January - February 2020 Bulletin Issue 20 View as Webpage

Mission The League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan political organization, encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through education and advocacy. Policy on Inclusiveness The League of Women Voters in both its values and practice is committed to inclusion and diversity. This means: We recognize that diverse perspectives are important and necessary for responsible and representative decision making; We believe inclusiveness enhances our organization's ability to respond effectively to changing conditions and needs; We affirm our commitment to reflecting the diversity of Albany County; and There shall be no barriers to participation in any activity of the League on the basis of economic position, gender, race, ability , age, sexual orientation, creed or national origin. LWVAC BOARD Officers President: Patricia Sibilia  1st V-P Admin: Regina Tillman  2nd V-P Program: Gail Volk  Secretary: Britt Westergard   Treasurer: Marggie Skinner  Directors      Advocacy: Mary Beilby Communications: Chris Deyss  Voter Service:Andrea Lee At Large: Stephen Winters    Contact Board Members via: [email protected] VOTING 2020 - Remember the Dates! February 14 : Deadline to register party affiliation to participate in primaries  April 28: Presidential primary June 13 to June 19:  Early voting for the Primaries June 23: New York State primaries    October 10: Deadline to register to vote in the General Election October 24 to November 1: Early voting dates for General Election November 3: General Election

Facing the Reality of Climate Crisis - What can we do about it? Our environment: In crisis mode but you can make a difference. Join the troops combating the effects of carbon spewing into our atmosphere on a daily basis. January 28 th , 5:30 to 8:00 PM Pine Hills Branch of Albany Public Library. 517 Western Ave, Albany NY. 12203 Hot beverages & snacks: Join our community’s efforts to combat waste by bringing your own eating utensils. The program will feature two parts, the Truth in Ten talk developed by Al Gore of the Climate Reality Project and an Introduction to Project Drawdown , created by its originator Paul Hawken with the Pachamama Alliance. Presenters are Lois Gundrum and Anne Erling, members of LWV Albany County. There will be a discussion for personal plans of action, so bring notebook and pen to create yours. Questions: Contact Aimee Allaud, 518-482-2617 President's Message The start of a new decade and a significant year!    Most of the public knows 2020 as the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, ratified on August 19, 1920 and allowing 26 million women to vote in the 1920 Presidential election. I can only begin to imagine the elation after such a long struggle to have our voices count in the polling booth. The victory gave people hope during that post-World War I, economically depressed, low point in our country.  Most Leaguers also know that our national League of Women Voters was formed six months earlier, by a merger between the National Council of Women Voter and the National American Woman Suffrage Association . It was a mighty political experimen t aimed to help newly enfranchised women exercise their responsibilities as voters . We remember those who gave time and effort, each to their own ability to carry on that work, like us. To honor this anniversary, LWVUS has launched the “Women Power the Vote!” campaign, choosing February 14th as a Day of Action, and You can be part of it. I ask that you consider what individual contribution you can give to this year’s efforts . After 100 years, we find ourselves in a time where the fight for democracy is still desperately needed, where we hope to heal this divided nation and have all voices valued, not just those at the top. We can achieve our goals by uniting together, as in the past. Even a small monetary contribution to our Education Fund makes a difference. There is so much happening in this momentous year . • New York State has had massive election reform. Citizens need to be better informed. We need to get out the word, starting with February 14 being the last day to change party enrollment to vote in the Primaries. We have aggressive plans for Get Out The Vote (GOTV) and as a volunteer you can make a difference in what we achieve. (Contact Andy Lee at [email protected] .) • The 2020 Census is critical! It determines our future in many ways and has to be complete and accurate. Albany County's plans are not clear, so there is much to be done. Do you know anyone looking to make extra money at $18.00 an hour? Do you have time to help assist in libraries or explore with us other ways you can help?  • Is the environment your passion? Do you know about our efforts in fighting for a Clean Air bill at the County level or Zero Waste Efforts?  There is much work to do and every little bit counts. Let’s work toward change together, bringing hope for our future and the future of generations to follow, just as suffragists and Leaguers have done for 100 years before us.  As always, if you want to be more involved, have comments or feedback, please don’t hesitate to reach out ( [email protected] ). Yours in League, Patricia

Member Engagement Opportunities: Get Out the Vote Volunteers Are Urgently Needed NOW The Voter Services Committee needs volunteers from all over Albany County for a quick and essential job. We have posters to be put up in public places ASAP, letting people know that February 14 is the deadline for party registration, so they can vote in the primary election. If you can help, contact Lynn Nugent, [email protected] . Please let her know your name, phone number, and the area of the county you can help with. Save the Date: Thursday, February 13th- Day of Action The national League has designated February 14 a Day of Action in further celebration of our 100th anniversary! We'll be getting ready on the evening of February 13th with the State League's webinar to prepare to Take Action for state funding for voting reforms and the independent redistricting commission.  Albany County membership will be putting our own twist on the activity, combining a Valentine’s Postcards to Legislators Party with a Webinar Listening Session!  We will be making plans to put our Citizen Advocate hats on securely, working either independently or as teams on advocacy action from February 14th to February 23rd. A meet-up spot for the Valentine's Postcards and Webinar will be announced in a forthcoming email. You are welcome to bring neighbors and friends! Scripts and information packets will be available so you are can address any one of several topics that are League priorities for our communities and our country. Let’s get this 2020 year off to a good start with the kind of actions that the League of Women Voters are known for taking, and leading others to do the same! See you all on the evening of Thursday, February 13th, ready to Take Action! Regina Tillman 1st Vice President / Membership Committee Chairperson

How Large Should the Albany County Legislature Be?   Albany County has 39 legislators, the largest number of any county in New York State, with Monroe County (Rochester) as the next largest at 29 legislators. But does that mean the county should reduce the number of legislators? That answer is not so straightforward. When you look at the number of constituents per legislator, there are 37 counties with fewer than Albany’s 7,875 constituents per legislator versus 18 counties with a greater number (excluding NYC counties). Or one can look at how many square miles a representative is responsible for, or the differences in what it takes to represent a rural area versus an urban versus a suburban community.   These are just some questions our newly formed County Legislative Size Study Group has started to tackle. Thanks to study group member Steven Stowitts Elliot, we now have a master spreadsheet that details the critical data for every county in the state to help our analysis. Study group member MaryKate Owens is digging into our County Budget for us to better understand the financials, often cited as a reason to downsize. We plan to interview legislators to better understand the time they spend and the functions they perform in their part-time positions as legislator. And, of course, we’re going to dig into academic research. We plan to complete the study in time for review at our LWV Albany County annual meeting in June.  There’s still room for other people to join the study group! If interested, please reach out to Patricia Sibilia at [email protected] . Otherwise, stay tuned for more detail as we make further progress.

2020: The 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in America In honor of a key leader of the suffrage movement, an Adirondack mountain has been renamed Mount Inez. Human rights activist Inez Milholland Boissevain was a labor and children’s rights attorney, journalist and World War I correspondent, and public speaker who greatly influenced the women's movement in America. She was active in the National Woman's Party and a key participant in the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession, leading the parade astride a white horse, on the eve of President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration.  By 1916 Milholland had become one of the highest-profile leaders of the Congressional Union for Women’s Suffrage, electrifying audiences as she traveled on a grueling speaking schedule as an envoy to 12 western suffrage states. Despite warnings from her physician, she persisted in touring despite pronounced ill health and collapsed at the podium while delivering a suffrage speech in Los Angeles and subsequently died in November 1916. Her last public words before her collapse were, "Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?"  (Sources: AP and Library of Congress)

Save the Date: March 10, 2020 5:00 - 8:30 pm New York State Museum 222 Madison Ave, Albany, NY CHAMPION FOR CHANGE: An Intimate Conversation with Barbara Bartoletti Join Barbara Bartoletti, former Legislative Director for the LWVNYS, and Liz Benjamin, journalist and Managing Director of Marathon Strategies, for an evening of honor and celebration. A tireless advocate and full-time volunteer who served as a voice for citizens and a force for change, Barbara will share a few of the many highlights, accomplishments and challenges spanning her 40+ year career, including passage of the Clean Indoor Air Act and the continued push for campaign finance reform and government transparency. The NYS Archives Partnership Trust is co-sponsoring the event with LWVNYS. For more information about the event. .

"We view clean air as a human right." So said the League's Christine Primomo at a December 14 press conference organized by LWV Albany County and other environmental organizations, urging lawmakers to vote on the Albany County Clean Air Law. “Facilities burning solid fuels, especially wastes, are among the largest air polluters in any jurisdiction. Waste incinerators rank along the top . . . A company can follow state regulations and still be a large air polluter that is unhealthy for its residents. State regulations are not strong enough and monitoring is too infrequent.” Other speakers included Judith Enck, former EPA Regional Administrator and founder of Beyond Plastics, David O. Carpenter, M.D., Director, Institute for Health and the Environment University at Albany, and environmental activists Barbara Heinzen, PhD, and Paul Tick, Clinical Director of a non-profit social service agency. Sign the petition to have the County Executive put a moratorium on the burning of tires while the legislators continue to work on passage of a new law.

LWVNYS 100th Anniversary Event  Celebrations of the 100th birthday of the League of Women Voters New York State occurred throughout the state on November 19, 2019, including in Albany. Members and friends of LWV Albany County raised a toast to our state league's 100th anniversary at The Point in Albany. Assembly Members John T. McDonald III, center, and Patricia Fahy made remarks during the celebration, and Assembly Member Phil Steck also joined the celebration. President Patricia Sibilia led the toast which included colorful stories about the day the Women’s Party became the state League of Women Voters, which predates the founding of the national LWV.

Humanities New York Grant and Project: James Baldwin's America LWVAC has been awarded a Reading and Discussion Grant, "James Baldwin’s America," by Humanities NY. Come and explore Baldwin’s relevance to contemporary society, over the course of six weeks this spring, in discussions led by Professor Frankie Y Bailey at the Howe Library. Professor Bailey said, "The sessions will focus on questions posed by James Baldwin about social justice and on the relevance of his critique of American society to the 21st century. Inspired by Baldwin's work, we also will draw on film, music, and art to elicit discussion about our silences and what happens when we speak. How do we hear and understand each other? How do we move toward change?" You have an opportunity to read one of our country’s most influential authors, guided by a highly respected faculty member of the University of Albany, along with the League of Women Voters community. The program will run on consecutive Monday nights from April 13 through May 18, 2020. Cosponsors, making this a community read, are the Underground Railroad History Project and the Albany Public Library. Registration information will come soon. Contact LWVAC Program Committee Chair Gail Volk at [email protected] for more information. “As is the inevitable result of things unsaid, we find ourselves until today oppressed with a dangerous and reverberating silence," James Baldwin

A Special Kick-off Celebrated the Centennial of the Women Suffrage Movement Women were front and center in the 2020 Rose Bowl Parade on New Years Day. “Years of Hope-Years of Courage,” celebrated the women suffrage movement, kicking off the centennial of the 19th Amendment ratification. Five descendants of suffrage leaders participated in the parade: Michelle Duster, great-granddaughter of Ida B. Wells; Coline Jenkins, great-great-granddaughter of Elizabeth Cady Stanton; Marci Magnatta, a 5th generation distant relative of Susan B. Anthony; Ernestine (Tina) Martin Wyatt, great-great-great-grandniece of Harriet Ross Tubman; and Kenneth B. Morris Jr., great-great-great-grandson of Frederick Douglass. The float, created by Pasadena Celebrates 2020 under the umbrella of the National Women's History Alliance, won Best Theme Float in the parade.

Albany Institute of History and Art  Telling Her Story: New Acquisitions February 8 - June 7, 2020 In honor of the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States, the Albany Institute's coming exhibition highlights women’s lives in New York's upper Hudson Valley and Capital Region. You will learn about the perils of living in rural upstate New York during the American Revolution as recorded in the poems of Ann Eliza Bleecker. You will page through the scrapbooks compiled by Clara Harris Rathbone who was a guest of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln at Ford’s Theater the night Lincoln was shot. You will peek into the wardrobe and library of Athena Lord ( a member of LWV Albany County), an author, community activist, and mother whose parents settled in the Capital Region from Greece. From schoolgirl uniforms to art by contemporary women artists, this exhibition will showcase objects recently acquired by the museum that help illustrate the many contributions and accomplishments of women in our region from the eighteenth-century to the twenty-first century.

Left behind last October 3 after the LWV Albany County membership potluck at the Hannaford community room. Is it yours? Contact Chris Deyss, [email protected] .

CALENDAR January 28, 5:30 - 8 pm, Facing the Reality of the Climate Crisis What can we do about it? Albany Public Library - Pine Hills Branch, 517 Western Ave, Albany, NY 12208, Free and Open to the Public. Contact Aimee Allaud, [email protected] , ( 518)-482-2617. February 10, 6 - 8 pm , LWVAC Board of Directors Meeting, Albany Public Library - Pine Hills Branch, 517 Western Ave, Albany. Open to members. Contact Regina Tillman, 1st VP at [email protected] . February 10, 7 - 9 pm , Albany County Legislative Session (LWVAC Observer Corps), Albany County Courthouse, 16 Lodge Street, Albany. At 6:30 pm, the Legislature holds a Public Forum to allow the public to speak on issues which may come before the Legislature. Contact Patricia Sibilia, [email protected] .   February 13 , League of Women Voters New York State webinar on state budget and Day of Action. Time and call-in details to be announced. Contact Regina Tillman, 1st VP at [email protected] . February 14 , League of Women Voters Day of Action. Contact Regina Tillman, 1st VP at [email protected] . February 14 , Deadline to register party affiliation to participate in primaries in New York State. Contact Albany County Board of Elections, online registration information , (518) 487-5060. March 9, 7 - 9 pm , Albany County Legislative Session (LWVAC Observer Corps), Albany County Courthouse, 16 Lodge Street, Albany. At 6:30 pm, the Legislature holds a Public Forum to allow the public to speak on issues which may come before the Legislature. Contact Patricia Sibilia, [email protected] .   March 10, 5 - 8:30 pm , LWVNYS Event, Champion for Change: A Conversation with Barbara Bartoletti, New York State Museum, 222 Madison Ave, Albany, NY. March 23, 6 - 8 pm , LWVAC Board of Directors Meeting, Location to be determined. Open to members. Contact Regina Tillman, 1st VP at [email protected] .

Membership 2019-20 - Join & Make a Difference  Join online at l w valbany.org/join-renew.html

Carol Bell and Christine Deyss, Bulletin Editors Published by League of Women Voters of Albany County, PO Box 611, Slingerlands, NY 12159 www.lwvalbany.org