December 16th is Beethoven’s birthday. Something to celebrate.
Action Items to choose from (or do all of them: your choice!) Scroll down to the matching number of your option:
- Push hard to stop gun violence
- Push back against Trump’s verbal attacks on those he sees as his political enemies
- Impeach Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth
- Support the Domestic Organic Investment Act
- Oppose the White House’s short-term farm-aid plan
- Help save public lands
- Maine-specific Actions
Reminder: When you call vs when you email via our reps’ websites (best way to contact them in writing), don’t forget to begin with: “Hi, my name is [name] and I’m a constituent calling from [zip code]. That is important, because if they don’t know you’re actually a constituent, your opinion will be ignored.
Contact info:
Angus King
DC: (202) 224-5344
Augusta: (207) 622-8292
Susan Collins
DC: (202) 224-2523
Augusta: (207) 622-8414
Bangor: (207) 945-0417
Chellie Pingree
DC: (202) 225-6116
Portland: (207) 774-5019
Waterville: (207) 873-5713
Jared Golden
DC: (202) 225-6306
Bangor: (207) 249-7400
Caribou: (207) 492-6009
Lewiston: (207) 241-6767
Find your State Representative:
By name: Here
By district: Here
(Please note that for those of you receiving this email who are not represented by Senators or House members in our district, I have to leave it up to you to find the contact info for your own representatives.)
Actions
1) Push hard to stop gun violence:
Australia just saw a horrific mass shooting last weekend, and their government is already in action, preparing a special session in which they will tighten their gun laws. We need to do the same. In America, some forty-six thousand people die from gun violence every year and yet Congress keeps refusing to act. We need an assault weapons ban. We need universal background checks. We need safe storage laws. And we need the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, which Trump shut down in his first week in office, to be reopened immediately. Nothing less will do. Gun people say, “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” Well, these types of laws will limit the ability of people-killers and wannabe people-killers to kill innocent people.
Contact Senators King and Collins and House Representative Golden to urge them to stop pussyfooting around this issue and step up and start some serious lawmaking against the problems caused by guns in our country.
2) Push back against Trump’s verbal attacks on those he sees as his political enemies:
According to NBC news reports, in just the past few weeks, almost two dozen federal, state, and local officials have received a “surge” of violent threats for similar reasons — saying or doing something Trump didn’t like, resulting in his attacking them on TV or Truth Social. Right after that, the threats began. “Among those who’ve been targeted with threats after being mentioned in social media posts by the president are numerous Democrats, including Sens. Chuck Schumer of New York and Elissa Slotkin of Michigan — but even more Republicans, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and over a dozen Indiana state lawmakers.” (NBC News)
Contact Senators King and Collins and Representative Golden to demand that they stand up to Trump and demand that he tell his followers that regardless of his invective, no death threats or other threats promising physical harm of any kind are acceptable and perpetrators will be arrested and investigated. Or, obviously, put this any way you want to express it.
3) Impeach Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth:
Congressman Shri Thanedar (MI-13) has introduced two articles of impeachment (H.Res.935) against Donald Trump’s Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, for the following charges:
–Murder and Conspiracy to Murder
–Reckless and Unlawful Mishandling of Classified Information
Contact Congressman Jared Golden to ask him to support this resolution to impeach Pete Hegseth. We simply can’t have an army-playing clown like Hegseth in control of the U.S. military.
4) Support the Domestic Organic Investment Act:
Last week, Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Susan Collins (R-ME), along with Representatives Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) and Andrea Salinas (D-OR), introduced legislation to give organic producers tools to increase capacity, modernize their operations, and expand their businesses to meet growing demand. permanent program to equip organic farmers and producers to grow their businesses and meet rising demand. Contact Senator Susan Collins to thank her, and contact Senator Angus King to ask him to support this act.
5) Oppose the White House’s short-term farm-aid plan:
Last week, the Trump administration announced that it will provide $12 billion in economic aid for farmers, with the bulk of the funds reserved for commodity crop farmers. Through a new Farmer Bridge Assistance program, $11 billion will go to one-time payments exclusively to commodities farmers, like those producing corn, rice, wheat, soybeans, cotton, sorghum and cattle. An extra $1 billion will go to so-called “specialty” farming (mostly fruits and vegetables, and presumably including organic farming). As usual, this decision by the White House pretty much supports big ag, while merely throwing a small piece of kibble to organic farmers, of which we have a lot here in Maine. Call Senators King and Collins and House Rep Golden to urge them to speak up about this discriminatory farm-aid bill. ALL farmers are being hurt by Trump’s tariffs, and small and medium farms should not be left behind.
6) Help save public lands:
Introduced by Representatives Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.) and Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) in the 118th Congress and reintroduced in the 119th, this bipartisan bill (H.R. 718, the Public Lands in Public Hands Act) prohibits the sale or transfer of public lands managed by the Department of the Interior and the U.S. Forest Service without extra oversight. It would require Congress to approve the sale or transfer of publicly accessible parcels of land larger than 300 acres, as well as water-adjacent parcels larger than 5 acres.
Contact Jared Golden and urge him to co-sponsor H.R. 718. Contact Senators King and Collins to ask them to sponsor a Senate version of the Public Lands in Public Hands Act. Remind them how important Maine’s vast wilderness areas are to the state’s economy. It would be wild (and equally unlikely) if they could Sponsor it together as a bipartisan bill!
7) Maine-specific Actions (see contact info below):
1. Support LD 1383, An Act to Require State Divestment from Perpetrators of International Human Rights Violation:
If you don’t want Maine to be investing in corporations and other entities that are involved in or support human rights violations, contact your representatives in Maine’s Congress and ask them to support LD 1383, An Act to Require State Divestment from Perpetrators of International Human Rights Violation. Maine has millions of dollars invested in corporations like Palantir and Signature Aviation. LD1383 would withdraw those investments and replace them with cleaner investments. This link will help you compose a message to your state representatives and other state officials.
2. Fight against EPA Superfund Cuts and PFAS Cleanup Delays:
The Pentagon has quietly delayed PFAS cleanup at the former Loring Air Force Base in Limestone by six years, and the old Brunswick Naval Air Station is also facing setbacks. Meanwhile, the Superfund program is looking at potential budget cuts. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) points to actions like ordering foam removal at Brunswick Executive Airport after last year’s 1,500-gallon PFAS spill as proof of progress. But state environmental advocates and our congressional delegation are concerned these delays will leave Maine communities dealing with contaminated water and soil longer than necessary. Contact your Maine state representatives to speak up about this problem.
Maine State-level Contact Info:
- Governor Janet Mills: 287-3531 or https://www.maine.gov/governor/mills/contact/share-your-opinion
- Attorney General Aaron Frey: 207-626-8800 or email attorney.general@maine.gov
- Secretary of State Shenna Bellows: 207-626-8400 or https://www.maine.gov/sos/about-us/contact-us-form
- State Controller Douglas E. Cotnoir: 207-626-8420 or douglas.e.cotnoir@maine.gov
- State Treasurer Joseph C. Perry: 207-624-7477 or Joseph.C.Perry@maine.gov
- Commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services Sara Gagné-Holmes: (207) 287-3707
And, of course, contact your representatives in the state legislature, which depends on your district:
- House District 11: Tiffany Strout (207- 598-7043 or email: Tiffany.Strout@legislature.maine.gov )
- House District 12: Billy Bob Faulkingham (207-460-6967 or William.Faulkingham@legislature.maine.gov –he won’t be interested, but we should certainly annoy him as much as possible)
- House District 13: Russell P. White (207- 460-6359 or email: Russell.White@legislature.maine.gov )
- House District 14: Gary Friedmann (207-460-7362 or email: Gary.Friedmann@legislature.maine.gov )
- Senate District 6: Marianne Moore (home: 207-454-0501 or 207-952-2050; State House: 207-287-1505; email: Marianne.Moore@legislature.maine.gov )
- Senate District 7: Nicole C. Grohoski (cell: 207-358-8333; State House: 207-287-1515; email: Nicole.Grohoski@legislature.maine.gov )
Yours in Civic Action,
Bold Coast Civic Alliance
