Reserve Your On-Site Lodging Now!    

Reduced rate guest rooms for DemocracyFest sold out last week, but today the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center managed to add just a few more! Reserve your lodging for just $99/night by calling 1-802-865-6600 to make your reservation. You must say you are with the DemocracyFest group to get the reduced rate.  



Event Tickets Are Limited Too!

Please purchase your event ticket as soon as possible. You don’t want to wait and then find out DemocracyFest tickets are sold out too!    

The 6th Annual DemocracyFest will be held this year on July 17th-19th in Burlington , VT. More information, including our updated schedule, is available at http://www.DemocracyFest.net

Full weekend tickets are only $55 and include: – All trainings, entertainment, and speakers on Saturday and Sunday. – Dinner on Saturday. – Breakfast on Sunday. – Semi-Guided Tour of Burlington and Welcome Party on Friday. – Children under 14 free with adult ticket purchase. – Free parking, or transportation to and from Burlington Airport . – Priceless interaction and networking with activists from across the nation.    

Hope to see you there!

The DemocracyFest Team

David, Denise, Ellen, Jessica Laurie and Quintus

http://www.DemocracyFest.net

President Obama signed the $787,000,000,000 economic stimulus bill today! Like our economy, our democracy needs stimulating too. Events like DemocracyFest help keep activists educated and motivated to make a difference in our country and communities, even during non-election years when some activists may otherwise feel un-stimulated.

Compared to stimulating the economy, stimulating democracy is a bargain at only $55 (just $55, no extra zeros!) for a full event ticket to the 6th Annual DemocracyFest, July 17th-19th in Burlington, VT! http://www.DemocracyFest.net

EVENT TICKETS

Full Event Tickets include:

– All trainings, entertainment, and speakers on Saturday and Sunday.

– Dinner on Saturday.

– Breakfast on Sunday.

– Semi-Guided Tour of Burlington and Welcome Party on Friday.

– Children under 14 free with adult ticket purchase.

– Free parking, or transportation to and from Burlington Airport.

– Priceless interaction with activists from across the nation.

Single Day Ticketsare also available.

SPEAKERS, TRAINERS, AND ENTERTAINERS

Speakers and trainers include:

– Gov. Howard Dean, Former Governor of Vermont and DNC Chair

– SOS. Deb Markowitz, Vermont Secretary of State

– Rep. David Zuckerman, Vermont State Representative

– Charlie Grapski, Citizen Rights Activist

– Sheryl Rapee-Adams, Deputy Field Director for VT Freedom to Marry

– Dan DeWalt, Safe & Renewable Energy Activist

– Alan Dechert, Executive Director of the Open Voting Consortium

– Dr. Deb Richter, Universal Health Care Activist

Entertainers include:

– Bobby Kendes, guitarist and vocals for The Peace, folk music with a hip-hop flair.

– Subway Serenade, political-folk music straight from the New York Subways.

– Rebecca Pedula, soulful contemporary folk with a blues streak.

New speakers, trainers and entertainers are listed on our website as they are confirmed. If you are interested in being a presenter or performer, please contact us at info@democracyfest.net

SPONSORSHIPS

Sponsors of this year’s event include Democracy for Vermont, Latinos for America, Green Mountain Mailer, Brain Arcade Design Studio, VT Freedom to Marry, Vermont Gay Guide, VT Progressive Party and the Sheraton Hotel.

If your business or organization would like to sponsor this year’s DemocracyFest, we have very affordable sponsorship levels with a variety of benefits including free event tickets, tabling space and more! We also greatly appreciate personal contributions to support the event.

Sponsorship costs and benefits are listed on our website at http://www.DemocracyFest.net

LODGING

On site lodging is available at the Sheraton Hotel for the reduced rate of only $99 per night, for rooms up to 3 days before or 3 days after the event (based on availability)! Reserve your lodging online by calling 1-802-865-6600 to make your reservation. You must say you are with the DemocracyFest group to get the reduced rate. Lodging at the reduced rate is limited, so make your reservation today!

The DemocracyFest Team,

David, Denise, Ellen, Jessica, Laurie and Quintus

http://www.DemocracyFest.net

DemocracyFest is a political festival for liberal/progressive activists which features trainings, speakers and entertainment; teaching people how to make a difference and have fun doing it! Prior DemocracyFests have been held in Massachusetts, Texas, California, New Hampshire and Virginia. Over 4,000 activists have been trained to help on campaigns and make a difference in their communities. The 6th Annual DemocracyFest will be held this summer, July 17-19, 2009 in Burlington, VT!

Get your tickets today! http://www.DemocracyFest.net

Confirmed speakers and trainers this year include Alan Dechert from the Open Voting Consortium who will lead the discussion on Election Integrity, Dr. Deb Richter who has been a leading force for Universal Health Care for many years, Sheryl Rapee-Adams from Vermont Freedom to Marry who will bring us up to speed on Marriage Equality developments and actions, and Charlie Grapski who discovered election fraud in Florida and is now being persecuted by the corrupt authorities there.

Other sessions and trainings will include Grassroots Campaigning, Fundraising, Green Energy, Buying Local and more! Check out our schedule as it develops here: http://www.DemocracyFest.net/S…

Howard Dean will be there too of course! He never misses a DemocracyFest! We don’t know what he will be up to by July…Running for office? Chairing an organization? Mobilizing the grassroots in some new way that he has envisioned? Whatever it is, we’re sure it will be exciting. Come hear about his latest adventures at DemocracyFest!

We are currently seeking performers for this year’s event. If you are interested in performing (music, comedy, etc), please contact us at info@democracyfest.net

We look forward to seeing you in July at the 6th Annual DemocracyFest! Full Event tickets are only $55! Buy yours today before they sell out at http://www.DemocracyFest.net

The DemocracyFest Team

David, Denise, Ellen, Jessica, Laurie and Quintus

www.DemocracyFest.net

Bernie’s office just called and I got 2 tickets to the inauguration!!!

My aunt and I have been planning to go for a long time, but in the last month I had decided not to go unless I got tickets, so now I’m going again!

I have lots of questions and no answers. LOL.

Who’s going from Vermont? Anyone else from GMD? Are a lot of Vermonters going (hundreds? thousands?)? Will we all be sitting together? Is there a “Vermont” event or ball to attend? Will anyone be blogging the event here on GMD?

How are people getting there? I’d rather not drive, but will if I have to, but what do I do once I get down there? Is there a place to park outside DC and take the Metro in? Is that what we’re supposed to do?

Where are people staying? My aunt was SUPPOSED to book us a hotel room before the election, but never did! She has a friend who lives somewhere in the DC area that we can stay at, but it would be so much better to stay in the city…Is that an option? I’ve heard there’s no hotel rooms left.

Basiclly I’m clueless except that I know I have tickets waiting for me at Bernie’s office in DC. Any additional info would be greatly appreciated!

The 6th Annual DemocracyFest will be held this summer, July 17-19, 2009 at the Sheraton Hotel and Conference Center in Burlington, VT!

DemocracyFest is a political festival for liberal/progressive activists which features trainings, speakers and entertainment; teaching people how to make a difference and have fun doing it! Past annual DemocracyFests have been held in Massachusetts, Texas, California, New Hampshire, and Virginia. Over 4,000 activists have been trained to help on campaigns and make a difference in their communities. This year’s event, hosted by Democracy For Vermont, promises to be another exciting, informative and fun filled weekend!

Full weekend tickets are only $55 and include:

– All trainings, entertainment, and speakers on Saturday and Sunday.

– Dinner on Saturday.

– Breakfast on Sunday.

– Semi-Guided Tour of Burlington and Welcome Party on Friday.

– Children under 14 free with adult ticket purchase.

– Free parking, or transportation to and from Burlington Airport.

– Priceless interaction with activists from across the nation.

On site lodging is available at the Sheraton Hotel for the reduced rate of only $99 per night, for rooms up to 3 days before or 3 days after the event (based on availability)! Please call 1-802-865-6600 to make your reservation. You must say you are with the DemocracyFest group to get the reduced rate. Lodging at the reduced rate is limited, so make your reservation today!

Sponsorships levels with a variety of benefits for businesses and organizations who support the 6th Annual DemocracyFest are listed here.

For more information go to http://www.DemocracyFest.net

After what seemed like years of meeting with City officials, gaining local grassroots support, and discussing the petition wording ad nauseam (OK, it was only 2 weeks, but I am not really a patient person :-), the Rutland IRV effort is now ready to start collecting petition signatures!

The petition is to have a Charter change question placed on the March 3, 2009 ballot to have the Rutland City Mayor elected using instant runoff voting (IRV). The Charter change would be similar to the one Burlington passed a few years ago and now uses to elect their Mayor.

IRV is good because it ensures that the candidate who is elected has majority support (the current Mayor of Rutland was elected with just 33% of the vote), and does it in a way that doesn’t involve a costly separate runoff election.

This effort is endorsed by Rutland DFA, Democracy For Vermont, Fair Vote and Vermont Common Cause. Several more organizations are expected to make official endorsements this week.

We are looking for 40 volunteers to collect 20 signatures each. If you can help, please email me at jjem1999@yahoo.com

( – promoted by odum)

Fair Vote, http://fairvote.org, contacted me last week about the possibility of putting a question on the Rutland City ballot this March to have the Mayor elected by IRV (instant runoff voting). There is a great explanation of IRV using the Muppets here: http://fairvote.org/irv/muppets/

It would be a charter change similar to the one Burlington passed a few years ago and now uses to elect their Mayor. Besides helping the voters of Rutland City elect a Mayor with majority support (the current Mayor was elected with just 33% of the vote), it may also help get an IRV bill passed at the state level.

Full disclosure; Fair Vote has hired me for at least a couple of weeks to work on this until they decide if they want to put additional resources ($$$, legal advise, etc) into it. I wasn’t exactly looking for another political job, but this is something I care a lot about and I’m thrilled to have this opportunity!

I’ve talked to the City and County Dem Chairs, and the City and County Prog Chairs, and all 4 of them are supportive. What do you guys think? Should we go for it?

DemocracyFest is a political festival for liberal/progressive activists which features trainings, speakers and entertainment; teaching people how to make a difference and have fun doing it! Prior DemocracyFests have been held in Massachusetts, Texas, California, New Hampshire and Virginia. Over 4,000 activists have been trained to help on campaigns and make a difference in their communities. The 6th Annual DemocracyFest will be held this summer in Burlington, VT !

Democracy For Vermont will be this year’s Host, and we are beginning to partner with other organizations who will offer education and entertainment at DemocracyFest 2009. If you would like to recommend a particular organization for us to work with, or have other input for this summer’s DemocracyFest, please contact us at info@democracyfest.net

We are also currently accepting sponsorships for the 6th Annual DemocracyFest and cordially invite liberal/progressive organizations and businesses to become sponsors of this year’s event at one of the sponsorship levels which can be found on our website at http://www.DemocracyFest.net

Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available. I will try to post updates regularly here at GMD.

It’s currently down to 61 degrees inside our house. I have 1 child home sick from school, covered with 3 blankets. They are predicting a low of 24 degrees tonight. We have a half tank of oil, and I’m not turning the heat on, because we can’t afford to buy any more.

We looked into installing a woodstove this summer, and the woodstove isn’t that expensive, but to install the stovepipe to code costs $2000!

I’m not posting this diary for sympathy or handouts (although if anyone has stovepipe they want to get rid of, I would take that!), but to let people know that the heating crisis is not some abstract thing anymore. It’s here and it’s affecting Vermont families.

And what the f*ck is our government doing about it? Oh that’s right, we’re waiting for the $700 Billion bailout effects to trickle down to us.

My Mom, Ellen Garneau, is running for the VT State House in Pittsford/Sudbury. She is running as a Progressive against a long-time Republican incumbant, Peg Flory. (There is no Democrat running in this race.) More information about my Mom’s campaign can be found at http://www.EllenGarneau.com

We are having an online auction this week to raise funds for her campaign. Please check out the items listed and bid high! 😉

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/…

Thanks!

Jessica Falker