE: Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 857 2336 4884

Passcode: 851807

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From what we hear there are just a few slots left at the MI Rural Democratic Summit sponsored by the MDP Rural Caucus. The event runs from April 13 (evening) through April 15 (noon) in Sault Ste. Marie. You can register now for the Summit, and meet new friends from all over the state who are working to build the rural blue movement.

For full details, including the link to register, visit the Rural Caucus website, or see their Summit flyer.

Wed 4/5

• Hancock City Council meets at 6 PM in the Hancock City Hall Council Chambers.

Thur 4/6

• The South Range Village Council meets Thursday at 6:30 PM in the South Range Community Building. For more information contact the Village at [email protected] or (906) 482-8833

Sun 4/9

• Sunday is the Christian religious holiday Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his crucifixion. Many also celebrate with Easter eggs and candy for children. Easter egg hunts are a part of many celebrations, including the annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House Lawn.

On March 28th, as we left Women’s History Month, Elle magazine recognized Governor Whitmer as one of their Elle Women of Impact 2023. Their story on Governor Whitmer can be found here, and a version of the article will appear in the April edition of their magazine.