Happy Thursday, Democrats!
PLEASE NOTE that the office will be closing early at 12:00 p.m. on Friday, March 19th. We apologize for the inconvenience.
FEDERAL
Rick Scott
This week, Senator Rick Scott sent an open to letter to governors and mayors across the United States urging them to commit to reject and return any federal funding in excess of their federally-reimbursable COVID-19 related expenses. According to Scott, this commitment will serve the best interests of hardworking American taxpayers and send a clear message to Washington: politicians in Congress should quit recklessly spending other people’s money.
Senator Scott’s letter comes as congress passed President Biden’s “COVID” spending package without a single Republican vote in support.
As you may remember, Rick Scott’s company defrauded Medicaid, Medicare and other federal programs. The Department of Justice fined his company $1.7 billion, which was at the time the largest health care fraud in U.S. history.
Read more in Senator Scott’s letter: https://www.rickscott.senate.gov/sen-rick-scott-urges-us-governors-and-mayors-return-excess-taxpayer-dollars-covid-spending-packages
STATE
ACTION NEEDED: Medicaid Expansion
Florida legislators have already introduced several Medicaid expansion bills: SJR 276 (Sen. Taddeo and Sen. Berman), SB 556 (Sen. Thurston) / HB 443 (Rep. Thompson), and SB 698 (Sen. Jones) / HB 341 (Rep. Duran)
Both House bills for Medicaid expansion (HB 443/HB 341) have been referred to the Finance & Facilities Subcommittee, where we are fighting to have the issue heard and debated.
The Florida Policy Institute estimates that Medicaid expansion could save Florida about $200 million in the first year alone.
Additionally, the latest federal Covid-19 bill being debated in Congress would provide an additional $3 billion to Florida for expansion.
Send a letter to Florida legislators here:
https://www.healthcareforfl.org/action
ACTION NEEDED: SB 90 Vote By Mail Ballots
Despite our Governor praising our state’s election process, and the majority of Florida Republican Legislators agreeing, they still want to suppress our vote by changing the Vote By Mail Ballot rules.
Specifically it: Limits the duration of requests for vote-by-mail ballots to all elections through the end of the calendar year of the next regularly scheduled general election; requires vote-by-mail ballot requests to include additional identifying information regarding the requesting elector; prohibits the use of drop boxes for the return of vote-by-mail ballots, etc.
Link to More Information: https://bit.ly/30FZFIx
Take action by emailing the Senate Committee and asking them to not consider this bill.
Take action here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/send-email-to-protect-vote-by-mail-in-florida-vote-no-on-sb90?source=direct_link&
HB7005/SB74 COVID Liability Immunity for healthcare facilities including nursing homes
This legislation essentially creates civil lawsuit immunity for healthcare facilities and nursing homes leaving patients with no way to hold healthcare providers accountable for negligence around COVID-19 treatment and spread within the facilities. This is particularly worrisome for nursing homes in Florida who have a track record of profit driven care-related problems. Roughly 70% of nursing homes in the United States are for-profit, and recent reports show that that these for-profit nursing homes are cited for violations at a higher rate than nonprofit facilities and things got worse after the virus hit. SB74 is backed by for-profit and industry related healthcare corporations and will, like its corporate counterpart HB7/SB72, put profits before people and patients, seniors, and employees of these agencies with no way to hold the profit driven healthcare facilities accountable for negligence during the pandemic.
Link to More Information: https://bit.ly/3ruhy8I
This bill is headed to the House Floor.
Given the history in this state by Governors Scott and DeSantis, fraud by companies and an escape from liability in the justice system has become commonplace. That is exactly what this bill is about.
LOCAL
Donate to the Democrats of Indian River
The coronavirus pandemic has been challenging for all of us. Your local Indian River County Democratic Party, however, rose to the challenge in 2020. By reaching out to every Democrat without a vote by mail ballot, we enrolled 10,000 more Democrats into the program than voted this way in 2016. We also turned Indian River County more blue, increasing the percentage of voters who voted Democratic.
Our work is not over, however. We have begun the planning, training and hard work to oust Marco Rubio from the Senate and Governor Ron DeSantis from the governor’s mansion. It’s not going to be easy, especially in a ruby red county such as ours – but we’re ready to work!
We need you to contribute to our local Democratic Party so that we can robustly do the work necessary to effect change in our community and state. Please contribute via PayPal or credit card at: https://democratsofindianriver.org/donate or mail a check today to:
IRC Democratic Executive Committee
2345 14th Avenue, Suite 7
Vero Beach, FL 32960
Perpetuating the Big Lie?
Late last week it came to our attention that the local Republican Party has Donald Trump listed as their President from 2020-2024 on their website (see screenshot below). They refuse to acknowledge the reality that Joe Biden is the President of the United States.
As many of our elected officials are part of the local Republican Party, we believe that they should take a stand against the continued lies that the local party continues to perpetuate.
If you would like to write the elected officials that represent us and ask them to do that, here are the emails of every elected Republican official in Indian River County:
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If you would like to write a letter to the Editor of the TC Palm, here is the link to do that:
https://static.tcpalm.com/forms/?wid=q1jkscld1v7h87e
DEMOCRATS OF INDIAN RIVER
Volunteer of the Month
Bill Evans is our January Volunteer of the Month. Bill came on board as a Precinct Captain for Precinct 12 and then stepped forward to be our Vice Chair of Operations. He didn’t stop there! He has become a data and voter database operative and is leading the newly created Finance and Fundraising committee. And he does all this while maintaining a healthy golfing schedule. Thank you, Bill, for stepping up and leading the way on many necessary projects. We appreciate you!!
The Democratic Club of Indian River
The new Board of Directors will meet via Zoom on the first Wednesday of each month at 4:30 p.m. The next meeting is April 7th. The Board will discuss plans for the year, which will include meeting in person sometime after the summer, when we hope to have an all clear from the CDC.
The position of secretary on the Board remains open. Interested applicants can contact Al at [email protected]
Club meetings are the second Wednesday of each month via Zoom at 6:00 p.m. The next Club will be April 14th.
One goal of the Club is to begin discussions on how it may assist the ad hoc group started by Al Griffiths, and an initiative of the Indian River County DEC, to seek and assist Democratic candidates to run for every open county seat for office in 2021 and 2022. If you wish to join the Facebook group that is working on this initiative, please contact Al Griffiths via email at [email protected] or text 203-537-1762.
2020 was a successful year for Democrats at a national level. We need to keep the fire alive in IRC in 2022. For that to happen we must get the message or questions out to all Republicans, “What has the Republican Party done to improve your life in the last 10, 20 or actually last 50 years? Name just one policy?”
Democratic Women’s Club of Indian River
The next meeting of the DWC Book Group will be Friday, March 26th at 2:00 p.m. The Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates will be discussed. If you are not a Book Group member and are interested in learning more, contact Rita Milelli at [email protected].
Merchandise
Did you know we have Democrats of Indian River Merchandise? We have many variety of t-shirts, water bottles, mugs, hats, stickers and dog bandanas. But we are wondering if there is something you are interested in having with our logo on it. Hand sanitizer, wine tumblers, drink insulators, roll up picnic blankets or golf towels? We are looking to expand our merchandise and would love to hear your suggestions. Please email [email protected] if you have suggestions.
CANDIDATE TRAINING
2021 Train the Trainer Program
March 16-April 22
The Best Practices Institute (BPI) is excited to launch its 2021 Train the Trainer (T3) Webinar program. T3 is a free six-week, twelve-part course, covering several aspects of grassroots campaigning. T3 trainings will be held every Tuesday and Thursday from 7:00 -8:00 pm ET, beginning on Tuesday, March 16, and concluding on Thursday, April 22. Participants MUST register by Sunday, March 14, 2021, and must complete all sessions in order to receive certification. All trainings will be recorded and made available following each session via a weekly wrap-up email, delivered on Fridays.
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdaW0ib4EMlFVSC4AMvfNFbJpLAO34BSH1k0wvvfDkBSrVelQ/viewform?gxids=7628
Progressive Change Campaign Committee
Online Candidate Trainings
All this year, Progressive Change Campaign Committee is running a series of one-hour special online trainings for candidates on how to get out the vote, build your campaign team, recruit volunteers, and fight for progressive policies!
Whether you are a candidate running for office this cycle or simply thinking about running for office down the line, these are the trainings for you.
https://act.boldprogressives.org/survey/rsvp-pccc-online-candidate-training-2021/
National Democratic Training Committee
Upcoming Trainings
https://traindemocrats.org/events/
GET INVOLVED
HELP NEEDED - Precinct Captain
We are still in need of Precinct Captains. Currently, only about half of our precincts have captains. This position is vital to our success and with the race for Governor and numerous local offices coming up in 2022, we need all the help we can get. Time commitment per month is approximately 5-10 hours and a great way to meet your Democratic neighbors.
If you are interested in learning more about being a precinct captain, please email Stacey at [email protected]
HELP NEEDED - Communications Committee—Social Media Director
Communicating our values and our activities to the public is critical if the Democratic Party is to be successful. Our Democratic Executive Committee is looking for a Social Media Director as part of our Communications Committee who has strong skills across a variety of platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) and has been successful in placing and targeting ads on Facebook. If you feel you possess the skills we need and have the time to dedicate to this position, please email Stacey at [email protected]
CALENDAR
Thursday, March 18, 2021
6:00 p.m. – Democrats of Indian River, DEC Meeting
Meeting via Zoom. Contact Stacey at [email protected] for meeting link.
7:00 p.m. - Fellsmere City Council
For agenda and meeting information go to www.cityoffellsmere.org/citycouncil
Tuesday, March 23, 2021
5:00 p.m. – DEC Steering Committee Meeting
Meeting via Zoom. Contact Stacey at [email protected] for meeting link
Wednesday, March 24, 2021
6:00 p.m. - Sebastian City Council
For agenda and meeting information go to https://www.cityofsebastian.org/Calendar.aspx?EID=343&month=2&year=2021&day=17&calType=0
Thursday, March 25, 2021
9:00 a.m. - Indian River Shores City Council
For agenda and meeting information go to https://www.irshores.com/government/town-meetings/
COVID VACCINATIONS
Gifford Health Center – TCCH
The Gifford Health Center has limited vaccines available to anyone who is interested. Please call ahead of time to make sure there are still some available. Their number is 772-770-5151.
Indian River County Health Department Vaccinations
Indian River County and the State Health Department in Indian River County launched a new COVID-19 vaccine registration system through Everbridge. Florida residents who are 65 years and older or are frontline healthcare workers can now register for the waitlist. To sign up, eligible residents should complete the online registration form Here. Residents who need technical assistance with online registration or do not have Internet access can also register by calling our call center (772) 226-4000, which is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm.
Publix Vaccinations
Appointments for Publix vaccinations can only be made online. Once you are on the website, scroll down to the county you live in and if there are appointments available it will indicate that.
Here is a video that explains how to sign up for the vaccine at Publix:
Guide to book a COVID-19 vaccine appointment at Publix - YouTube
Hint – there have been reports that the page refreshes itself when making an appointment. Don’t refresh the page yourself or you will lose your spot. Here is the link to the sign up page:
https://www.publix.com/covid-vaccine/florida
Sharecare Statewide System
The state recently announced the launch of a statewide preregistration system to schedule COVID-19 vaccine appointments for individuals 65 and older and frontline health care workers. Individuals can pre-register for vaccine appointments and be notified when appointments are available in their area by visiting https://myvaccine.fl.gov/.
This website will allow individuals who are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine to be proactively contacted when vaccine appointments are available through your local health department. On the site, residents can select their county and submit their contact information. Once appointments are available, individuals will be contacted by phone call, text or email and will be assisted in scheduling an appointment.
Other Retail Options
That’s all!
See you next week!
Stay Safe and Well!
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