Connecticut National Popular Vote Activists Push for Legislation to Nullify Electoral College

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

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"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

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Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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Connecticut National Popular Vote Activists Push for Legislation to Nullify Electoral College

Posted April 12, 2017

Excerpt of speeches by Jane Eyes of the Connecticut League of Women Voters, Connecticut state Rep. Matt Lesser of Middletown and Debra Torres at a rally for the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, recorded and produced by Melinda Tuhus

In the aftermath of Donald Trump's Electoral College victory over Hillary Clinton, who won almost 3 million more votes than Trump in the national popular vote, supporters of a simple change in the way Americans' votes are counted are now redoubling their efforts. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact calls for all of a state's electoral votes to be awarded to the presidential candidate who wins the most popular votes nationwide. The Compact will take effect once states with a collective total of 270 electoral votes join. That's the number of Electoral College votes required to elect the president. Supporters say this would make operational the principle of one person, one vote.

Today, legislation adopting the Compact has passed in 10 states and in Washington, D.C., totaling 165 Electoral College votes – 61 percent of what's needed. A bill now before the Connecticut House of Representatives offers the best chance in years to have the Nutmeg State sign on to the compact. At a rally in New Haven on April 8, about 100 enthusiastic supporters – many from new groups that have organized in response to Trump's election – were joined by a half-dozen Democratic state representatives who support the bill., H.R. 5434.

Unlike in some other states, the debate over the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact is purely partisan in Connecticut, with no Republicans supporting the bill. Opponents claim that it's unconstitutional because it contradicts the Electoral College system, but supporters point out that it leaves the Electoral College in place and simply requires a different way of electors apportioning their votes. Between The Lines' Melinda Tuhus was at the rally and recorded and produced this segment presenting several speakers who addressed the crowd. We first hear from Jane Eyes, director of advocacy with the League of Women Voters of Connecticut.

JANE EYES: Under the current system, presidential candidates tend to focus their campaigns on the relatively few battleground states that determine an Electoral College victory or loss. A large part of this country is virtually ignored, and residents of non-key states become passive observers of the election process. With a shift to the national popular vote, voters across the country, including Connecticut, would have a greater sense that their votes do indeed count and would have an incentive to pay attention, to vote, and to participate in the electoral process. The League believes that this is more important than ever to preserve the democratic ideal of making every vote count.

BETWEEN THE LINES: That was Jane Eyes of the LVW of Connecticut. Next is state Rep. Matt Lesser of Middletown, who has championed the bill in several legislative sessions.

STATE REP. MATT LESSER: Hello snowflakes! Hello, nasty women! Hello, New Haven! Are you fired up!? (Yeah!) I’m Rep. Matt Lesser from Middletown, and I’ve introduced national popular vote legislation many times, long before anybody took Donald Trump seriously. I introduced it again with colleagues this year. For years, we’ve argued with our opponents over the intent of the Constitution and what makes sense today. And for years our opponents have ignored the Declaration of Independence, which says not only, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal" – and yes, Donald Trump, all women, too (cheers). But also declares that governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from consent of the governed; consent of the governed. Think about that for just one second.

Twice this century, this country has elected a president who lacks the consent of the governed. For any government to have legitimacy, it needs to have the consent of its people. That’s not just in our founding documents – although it is. It’s a universal right, and it’s in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I don’t have to tell you it’s not just the legitimacy of the presidency. Today all our great institutions are under attack. Freedom of worship is under attack when we ban Muslims from entering our country and Jewish cemeteries are desecrated. Freedom of the press is under attack every single day. We see attacks on the rights of LGBT Americans, on workers’ right to organize, on communities of color, on reproductive rights, on women in the workplace. And our courts, a vital check of our democracy, is under attack when a Supreme Court seat is stolen and the president of the U.S. says a judge’s decision is illegitimate just because he happens to be a Latino.

And in a nation where refugees once came here on the Mayflower, I stand before you not just as a legislator, but as the son of an immigrant and the grandson of a refugee, let me tell you that attacks on the rights of immigrants are an attack on the soul of our country (applause). You know, I’ve introduced the national popular vote bill a number of times, but this year something is different. Something is happening in Connecticut. You can feel the difference all across the state, in big cities and small towns, good people of good will are coming together to stand up for our values as Americans. New groups are springing up; new coalitions are forming. People who have never been involved in anything are coming forward, and change is coming. Immigrants are organizing, women are standing up against dangerous threats, and people of all races are declaring that Black Lives Matter (applause).

Change comes from the bottom up. All our institutions, all our rights are important, but in our democracy no right is more important, more core, more fundamental than the right to vote. That's what motivates us to register people to vote, that’s what gets us to knock on doors, to lobby our legislators, to hold house parties, to organize online, to speak up at town halls. The right to vote is why Dr. King marched from Selma to Montgomery; it’s why suffragettes led hunger strikes, to get women the right to vote. It’s why my own mother became a U.S. citizen. Votes everywhere should matter. Your vote should be counted.

BETWEEN THE LINES: That was state Rep. Matt Lesser. Finally, Debra Torres, who is from New York City, explained why Connecticut should join her state in the Compact.

DEBRA TORRES: Even though New York has a lot of electoral votes, it’s committed to voting them in favor of the popular vote winner, even if it’s not who New York voted for. More states need to do that, because it's happened twice in the past 16 years, that the person who won the popular vote didn’t become president. So I think it’s important for Connecticut to go the same way.

For more information on the National Popular Vote State Compact, visit nationalpopularvote.com.