After a lot of work through phone calls and emails SB136 has been passed by the Senate and the House! The final step in this process is for the Governor Jindal to sign the bill. It has been brought to my attention that the Governor has been getting a lot of phone calls and emails in opposition to the bill. I need all of you to put in a phone call into the Governor’s office as well as email the 4 people below in support of SB136. Please let the Governor know, once again, that this bill does not affect local zoning laws. Each municipality has the opportunity to override the state’s regulations. This has been the case the whole time. It is unfortunate that this has blown up to the point where religious groups, neighborhood associations and the City of New Orleans has muddied the water so much that it has become the giant that it is today. Let’s not allow these few groups to push so hard in opposition for a bill they do not fully understand.

• bobby.jindal@la.gov
• camille.conaway@la.gov
• timmy.teepell@la.gov

Emails must have “SB 136″ in subject.

You can call the Governor’s office at (225) 342-7015.

Thanks so much for your continued support.

Dave Remmetter

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It is once again critical that we generate telephone calls, emails and faxes to each of the 104 members of the House of Representatives asking them to vote FOR SB 136. We are almost there…WE NEED YOUR HELP NOW…

Please use these talking points (pdf) when contacting members of the House of Representatives. You can look up your representative using the form below:

PLEASE MAKE SURE TO MENTION TO EACH REPRESENTATIVE THAT THIS BILL IN NO WAY EFFECTS LOCAL ZONING LAWS. In other words, local governments can still enact their own zoning laws and other regulations related to restaurants that sell alcohol.

Thank you!!!

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So, we don’t particularly need to contact Senator Jackson because she knows the bill well and knows it has lots of support. However, if you have “spare time” (what’s that??), you could call her. The main things WE CAN DO are:

1. Pack the committee room to show the other chamber (House) how much this bill means to us (wear your Murphy’s Law tees if you can)
2. If you can’t make it to the legislature tomorrow, place a call or send an email to the following representatives on the Judiciary Committee (click their names for contact information):
   

   Name	Position	District	Party
   Richmond, Cedric	Chairman	101	D
   Abramson, Neil C.	Vice Chair	98	D
   Connick, Patrick	Member	84	R
   Edwards, John Bel	Member	72	D
   Ernst, Gregory	Member	94	R
   Foil, Franklin J.	Member	70	R
   Franklin, A B	Member	34	D
   Hardy, Rickey	Member	44	D
   Harrison, Joe	Member	51	R
   Hines, Walker	Member	95	D
   Jones, Rosalind D.	Member	17	D
   Leger, Walt III	Member	91	D
   Monica, Nickie	Member	57	R
   Smiley, Jr., M.J. “Mert”	Member	88	R
   White, Mack “Bodi”	Member	64	R

   To phone one of these legislators (phone calls strongly preferred) click their name for their contact info or just call the House switchboard at 225-342-6945 and ask to speak with the office of Representative _____.

   To email one of these legislators, just click on their name in the above list of committee members and look for it at the top of the left column under their picture.

3. If you’re only able to call or write, see if your own representative sits on this committee. If they do, make that your first call and let them know that you’re a constituent in their district. If your representative is not on this committee or he/she is, but you’ve already spoken with them, please make your way down the list as this is a numbers game and you should (hope not, but) assume that you are one of few people who is actually picking up the phone or sending an email.WE NEED NUMBERS NOW - LOTS OF CONCERNED CITIZENS MOTIVATED TO ACT!!!Call several or all of these committee members and let them know your thoughts. Keep it short and simple. Something like:”Hello, my name is ________. I am a constituent of Representative _________ or I am a resident of Baton Rouge (if it’s a BR legislator) or simply, I am a Louisiana voter and I am strongly in favor of SB 136. It is being voted on in the House Judiciary committee tomorrow morning (or today if you’re calling on Wed. am). I urge Representative _________ to support this important bill.” That’s it! If you want to say something more, keep it as positive as possible. Be as passionate as you’re able to without losing your cool. You could just mention why you want them to support it (see earlier post on this website). and remember to **FOCUS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF BILL TO BR AND LA RATHER THAN CHELSEA’S**
4. Stay tuned. If it fails, it’s all over. If it passes, our little bill moves to the House floor for a final vote. If it is amended in committee or on the floor, it will have another hurdle to clear by being sent to conference committee (to iron out differences between the two versions). If it passes on the House floor, we have new protections and great momentum for going into the final battle in court against Painter and the ATC later this summer. In fact, I’d be so bold as to say that if we win this one, we’ve essentially won!

This is why we need you now as much as ever! Please don’t let all of that past positive energy and effort go to waste with a poor turnout or too little phone/email support now. The House hasn’t heard from us yet and THEY REALLY NEED TO!

Trust us. Without your help, we are sure to fail, but with you, we are very likely to succeed!

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Thanks again to Senatory Lydia Jackson for introducing the bill in the Senate and to all of you for doing your part by signing the petition and contacting your Senators and urging them to support the bill. We’re getting there!

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CORRECTION

It has come to our attention that Ralph Brennan is not opposed to SB 136. On good faith and reasonable belief therein, we understand that Mr. Brennan agrees with the clarification contained within SB 136 and is actually a supporter of the bill in its current form. Therefore, we wish to issue this public correction to state that the information previously provided (above), though from an otherwise credible and substantiated source, appears to have been inaccurate as it pertains to Brennan. There is indeed resistance from that part of the New Orleans restaurant community which is apparently confused about the potential effect of the proposed bill on existing businesses, but Ralph Brennan should not be counted within their ranks. Our sincere apologies for this mistake.

We still desperately need you to call at least your senator and hopefully a few others and express your support for SB 136. The road ahead is getting steeper and the simple truth is that we cannot hope to make it without you and your voice.

The vote could come after 1 pm today, so we’d like to ask you to take a few minutes after lunch to make a phone call. Use the below form form to find your senator’s contact information.

If you’ve got some trepidation about calling your senator, just know that in all likelihood, you are going to get an answering service or staffer and you can simply leave a message that goes something like this:

My name is [name] and I live at [address] in [city]. I am calling to tell Senator [last name] that I am a strong supporter of SB 136 and that I urge [him/her] to vote for this bill when it comes to the floor later today. Thank you.

If you do get through to an actual human being then simply let them know that you are a constituent (give your name and at least your zip code so they are aware of this) and that you support SB 136. Feel free to mention any of the reasons why you support it, as well as any of the ones we’ve listed in previous talking points.

We know it’s hard to feel involved during this stage of the game. There’s no court or committee room to pack to show your support and it’s hard to feel like you’re both part of and representing a community with a phone call, but this is REALLY IMPORTANT and it actually does help a lot. Ask anyone who was lobbied for a piece of legislation and they will tell you that there is nothing better than running into a member of the legislature and having them say “We understand where your people are coming from, can you please tell them to stop calling?” IT WORKS!

To give a bit of incentive, check this out: if you send us an email verifying that you’ve called your senator and either talked to them or left a message, and that same email address was used to confirm a signature on our petition in support of SB 136, then you will be entered into a random drawing for a $50 gift certificate for a meal at Chelsea’s! The drawing will be held on Thursday, June 11th at 7:30p and you will be notified if you’ve won via the same email address you use to contact us. So make sure you’ve got a confirmed signature on the petition, call your senator and email us at ilovechelseas@gmail.com to let us know! And please, pass this on via email, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Thank you!

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Thanks!

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The Advocate has a good article on yesterday’s hearing here and also does a good job of summing up the specifiics of SB 136 and what it hopes to accomplish. You can read it here. We’ll have more information on what you can continue to do to help in the next few days.

Thanks again for all of your support. We’re almost there!

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The first (of at least four) votes is coming up at 9:30am on Tuesday, May 19th - a mere 5 days away!  It will be heard in Senate Committee - Judiciary B.  WE NEED YOU THERE! The magic of democracy in Louisiana only EVER happens when we pack a committee room with supporters (or opponents) and let the legislators know what we expect.  Without that presence, we typically always fail.  So we are counting on YOU to be there on Tuesday morning much as many were there for support in court.  The main differences this time are that:

1. there are 7 decision makers to convince rather than one,
2. the decision is not final as the bill, if passed, would then have to go to the Senate floor and then over to the House committee and then, if favorable, to the House floor for a final vote,
3. the fight is bigger than for just Chelsea’s alone this time, and finally, if successful, this clears up virtually everything that stands in Chelsea’s way.

*Special Note: This particular fight is larger than Chelsea’s and many other groups and interests are involved. We may end up having pins or buttons for solidarity, but this time, NO T-SHIRTS please.

SO HERE’S WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU

1. Please read the short bill and sign our petition.
2. Contact your legislators and the committee members below to express your support.
3. Tell your friends and send the information out far and wide throughout the state.
4. Show up at the legislature next Tuesday to show your support, submit cards in favor of this legislation (even if you can’t stay, you can come by for five minutes or less, submit a card in support and leave), and even testify if you’re so inclined and have something to add to the debate.

PLEASE GOTO:  http://www.legis.state.la.us/

You can easily find out who your State Rep. and State Senator is by going to this site, click on legislators at the top right of the page, then type in your address in the appropriate section and the list will come up. You can either email, write or call your elected officials to express concerns. However, calling would be the best. (If you’re contacting Senator Lydia Jackson, just a simple thanks are in order for her sponsorship of this bill and her belief in our issue.)

You can also read or print out a copy of this bill by clicking here (Adobe PDF) where you can read the full text (we’ll be posting a less “legal-ese” explanation of the bill later today).

THESE ARE THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS AND THE VOTES WE NEED TO TARGET

No harm in calling your own Senators and Representatives to ask them to talk with these 7 people, but if you only have time to contact one person, pick someone from this list:

Senator Daniel “Danny” Martiny (Chairman)
131 Airline Highway
Suite 201
Metairie, LA 70001
(504) 834-7676
martinyd@legis.state.la.us
————————–
Senator David Heitmeier (Vice-Chairman)
3501 Holiday Drive
Suite 225
New Orleans, LA 70114
(504) 361-6356
heitmeid@legis.state.la.us
————————–
Senator Dale M. Erdey
P.O. Box 908
Livingston, LA 70754
(225) 686-2881
erdeyd@legis.state.la.us
————————–
Senator D. A. “Butch” Gautreaux
1103 Eighth Street
Morgan City, LA 70380
(800) 562-3204
lasen21@legis.state.la.us
————————–
Senator Lydia P. Jackson
330 Marshall Street
Suite 706
Shreveport, LA 71101
(318) 676-7029
jacksonl@legis.state.la.us
————————–
Senator Eric LaFleur
P.O. Box 617
Ville Platte, LA 70586
(337) 363-5019
lafleure@legis.state.la.us
————————–
Senator Robert “Rob” Marionneaux, Jr.
P.O. Box 577
Livonia, LA 70755-0577
(225) 637-3623
lasen17@legis.state.la.us

Our goal is to call every Senator who represents BR (at least) and ask them to contact their friends on this committee so as to help us lobby.  Senator Dorsey, for example, has already started this process.

We’re counting votes now and it looks favorable, but is far from a “sure thing.” That’s why we need YOU! Please call now (talking points to follow shortly).

Also, if you haven’t already, please take the time to add your name to our petition in support of SB 136.

Thank you!

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Well done Dave Remmeter, Brandon Brown, Judge Trudy White and all of you who continue to support this cause! Justice was served.

Update from Dave Remmetter (Chelsea’s Owner): Though Chelsea’s has posted the required bond, we still have not been re-issued our liquor license. Therefore, we will not be able to sell alcoholic drinks for up to 72 hours (possibly sooner). Please stay tuned for an update, but as of right now, Chelsea’s cannot yet sell any alcoholic beverages.

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