[imc-st.louis] Fwd: Local Control Victory

[ben]

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Confluence] Local Control Victory
Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2008 13:35:06 +0000
From: Civilian Oversight Board Campaign <capcr_cob at hotmail.com>

Dear Allies:

The Coalition Against Police Crimes and Repression scored an important 
victory March 12. Our bill for Local Control of the St. Louis Police was 
passed out of committee in the Missouri House of Representatives.

We need your help now in making sure that the bill is heard on the House 
Floor and comes up for a vote. The next step is to get the bill through 
the House Rules Committee. Please email your State Representative, 
asking that they urge the Rules Committee to pass the bill on for 
debate. Then please urge your rep to actively support the bill.

This victory was the result of our ability to pull together a large 
coalition of political forces. St. Louis needs to present a united front 
in orde to force action in Jefferson City. That unity was in evidence 
yesterday. Representative Talib El-Amin sponsored the bill. 
Representative Rodney Hubbard chaired the committee. Eleven St. Louis 
alderpersons were on hand, representing a broad cross section of the 
city. The President of the Board of Aldermen, Terry Kennedy, Jennifer 
Florida and Stephen Gregali all testified. Mayor Slay made the trip to 
Jefferson City and testified in favor as well. Our Senate sponsor, Maida 
Coleman, also spoke for the bill. Members of the Coalition and Redditt 
Hudson from the ACLU rounded out the support.

One point of interest: The lobbyist for the Board of Police 
Commissioners spoke “for informational purposes only” and declared that 
the Board was taking no position on the bill. Their neutrality greatly 
helped the cause.

So EMAIL TODAY!! SUPPORT HOUSE BILL 2117!

If you know who your state rep is, simply email him/her at First 
Name.Last Name at house.mo.gov. If you do not know your state rep you can 
find out on the Missouri Government webstite, 
http://www.senate.mo.gov/llookup/leg_lookup.aspx.





P.S. To listen to a recent discussion of the issue on KMOX, you can go 
to http://www.kmox.com/pages/15098.php?.


-- 
Ben West
westbywest at riseup.net
http://savetheinternet.org