April 2025 Commentator

CALENDAR

April 5, 2025- Hands Off Rally, Brookdale Park, Montclair, NJ, 12-2 PM

April 7, 2025- Judiciary Program courtesy of Montclair LWV, 7 PM Via Zoom

April 9, 2025- Judiciary Consensus Meeting, 7:30 PM via Zoom

May 21, 2025, Panel on Formosa Plastics, 7:30 via Zoom

PRESIDENTS’ MESSAGE

Again, we have a busy period coming up.

This Saturday, April 5th, people across the country will be participating a mass mobilization (over 700 rallies with one big ones in DC and NYC)) to fight back against the brazen power grab by Trump, Musk, and their billionaire cronies. Details at Hands Off! If you click on partners, you will see the League of Women Voters is one of 100 partner orgs spearheading this nationally. Locally there are rallies in Montclair and in Morristown as well as ones in Princeton, Teaneck and Manhattan’s Bryant Park. We urge you to attend one of these.

We will also reach consensus on issues related to the Federal Judiciary, based on a mandate from LWVUS at its last convention. We will participate in a Zoom meeting organized by the Montclair League of Women Voters on April 7th at 7PM to learn more about the issues. A member of the Montclair League is on the LWVUS committee that studied this issue. It is a meeting for League members only since it is a consensus item.

The link for the Montclair meeting was emailed to you.

We will hold our own follow-up Zoom meeting at 7:30 on April 9th to answer the consensus questions on this

issue. The link for our April 9th meeting was emailed to you. Please email us at livingstonlwv@gmail.com if you need it.

For our May meeting, on May 21, we are planning on having a panel on issues surrounding Formosa Plastics whose world headquarters is in Livingston and has been the site of protests about the company’s actions that have allegedly damaged the environment. We will send out more information about this meeting as it is available.

MEMBERSHIP

Thanks you to those of you who have rejoined our League. We welcome new members Eleanor Popolizio, Jeanne McCloskey, Suki Karp and Faith Baum.

We are now officially using the ChapterSpot membership platform. Let us know if you have any issues with this.

VOTER SERVICE

We have completed interviews with our Assemblywomen Alixon Collazos -Gill and Rosy Bagolie and State Senator John McKeon over the past month. Thanks to the committee that consisted of Andy Babij, Judith Friedman, Joan Balash, Laurie Kahn, Amy Ipp and Robin Weiss from our league and Jennette Williams and Jodi Godfrey from Montclair. The legislators provided thoughtful answers to the questions posed and were quite informative.

Members Judith Friedman, Laurie Babij, and Andy Babij went to the Federal Courthouse in Newark to register new citizens at their naturalization ceremony. This is a moving event that you, too, can experience. There are additional opportunities to join with the Montclair LWV. We will send out information about this.

Vote16 Rock the Block Party: Saturday, April 12th at 11am - 3pm. The NJ institute for Social Justice is organizing this event in Newark to empower young voters ahead of the Newark school board election! Featuring inspiring speakers, live performances, and a community resource fair, this event will provide nonpartisan voter information and connect youth with opportunities to be involved in their community. If anyone is interested in organizing and being at a table at this event, please let Robin and Amy know and we can provide additional information. Since this conflicts with the first night of Passover, we understand that many

cannot make this event.

From LWVNJ

Call to Convention: The League of Women Voters of New Jersey will hold our 66th Biennial

State Convention on Friday, June 6, 2025 and Saturday, June 7, 2025 at APA Hotel Woodbridge, Iselin, NJ. Visit the Convention webpage for all info. Convention Registration is now open! A variety of tickets are available to fit your budget and schedule. We recommend the early bird special 2-day all-inclusive ticket (includes all events both days, breakfast and lunch both days, and a special Friday night dinner reception) for $200. Act fast because the price increases after April 25, 2025! 2025! For tickets, go to :

https://secure.everyaction.com/sPBpJ31fLUOXDMQplesKLw2

Hotel Block: A block of rooms is available Thursday, June 5 and Friday, June 6 for a

reduced rate of $149.00 (not including tax) per night. Visit the Convention webpage to

learn more.

Fundraiser: Watch for an email about the League’s annual fundraiser. Each local League has their own “team” page and a unique online link. Share the link with your members, your friends, and on social media to raise as much money as you can! Here is the best part: your local League will receive 25% back of all funds raised on your team page. This is an increase from 20% last year. This is also a friendly competition. The local League in each category (small League, medium League, and large League) that raises the most money gets

bragging rights and an increased 30% in funds back.

Moderator Training: What: Interested in moderating LWVNJ Candidate Forums? Join us for LWVNJ Moderator Training to learn more and begin the process of becoming a certified moderator! This is a free training open to all League members. For more information, review and share this flyer.

When: Friday, April 25 from 4:00pm to 8:00pm

Where: Zoom

RSVP: bit.ly/4-25-25training