Changing America one election at a time.

I hope everyone is surviving the heat – I’m beginning to feel that the hot temperatures have just gotten to the absurdist levels, where you just can’t believe they’re going on and on …. And yet they do. I can’t go on. I must go on. But politics goes on , as usual, even when it’s nearly too hot to pay attention, and so we’ll meet this month to discuss life in the General Assembly, and talk a little congressional politics as well. Next Tuesday, July 10, is our monthly meeting – we’ll be hearing from State Reps. Ann Williams and Greg Harris, who will discuss the ups and downs of the past legislative year. We’re also hoping that Dr. David Gill will be able to join us: he’s running for Congress in the 13th Congressional District downstate – he’s the first candidate our members were excited to see after the primary. His schedule is still tentative, given the distance he needs to travel to speak to us, but we're optimistic that this month will be the one he is able to visit with us. You can find out more about Dr. Gill here: http://www.gill2012.org/. A couple of us took a road trip last weekend and went down to Champaign for a fundraiser for him: it was very exciting to see progressive politics thriving in another part of our state.

As always, the meeting will be at 7 pm (6 pm dinner/social hour) at the very pleasantly air conditioned Lincoln Restaurant, 4008 N. Lincoln Ave (2 blocks from the Irving Park Brown Line stop, parking in rear off of Irving Park). We’ll also be voting on adopting Leslie Coolidge (6th Congressional District, http://coolidgeforcongress.com/) . Leslie has an uphill battle to defeat Peter Roskam, but no Republican should go unchallenged in this day and age. One way to help her is to take a moment to support Leslie’s DFA page: we’d like national DFA to endorse her candidacy, and this is an easy way to support Leslie: http://www.democracyforamerica.com/campaigns/4647-coolidge-for-congress

Did you hear about Congressman Joe Walsh’s attack on endorsed candidate Tammy Duckworth? According to him, putting your life on the line in the service of your country doesn’t make you a hero: not according to Joe Walsh. What does Rep. Walsh know about heroism? Very little, apparently – this kind of attack worked against Max Cleland, and he’s hoping to make it work against Tammy: one more reason we need to throw these bums out and restore sanity to the workings of the House of Representatives.

One other event to mention: NDFA will be having our annual fundraiser, Small Change for Big Change, on Monday, July 23, at Uncommon Ground on Devon. We’ll have a cash bar, appetizers, and more fun than you can imagine. You can buy tickets here:

https://secure.actblue.com/page/chindfa2012

We’ll have more details about the fundraiser closer to the event, but mark your calendars – we need to raise a little money to keep doing what we do. We’d like to raise a little extra this year so we can rent a phone-banking space August-November, to allow us to more effectively participate in this season’s campaigns: so please help out if you can. Our treasurer, Mary Koczorowski, would like me to point out that it is extremely helpful if you can afford a recurring donation – that monthly income means a lot to us.

So please join us for both our monthly meeting on July 10, and our fundraiser on July 23: we’re looking forward to seeing you!