Update from Sarah Jane, Sept. 29-30, 2018: So, Jeff Flake actually did a give-with-one-hand-take-away-with-the-other move.
Flake, a Republican Senator from Arizona who sits on the Judiciary Committee, voted to advance Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination out of the committee, but made it conditional. He asked for a pause of one week to allow the FBI to re-open its background check on Kavanaugh and look into various charges. It’s assumed Flake wants to limit it to the three named alleged victims.
Trump, who has to formally permit the FBI to re-open the background check, has indicated he will do so.
The answer, as always, is to call. On weekends, you’ll be leaving voicemails.
If you have not called your Senators yet, now is the time. If you’ve called before, call again.
If one or both of your Senators are on the Judiciary Committee, it is extra-important for you to call.
Only call your own Senators. Urge your friends and family members to call their Senators.
And yes, you have to pick up the phone and call, and I’m serious about only calling your own Senators.
Be polite. Always, be polite. Practice what you want to say before you say it. Get it right, master your emotions, then call.
This is as serious as it’s ever been, people. Only a large, loud outcry from us has a chance of stopping this nomination.
Please honor the bravery of Dr Christine Blasey Ford by making those calls, and then urge friends and family to do the same.
Calling scripts from Celeste Pewter (@Celeste_Pewter) are below.
To stay on top of things, check the Twitter feeds of @Celeste_Pewter for news on what you can do; @ICalledMyReps to see others acting alongside you; and @BenWikler for news about potential protests.
Here is Celeste Pewter’s general script for all Senators. Please check her feed, @Celeste_Pewter, for the freshest, most up-to-date scripts. The previous script she wrote for speaking to Judiciary Committee members appears below this one.
Before I give you the Judiciary Committee script (and again, before you call, check @Celeste_Pewter to see if she’s posted a fresher script before you call, and then tweet about your action with the #ICalledMyReps hashtag), here is a link to the membership of the committee:
Link:
https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/about/members
And here’s the broken-out list of all current sitting members. Again, only use this to ID Senators who represent you or the home states of your friends and family. The Senators’ offices will disregard calls from non-constituents and might use them as an excuse to dismiss any pressure they’re feeling from their legitimate constituents. And again, compose yourself, and be unfailingly polite when you call.
The GOP Judicial Committee members:
Chuck Grassley of Iowa (he’s the current Chairman)
Orrin Hatch of Utah (he has announced he won’t run again)
Michael Lee of Utah (yes, BOTH of Utah’s Senators are on the Judiciary Committee.)
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
John Cornyn of Texas
Ted Cruz of Texas (yes, BOTH of Texas’s senators are on the Judiciary Committee.)
Ben Sasse of Nebraska (he has announced he won’t run again)
Jeff Flake of Arizona (he has announced he won’t run again)
Mike Crapo of Indiana
Thom Tillis of North Carolina
John Kennedy of Louisiana
The Democratic Judicial Committee members (know that virtually all of them if not all of them have already come out as opposing Kavanaugh, but double-check their social media feeds before calling so you can cite their own words on the matter):
Dianne Feinstein of California (she’s the ranking member, aka Grassley’s minority counterpart. She has been taking heat for ‘holding back’ Dr. Ford’s allegation when she was actually trying to honor her request for anonymity; thank her for her attempts to defend her)
Patrick Leahy of Vermont (earlier in the process, the former Judiciary Committee chairman credibly accused Kavanaugh of perjuring himself under oath during previous judicial hearings for a lower-ranking post)
Dick Durbin of Illinois
Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island
Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota
Christopher Coons of Delaware
Richard Blumenfeld of Connecticut
Mazie Hirono of Hawaii
Cory Booker of New Jersey
Kamala Harris of California (yes, BOTH of California’s Senators are on the Judiciary Committee)
Now here’s the (possibly out of date) calling script from Celeste Pewter. Scroll past it to learn how to reward her efforts:
And since I slotted that, she started producing scripts for a few individual GOP Judiciary Committee members. So, here we go:
Chuck Grassley:
Orrin Hatch:
Lindsey Graham:
You can show love for Celeste Pewter in many ways.
You can follow her on Twitter: @Celeste_Pewter
You can tweet about calling your Senators, using the #ICalledMyReps hashtag.
You can follow @ICalledMyReps on Twitter.
You can adopt a vulnerable incumbent Democratic Senator by checking out The Road to 2018, an organization Pewter created. Read about it here:
You can follow The Road to 2018 on Twitter: @Roadto18
And you can subscribe to her peerless newsletter, It’s Time to Fight:
http://itstimetofight.weebly.com
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