ORGANIZING NOTES
August 19, 2025
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Send a letter to the Massachusetts Democratic National Convention Representatives in support of the Resolution Blocking Dark Money in Democratic Primaries. This dark money, including the frequent donations of AIPAC, is used to force out progressive, working-class candidates. This Resolution will be voted on August 27th. (Note:Here is an interview with Ken Martin, DNC Chair, where at about 24 minutes he talks about the ban on dark money. (for those who are interested he talks about what happened with David Hogg earlier in the interview)
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Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO Earning $6,209,738, Laments Cost of Healthcare
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Sarah Iselin, CEO of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, lays out the evidence that there is a health care crisis in Massachusetts in her article for the CommonWealth Beacon (July 27, 2025).
40% of people report delaying needed medical care due to the cost, businesses report having to pay back-breaking insurance costs. But Iselin’s list is incomplete. Missing is the high cost of health insurance; even the not-for-profit companies pay exorbitant salaries, then deny health care so that their costs remain low.
(“Not-for-profit” doesn’t mean that profits aren’t made; that money is just re-invested in the form of high salaries, stipends, consulting fees and more, rather than going to shareholders. For example, in 2023 Sarah Iselin was paid $6,209,738 in total compensation. Six million dollars is pretty good take-home pay. Also in 2023, the previous CEO Andrew Dreyfus received $14,492,982, a nice retirement package. The Chief Financial Officer received $3.7 million and the Senior VP received $3.2 million. (BCBS Form 990, 2023.)
CEO Iselin calls for the State to enforce “the health care spending benchmark” and limit provider cost increases to 3.6%. But apparently she only wants to limit hospital and doctor increases, not health insurance company increases. Blue Cross had submitted a request for a rate increase of 12.9% earlier in the year which has been denied by the State
Also absent from her list is the crisis that every city and town is going through in setting their budgets as they are faced with 9-20% increases in health insurance costs.
Price gouging by pharmaceutical companies is also missing.
We need systemic change. The real solution to the health care crisis in Massachusetts is the passage of the Massachusetts Medicare for All legislation, H.1405 and S.860. Readers are invited to sign this petition (Legislation Explained) to the State Joint Committee on Health Care Financing asking them to approve these bills so they can move on the Ways and Means.
Volunteer with ORMA for Medicare for All, Working Group.
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Mass Alliance Municipal Candidates
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Mass Alliance is a coalition of unions and community-based organizations that aims to build support for progressive issues. It educates in communities, trains electoral candidates, advocates for priority issues, and endorses candidates for state and municipal elections.
This year it has endorsed 15 municipal candidates in eight cities: Jermoh Kamara, Cayden Davis, and Robert Bilotts, Worcester City Council, Maggie McKee, Quincy City Council, Lydia King, Salem City Council, Max Webbe, Sara Brown, and Maisie Sibbison-Alves, Greenfield City Council, Uduak Enyiema and Tom Hendrickson, Agawam City Council, Juan Pablo Jaramillo, Revere City Council, Jeff Charnel, Brockton City Council, Sandra Centeio, Brockton School Committee, and Jonathan Guzman, Lawrence School Committee.
To find out more about the candidates and to volunteer to work on a campaign, click here.
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Adopt an NPR Station
A group of women who walk together regularly at the Arboretum in Boston, collectively raised over $6,000 for a public radio station, KILI, in South Dakota serving the Pine Ridge Reservation. Enid Eckstein Evie Weinstein-Park, Pam Varley, and Linda Guinee led this effort by establishing criteria for choosing a station (in a state with 2 Rep Senators who voted against NPR funding), a critical relationship to the community, and substantial reliance on Federal funding), collecting the donations, and corresponding with the station.
They hope to inspire others with this effort. There are many stations in need of support. Here is a resource to find one:
https://adoptastation.org/
And here is the letter they received back from the station manager.
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Join One Million Rising to stop authoritarianism through people power. This 3-part training will equip you with a coordinated national strategy to organize locally, host community gatherings, and build a force bigger than fear. Sign up, show up, and take action together. Don’t worry of you were unable to make the first two trainings! You can catch up HERE
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Sign up to Join Act on Mass in their goal of tabling for legislative transparency in 40 senate districts.
A few days ago, Act on Mass, volunteers, and allies spread the word about the movement for transparency in our state government, right in the heart of Speaker Ron Mariano’s district in Quincy.
21 districts visited, 19 to go, and volunteers are needed to add energy to our cause. Sign up!
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All across the state local Indivisible groups are hosting stand outs and rallies. Sign Up for one near you HERE!
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Petition the State Joint Committee on Health Care Financing, (JCHCF), to approve the Medicare for All legislation out of committee so that Ways and Means can discuss and vote on it.
Given the crisis of healthcare costs, health services dysfunction and Federal Medicaid cuts, the only reasonable approach to healthcare delivery in Massachusetts is a state based, single payer trust fund with global budgeting.
Sign a letter to both your legislators asking them to call upon the JCHCF to approve the Medicare for All bill out of committee. Lastly, if you can, call your legislators and deliver the same message to drive our point home. Research shows that both modes of communication are greater than either one alone.
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Mark your calendars for September 1 at 9:30 for a Labor Day March that is jointly sponsored by the Boston Labor Council and 50/501. This is the time to combine your rejection of the Trump/MAGA billionaire’s agenda with your support for priority pro-working class legislation: An increase in the minimum wage, an increase in state taxes on overseas corporate profit (the GILTY bill), and a ban on wage theft.
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Power Lunch Phone Bank with Progressive Mass, Thursday, August 21 at Noon
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What comes after calling your state rep and state senator? Getting others to do so as well. Join Progressive Mass for our “Power Lunch” phone bank series, where we will be building our collective power in service of a better Commonwealth for all. We’ll be calling voters about contacting their state legislators about key issues. https://actionnetwork.org/events/power-lunch-phone-bank-with-progressive-mass-821/
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Street chalking is one way to reach an audience that’s difficult to reach by other means. Eye-catching chalked messages on public walkways pull people out of their daily rhythm, as they’re headed to work or wherever else, and give them something to ponder or to look up online later. If we can scale up so that our chalked messages are present around our communities and around the state, we also start to create an impression of ubiquity; if we’re everywhere, we can’t be ignored. Mass 50501’s Street Art Team learned a lot of this through testing the best ways to create chalked messages in a scalable way. Read on to find out how to make your own stencils and for some suggested messages to include. If you go out and chalk your area, send us photos! We’d love to include them in future content.
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Money in the Massachusetts Pot
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The Commonwealth is experiencing major revenue gains from the Millionaire’s Tax, or Fair Share: $2.46 billion in the first year and nearly $3 billion in the second. These are more than double the predictions of supporters. Remember, this is the constitutional amendment that was passed by Massachusetts Voters and opposed by Speaker Mariano and Governor Healey. After it passed, they managed to pass legislation that returned $300 million of tax money to the wealthy by a back door maneuver. Despite their shenanigans, this is big money for transportation and education.
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If you would like to work with ORMA Members on
- Climate Change
- Housing Justice
- Medicare for All
- Communications/InformationTechnology
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ORMA depends on your support to continue Bernie’s Political Revolution to create a society, a politics, and an economy that works for everyone, not just billionaires, corporations and the political elite.
If you value Organizing Notes and its twice a month distribution schedule, please make a donation to ensure its continued existence.
Invest in Change Now!
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Please send requests for action items, articles or upcoming events
for the next Organizing Notes to
beccobrien.orma@gmail.com by Saturday, August 30th
We’d love to have you send us your favorite pictures of Bernie here in MA!
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Campaigns End, Movements Endure
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