Friends,
Dawn and I hope all is well with you.
The New York Times recently published an op-ed I wrote about gun violence and local control. If you’re interested, I encourage you to take a look at this link: NYT Op-Ed
Being mayor includes protecting the safety of all our residents, and it was disturbing this summer to see ways gun lobbyists have so tightly bound the hands of Indiana communities seeking safety. I hope as a people we can make some common sense changes, in the face of the terrible carnage of gun violence that rips through 90 families every day. Please consider getting involved in that.
Coming up for air after two weeks of all the news from the national conventions, it’s hard to avoid feeling stress, but also great pride.
I cringed (and sometimes shouted) at the divisiveness and fueling of fear in the first week. It felt like our diverse and beautiful country was being mauled by people seeking to take us backward. It really was difficult for me to watch. The second week I regained footing, and was inspired by a current and a past president, a first lady, and then our next president, whom Dawn and I are so proud to support. It really was HERSTORY!!
We’ve got three political events happening in the next six weeks that I hope you’ll consider joining:
Thursday, August 18th good friends are gathering at Lei Gong and Chen Zhu’s house to celebrate and gather resources to help us keep moving Bloomington and the wider circle of Democrats forward. Please join us or send in support. It may seem surprising, but it is important that I raise some money even in off years to be effective in promoting progressive Democratic policies – including to be able to host the following two events.
Friday and Saturday, August 26-27, Dawn and I will be with hundreds of Democrats at the IDEA convention at French Lick. I’ve organized several leading Democratic Mayors to join together hosting a hospitality suite, reminding folks that local leadership matters, including Joe Hogsett (Indianapolis), Pete Buttigieg (South Bend), Karen Freeman-Wilson (Gary), and Tom Henry (Fort Wayne).
Sunday, September 11th, join us at Bryan Park from 4 to 7pm for the annual Hamilton Family Picnic, where you’ll meet and hear from statewide and local candidates, savor barbecue, live music from the Vallures, and more. We want all to know how important Monroe County Democrats are to statewide success!
Enjoy the long days and different rhythms of summer. And be ready for the important action this fall, to win a BUNCH of elections we need to win. Thanks for all you do!!
Democratically Yours,
John