Mid-Coast Perspective

Our Ohio legislators are waiting us out; they are hoping that by delaying a vote on the budget that the deluge of emails, phone calls, letters, and demonstrations will fizzle out. They know that issue fatigue sets in amongst casual supporters after about one week, and so they’ve pushed back the budget twice. We’ve seen a shift in the news from our support of libraries to a focusing on accounting and executive orders.

This is Bullshit. We cannot follow the path of school lunch advocates, mental health advocates, and prison advocates who spoke up on day one and quieted down immediately. When our competitors go silent, we must speak up. When our opponents hide behind closed doors, we need to bang on the doors and remind them that we’re still waiting outside for an answer.

STATE LEGISLATORS:

Mid-Coast Perspective has made available the responses from our state legislators concerning library issues . They’ve provided generic responses; they’ve given us face time, but little more. It’s time to remind them that we’re still waiting for a real answer. We want to see firm commitments to help restore library funding. David T. Daniels’ response which you can view here, is a prime example of what we want. Check out our Politicians Section for info on contacting your state and local elected officials.

IN THE MEDIA:

Over the past week, the Mid-Coast Perspective has made available a List of Ohio Newspapers; a List of Ohio Radio Stations; and a List of Ohio Television Stations.

To utilize these, we’ve constructed an Earned Media Guide. Additionally, we’ve made available a Press Release Template to send to newspapers, radio stations, and television stations.

SUPPORTERS:

On Wednesday, we posted a list of Union Contributors to Governor Strickland’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign as well as a Sample Letter for local unions. Lets not forget about contacting Ted Strickland’s Campaign Endorsers and Ted Strickland’s Campaign Contributors.

We’re not going to let Governor Strickland and our state legislators off the hook here. We’ve got their attention and we’ve got them hearing our voice, but they still do not comprehend the magnitude of what we’re saying. Lets standup and be heard. We have one last shot to make a difference and then we can rest. Six months from now when we’re sitting around the bar-b-que, I’d rather the store we’re telling be “Remember when we took two weeks out of our lives, fought, and restored library funding” instead of “We could have done this or that back in June and not needed a local levy initiative now.”

It’s your choice, which story do you want to tell? W’ve provided enough resources in this post alone that in 20 minutes, you can contact your elected officials, contact your local newspaper, radio station, and television station, and send your local unions a quick note, and still have time to grab a cup of tea. I’m only one voice, you’re only one voice, but if we each speak up, we recruit our neighbors, friends and relatives to speak out, and we make sure that we’re heard, we can change the day.

In Solidarity,
~Johnathon