Looking past the conference, we have an election, then only a couple months until the 2015 Legislative Session!
We will be reveling our full plans for the upcoming year, especially the 2015 Legislative Session at the Conference (Saturday, 10/18/14), then posting them here, on our website, following the conference. A sneak peak: We are going to be having a Fundraising and Membership Drive in November and December this year, after the election, then working to advance a full legalization bill in the Minnesota Legislature this session, maybe working to get full legalization on the 2016 ballot as a Constitutional Amendment! We need to build our base and create a truly state-wide movement, starting with you!
As for our electoral work, we will not be publishing a Voter Guide as planned, but we are surveying candidates and will be adding information about most candidates to our website in the next week leading up to November 4th. We will provide the results of our survey and add some additional information regarding candidates track record regarding cannabis. For some information on current representatives, you can go to our "Whip Count" section of the website here: mnnorml.org/content/minnesota-marijuana-politician-whip-count
If you would like to volunteer to help get out the vote (GOTV), please email Jim at [email protected] Stay tuned for our "Cannabis Count" law-maker cannabis stance tracker tool soon!
Our next Action Committee meeting is the Thursday after the conference, 10/23/14, 7-9pm, at the office in downtown Mpls (1313 Chestnut Ave., suite 115, Mpls, MN), then will go back to every other Thursday from then on (so 11/6, and 11/20 and so on). We will evaluate the conference, discuss electoral work for Nov. 4th, and starting getting our Legislative Action Committee together.
We rely completely on private donations to fund our efforts, so our Fundraising Drive this November and December will be very important to our success this Legislative Session. Please stay tuned to learn about how you can get involved!
We are also now taking applications for Winter/Spring Internships - please email [email protected] with your resume and a cover letter explaining why you would like to intern for MN NORML. We expect 15/hours a week, working 2-3 days a week at the office downtown, during the work day (and some weekends). We do offer college credit at a number of institutions.
Thanks! - Jim, MN NORML
