Members and allies at a voting rights rally in Lexington this past December

Our restoration of voting rights amendment is on the move. Just last week House Bill 70 was voted out of committee with bipartisan support by a wide margin of 7-1. We expect the bill to come up for a full vote before the Kentucky House of Representatives any day now. In order to ensure we get the supermajority needed to pass this bill, we need your help.

Kentucky is one of only four states that permanently takes away voting rights from all former felons, even after they've served their debt to society. This directly impacts over 186,000 Kentuckians, including 1 in 4 voting age African-Americans. KFTC believes in restoring the right to vote to these citizens because is is the fair, democratic, and reasonable thing to do.

Take Action!

Do you have three minutes to make a call to help pass HB70?

Call the Legislative Message Line (1-800-372-7181) as soon as you can, and ask to leave a message for some legislators. The line is open 7am to 11pm on weekdays and until 6pm on Fridays. The operator will ask for your name and address.

Ask to leave the message for "House Leadership, Senate Leadership, Senate State and Local Government Committee,” and your own Representative and Senator (if you don’t know who that is, the operator can tell you).

Message: "Please vote yes on House Bill 70."

Thank you for taking action!

According to an article by reporter John Cheeves in the 1/29/2012 edition of the Lexington Herald Leader, Senate President David Williams recently suggested that a 78-year old man protesting mountaintop removal mining in Governor Beshear's office should kill himself.

Richard Beliles is a long-time advocate for honest and transparent government in Kentucky and chairman of the Kentucky chapter of Common Cause, a national organization that advocates for fair elections and limits on the role of money in politics. Since early January, he has taken a weekly shift as part of persistent, peaceful vigil against mountaintop removal mining in the state Capitol. In today's article, Beliles described a chilling interaction he had with Senator David Williams while protesting.

"He said, 'Are you occupying the office?' I said yes. He said, 'Well, why don't you set yourself on fire? Why don't you immolate yourself?' And then he left," said Beliles, who is recovering from cancer treatment. "It was a strange thing for David to say. It sort of shook me up."

Williams's spokesperson said the Senator was "clearly joking." But there is nothing humorous about statements like this, especially from a person in public office who holds a position of significant power.

When activists  occupied the Kentucky Capitol for four days last February, they called on  Governor Beshear to "call for an end to extreme and violent speech aimed at citizens who are working to protect Kentucky's land, air and water." To date the governor has made no such declaration. Kentuckians are still waiting. Richard Beliles, and all of us, deserve far better.

KFTC members and allies in Frankfort today had an eventful day with a lot of twists and turns. 

At 8:30 a.m., House Bill 70, our bill to restore voting rights for former felons who have served their debt to society, came up in front it its House committee.  We had a room full of supporters and people ready to testify, but instead, the committee quickly called the issue to a vote and passed it nearly unanimously with just one dissenting vote. The hearing adjourned about 6 minutes after it started.  

We spent the rest of the day meeting with legislators in the House and Senate about HB 70 and also had a number of accountability conversations with the many legislators who voted yes on the House and Senate redistricting plans, respectively. 

Jason Smith, a new citizen lobbyist and a former felon got to tell his story to a couple of legislators throughout the day, including Republican Representative Kevin Bratcher who talked to him for 30 minutes and voted yes on the bill that morning.  

We also held signs to legislators in key areas with messages like "They stole my Senator" and "This is why the people of Kentucky don't trust the legislature."

After that, we held a small but effective rally on the capitol steps speaking out against the redistricting plan.  About 35 people came out and we managed to get good media coverage and gave people a chance to speak their frustrations and let the legislature know that they need to do better. 

Then, some KFTC members and allies visited the House and Senate chambers and witnessed Sen. Kathy Stein giving a powerful speech against the Senate redistricting plan, sparring with Senate leadership. 

And as we were headed out of the Capitol, many of our members witnessed an altercation in the hallway that we're still trying to understand.

Media reports are coming in from Frankfort this evening focusing on an altercation in the capitol and there are a lot of confusing and conflicting stories.  We're taking a moment to tell what happened as best as we can to get that information out to you.

KFTC, Occupy Lexington, and a number of others held a rally on the capitol steps today against the unjust House and Senate redistricting plans that affect many voters throughout the state.

After that, many of us went to the Senate and House chambers to watch the legislative business of the day.

In the Senate, Senator Kathy Stein took the floor to call out the Senate leadership for moving her district across the state, effectively disenfranchising her constituents for 2 years.

In the gallery, KFTC members and others clapped from time to time, leading Senator David Williams to threaten to have the gallery cleared of all spectators.

After a quick Senate debate, they adjourned for the day, and senators and spectators alike began to leave the chambers.

In a small side hallway, citizens including KFTC members were leaving the area when Senate President David Williams cut through the hallway.

A man named Stephen Trask approached the Sen. Williams and verbally confronted him, saying something like, "You were attacking Kathy Stein but you were really attacking all of us."

In response, security restrained Trask, and there was a chaotic scuffle in the small, crowded hallway.

Two citizens were asked to leave the building in the aftermath of the struggle, but they weren't charged and they claim that the officers improperly shoved them against the wall in the scuffle.

Trask himself was charged with "menacing" and was arrested.

Trask isn't a KFTC member, wasn't part of the planning for the event, and we certainly didn't even know that he intended to verbally confront Williams.

We will continue to try to understand what happened in full and will report more, if appropriate.

With redistricting in the House and Senate complete, at least excepting the possibility of a legal injunction, it might be important to know who your new Senator and Representative is so you know who you can most effectively lobby in the legislature.

These aren't the best maps, but you can click on them or click here to get a better look at the districts, then cross reference the numbers with the district numbers of legislators in the House and Senate. 

They're still very hard to read in smaller urban districts, but the Legislative Research Center hopes to have better maps up online within the next few days.

Of course, KFTC is still none too pleased with the partisan, and vindictive redistricting process that has led to these maps and we're holding a Rally in Frankfort on the Capitol steps tomorrow at 2pm to take some of this deep disappointment to the legislators and to the Governor.

KFTC member Greg Capillo captured some reactions from attendees at yesterday's redistricting rally. What do you think about the redistricting plan?

Photo from yesterday's rally in Lexington

Yesterday afternoon in Lexington 125 citizens came together for an impromptu rally to take a stand against the unjust and undemocratic redistricting plans passed by the state House and Senate and signed by Governor Beshear. These plans are vindictive against specific lawmakers and create very oddly shaped districts that unnecessarily divide coherent communities and constituencies.

For example, Lexington's Sen. Kathy Stein (a sponsor of KFTC’s Stream Saver Bill in the Senate), who has represented Lexington since 1997, will have the district she now represents moved to northern Kentucky. A western Kentucky district now represented by Sen. Dorsey Ridley – 200 miles away – will be moved to Lexington.

So we are taking this message to the steps of the state capitol in Frankfort tomorrow at 2 p.m. to hold our legislators accountable for this subversion of our democracy.

Earlier in the day at 8:30 a.m. our bill to restore voting rights to former felons (HB 70) will be voted on in committee in Capitol Annex room 171. We need as many people there as possible to show support for this legislation and to ensure that our legislators do the right thing by passing this bill. In the time between the committee hearing and the rally, we will be talking to our legislators about voting rights, redistricting and other KFTC issues.

Action

Join us at 8:30 a.m. in Capitol Annex room 171 for the committee hearing on HB 70. If you can’t make it that early, please come to the 2 p.m. rally on the front steps of the Capitol.

Take action at home

If you can’t make it out to Frankfort tomorrow, you can still make your voice heard by calling the Legislative Message Line (1-800-372-7181) today and leaving a message for members of the House Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee, asking for them to vote Yes on House Bill 70. The message line is open until 11 p.m., but try to leave a message as soon as possible today to ensure that committee members get the message in time.

 KFTC’s annual “I Love Mountains” day at the state capitol is just around the corner.  This big event, which attracts more than 1,000 Kentuckians each year, calls attention to the scale of destruction created by mountain-top removal coal mining in Kentucky and the need for a clean water and energy future.

 The day includes a special emphasis and participation from young Kentuckians – with a special youth-led lobby team!

KFTC youth are going to spend the morning of I Love Mountains day try to have lobby meetings with top state lawmakers.  Would you like to be part of this youth-led lobby team or do you know a young person within the ages of 5 and 25 who would be? 

What it involves:  Each youth would be responsible for attending a planning meeting over the phone (conference call) with other KFTC youth leaders and then meeting in the Capitol the morning of I Love Mountains day at 9:30 a.m. to begin our round of lobbying meetings.

How to get involved:  If this sounds like you, please call or email KFTC staffperson Carissa Lenfert at 859-893-1147 or carissa@kftc.org to sign-up.  Youth interested must sign-up by January 31^st. 

Spread the word:  Also, please pass this announcement along to anyone you may know who would be a great addition to the youth team!

Help make history and protect our land, water, and people!

Also – don’t forget to register for “I Love Mountains” day!

Today's Economic Justice Lobby Day, on the heels of the Governor's budget address, focused on telling legislators that Kentuckians deserve better than the budget cuts proposed by Governor Beshear, and that now is the time for the legislature to offer leadership in moving Kentucky forward with HB 127, a set of revenue and tax reforms that would generate about $333 million a year while making the tax structure fairer and more balanced.

A bunch of first-time lobbyists jumped right in, with members from Warren County to Rowan County talking with legislators about the Kentucky Forward Plan and KFTC's other legislative priorities.  We'll try to update this with some more photos, but here are a couple of good ones of Dana Beasley Brown teaching Rep. Steven Rudy how our tax code impacts Kentuckians across income levels, and members writing letters to legislators that we missed.

   

The Governor is offering his budget address right now. You can watch it on KET.

He's said that "the tricks and band-aids are about used up."  He's expected to balance most of the difference with budget cuts to the essential services of our state government, which will mean layoffs and less dependable public services.  Instead, our state legislature has the opportunity to pass HB 127, the Kentucky Forward Revenue Plan, sponsored by Rep. Wayne.

Take Action!

Economic Justice Lobby Day tomorrow

Come to Frankfort tomorrow to tell the legislature that now is their time to take leadership!

Call your legislators

If you can't come to Frankfort, call the legislative message line (1-800-372-7181) and leave a message for your representative and senator, as well as House Leadership. Here's a suggested message:
"My name is ____ and I live in _____ County. I want to see a better quality of life in Kentucky, and the time is now for the legislature to make it possible. I urge you to support HB 127, the Kentucky Forward Revenue Plan."

Write a letter to the editor

You can also write a letter to the editor of your local paper this week. Here's one way to think about the story that you want to tell:
- I live in _________ County and I’m _______. [Are you a parent? A student? A teacher? Someone who’s concerned about our water quality? Someone looking for a job?]
- I want to see __________. [Name the good things you want to see in your life and your community…Things that we all want, right?]
- But right now_______. [What’s standing in the way? What do you see instead?]
- That’s why, this session, I'm asking ________[your legislator's name] to support HB 127, the Kentucky Forward Revenue Plan sponsored by Rep. Wayne.
- This bill would raise $330 million a year that we could invest in ______________ [How does this bill work toward your vision?], while making the tax structure fairer by lowering taxes for Kentucky's low- and middle-income families.
- Kentuckians deserve a better quality of life, and we can get there with HB 127.