Live from the 25-The NGA and the hits on McCain and the RNC
Pardon the tardiness of the post. I’m still recovering from DC!
Though it was a bit nippy outside, Tuesday dawned bright and sunny. ADAPT headed over to the National Governors’ Association (NGA) to hold a press conference of the best and worst states for community-based services. We went to the NGA because the governors have the power to really push for the passing of the Community Choice Act. Randy Alexander, from Memphis, TN, spoke about the MCIL Underground Railroad, a program that has been in place for over a decade, that helps people from Tenessee move to other states (mainly Colorado) so that they can live in the community. They have to do this because home helth care is almost unheard ofthere. We also heard from Latonya Reeves, the first Underground Railroader, who moved from Memphis, TN, to Denver, CO, seventeen years ago. She spoke of what it was like to move, and leave her family behind, but she also spoke of the freedom that she now has in Colorado. She stated that Colorado is not perfect, but she is better off there than in a nursing facility back home. Nadina LaSpina, from NYC also spoke about a woman whom she helped to move from Alabama to New York. Nadia, the woman who Nadina helped, also spoke. Another woman from Arkansas spoke on her long incarceration in a psychiatric institution, and her fight to finally be free.
Here is the list of the best and the worst states:
The states are listed alphabetically, not ranked numerically;
TEN BEST STATES
Alaska
Colorado
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
New Hampshire
Oregon
Rhode Island
Vermont
HONORABLE MENTION
Kansas
New York
Washington
Wisconsin
Wyoming
TEN WORST STATES
Arkansas
Georgia
Florida
Illinois
Indiana
Louisiana
Mississippi
North Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
DISHONORABLE MENTION
Alabama
District of Columbia
New Jersey
Ohio
Pennsylvania
We then went across the street to dine on ADAPT steak in the park. For those who don’t know what ADAPT steak is, its McDonald’s hamburgers, usually cold by the time we get them, but they fuel us for long days of actions, so I’m not complaining.
We then broke up into two groups and did a double hit on the headquarters of the RNC and the office of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), the presumptive Republican candidate for President. McCain has not signed on to the Community Choice Act. ADAPTers who were in the hallway just outside McCain’s office were arrested fairly quickly. There was a group inside McCain’s office than hung in there until after 7:00 pm, when they, too, were arrested. The rest of the group came over to join us at the RNC.
I was in the group at the RNC. We encircled the entire building, including the parking garage and alleyway, and someof us actually got inside the building. I was outside since I got into the HHS yesterday, I wanted to give my fellow Day Leader to opportunity to go inside, or get arrested if he chose to. As a Day Leader, I was on the negotiation team, and to say that the negotiations went sour isn’t saying it strongly enough. It actually got down to five words, and the substitution of “attempt to set up a meeting with McCain’s campaign rep”, to “attempt to set up a meeting with Senator McCain”. The legal counsel for the RNC claimed that they did not have the power to set up a meeting with McCain. I felt that that was utter you-know-what, and we said so, in so many words. We would not accept that, so the negotiations were off, and we continued chanting and singing loud and strong until about 11:00 at night, when we were forcibly removed from the building and the doors. believe me, the Democrats took full advantage of the RNC’s and McCain’s folly, and plastered it all over their websites and Roll Call magazine, which goes to every senator and member of Congress. While we were out there at the RNC, we got visits from Reps. Janice Schakowsky, Patrick Kennedy, and Gwen Moore, who actually sang and chanted with us for more than an hour before she told us who she was! Incidently, all of these folks are co-sponsors of CCA.
So, although we made no headway with the RNC or McCain, we did expose this conflict with them, and let them show us their true colors. FREE OUR PEOPLE!!!