< MO H-56 > Kansas City

There will be a special election in Kansas City to fill an upcoming vacancy in House District 56. The incumbent is resigning for personal and professional reasons. Here's a recent news article about it:

State Rep. Brian Yates resigning at end of month
Blue Springs Examiner - Adrianne DeWeese - ‎Nov 25, 2009‎
Missouri Rep. Brian Yates announced Wednesday that he will step down as the 56th District legislator ...

If you live anywhere near Kansas City, you can help to keep this a biker-friendly legislative district. All it takes is a little campaign work for the right candidate. And since voter turnout in special elections is always small, your effort will have a big impact on the outcome.

How can you help? Click on the ELECTIONS page at RIDE2REPEAL.COM and scroll down to "Missouri Races." Click on a candidate's name to visit their campaign website, and sign up as a volunteer. It's really easy to do, and it's the most effective action you can take to get your rights back.

- RIDE2REPEAL@gmail.com

Chasing Rainbows

Recently a friend and fellow activist sent me something interesting to read. It was an explanation of why helmet laws are technically unenforceable. It came from a group called "Bikers of Lesser Tolerance," also known as BOLT. Their explanation was simple, logical, and to the point. It was also fairly easy to understand.

But it was also the centerpiece of a futile pursuit. As long as I've been fighting helmet laws, I've heard and read dozens of similar arguments. Everything from the US Constitution to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration accident data. Slam-dunk stuff.

The problem is that it's all talk. No action, just talk. Talking to the media, talking to legislators, talking to other bikers. Talking to yourself. Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk ...

Now BOLT has always been about more than talk. They are well known for taking action, and deservedly so. They fight back by taking off their helmets, and by taking on the system. Whether it's a helmet law protest run, or individual acts of civil disobedience, they back up their talk ... with action.

There's just one problem. Their action is ineffective. Fighting the helmet law in court is like playing the lottery. Sure, they could win. A judge could throw out the ticket, based on flaws in the statutes. Or they could appeal a guilty verdict and get the law itself declared unenforceable ... even unconstitutional. Sure, they could win.

And I could win the powerball drawing. If I'm astonishingly lucy.

BOLT is full of activists. That's a good thing. They show up and take action, which speaks for itself. Any SMRO would do well to have members that do as much. In the world of biker activism, they are superheroes.

But only results count. Even if hundreds of bikers show up and take action, it won't matter if their action doesn't accomplish the desired result. That's ineffective, and it's why BOLT doesn't get anywhere. They are chasing rainbows, looking for that pot o' gold.

Pound for pound, man for man, hour for hour, there is only one truly effective way to get our rights back. Yes, it takes action. Yes, it takes people who show up. But unlike fighting tickets in court, it has a specific result that is certain.

With a legislative majority, there's no need to fight tickets in court. Why? Because there's no helmet law to fight anymore. Same thing for motorcycle-only police roadblocks, FMSV helmet standards, and handlebar height. With a biker-friendly legislative majority, all these problems go away.

So how do we get a biker-friendly legislative majority? Not with protest runs, court challenges, or acts of civil disobedience. Not even with our votes, since bikers are a tiny and insignificant minority.

We do it with campaign work.

Campaign work is more powerful than a vote. It creates a bond between the candidate and the biker community. It generates votes from the general public. It convinces legislators that bikers have political power ... power that's worth having on their side.

Plus it's easy. How hard is it to poke a campaign sign into the ground? To stick a flyer into a screen door jamb? To stuff some envelopes with campaign literature? Not at all. And this isn't something you have to do year in and year out. Legslative elections only occur once every two years, and even then only for two months between Labor Day and Election Day.

BOLT could get everything they want .. and more. All they have to do is focus that energy on something that's effective and gets results. Working hard isn't enough. Being right isn't enough. Putting yourself out there on the line isn't enough. Standing up to injustice isn't enough. The only thing that's a direct shot to freedom is doing campaign work.

That's worth more than dreaming of a pot o' gold. It's the real deal.

< GA > Augusta

There will be two special elections for State Senate and House Districts in Augusta on Tuesday, January 5. See the ELECTIONS page at RIDE2REPEAL.COM for the latest information.

Here's a recent article about these races:

Special election set to fill Georgia Senate and House seats
WRDW-TV - AUGUSTA‎
The date for a special election to fill the State Senate District 22 seat and the House District 122 seat has been set for January 5, 2010...

Out of all the states, Georgia has the greatest quantity of special elections. Not sure why, but if Georgia bikers become effective at campaign work, they stand to increase their legislative majority by leaps and bounds.

I'll find out as much as I can about the candidates for the latest crop of special elections. But ultimately it's up to Georgia bikers to make a difference. It's not that hard ... but somebody's got to take that first step.

-RIDE2REPEAL@gmail.com

Suicide Pill

Now that the legislative sessions are just around the corner, most SMROs are busy crafting bills to make motorcycling better. And the perennial debate is what to include in the next helmet law repeal bill. In other words, what compromises are needed?

These decisions are best left to the legislators that sponsor the bill. For one thing, they are the pros. Lawmaking is what they do for a living, and that means meeting their colleagues half-way. They know what to leave in, and what to leave out. Only progress counts, so they find a way to make it to the finish line.

Bikers, on the other hand, are amateurs when it comes to lawmaking. They haggle with each other about the conditions and compromises in the bill language, such as age, training, experience, and insurance requirements.

When it comes to the language of the bill, bikers compromise with other bikers. But when it comes to what lawmakers will accept, bikers can only guess. That's because bikers are on the outside looking in. They don't have the same view OR ability as a legislator. But that sure doesn't stop them from trying.

As I've always said, build a biker-friendly majority first ... and then the repeal bill will pass itself. Some compromise may be necessary to get over the hump. As a rule of thumb, the greater the majority, the cleaner the bill.

But there is one repeal bill condition that is pure poison. It's commonly called a "sunset clause," where a repeal bill will automatically expire after a couple of years. This is really a suicide pill, because it's totally destructive to biker's rights.

For one thing, it does all the work for our opponents. In fact, it does a better job than they could possibly do themselves. After all, they don't have to lift a finger to bring back the universal helmet law.

Better still, they'll have ripe data to cherry pick, easily showing how statewide fatalities skyrocketed. Bikers can't debate their way out of that corner. If you want to find repeal after this, you'd better bring a shovel.

Instant gratification is never a good thing, but that's exactly why struggling SMROs take this step. It's out of desperation. They aren't strong enough to fight the battle, and they aren't forward-thinking enough to build a majority. So they cheat.

But they are only cheating the very bikers they're supposed to represent. And the price bikers pay is steep. The immediate yet temporary gain pushes victory further out of reach. Like a desperate junkie, they get one quick fix ... destroying the future for a momentary pleasure.

Fortunately, no state legislature has ever passed a "sunset" repeal bill. Not yet, anyway. But a suicide pill is just the most obvious symptom of something else that's very wrong.

The real problem is that the wrong people are running your SMRO ... right into the ground.

Good luck fixing that.

- RIDE2REPEAL@gmail.com

Mississippi Election Results

The Mississippi special election for House District 117 in Gulfport / Biloxi is in the history books. This was the first time that RIDE2REPEAL.COM supported Mississippi bikers, so we made a little history ourselves.

This was a special election to fill a vacancy in the state legislature that occured between general elections. In addition to the low voter turnout that typically occurs during special elections, this race in particular was very close. The margin of victory was only 92 votes.

Given the low turnout and the slim margin, just a few campaign volunteers could have easily tipped the election either way. But more on that in a minute. Let's rewind the tape ...

In preparation for this race, I contacted as many ABATE of Mississippi officers as I could, and challenged them to get involved. They responded, and suddenly there were quite a few Mississippi bikers who were connected to our Legislative Alert network.

Next I contacted each candidate through their campaign websites, and asked them what their position was on the universal helmet law for motorcyclists. One candidate said adult riders should decide, and the other didn't reply. So one was biker-friendly, and the other remained a question mark.

The good news is that two Gulf Coast bikers stepped up and contacted the biker-friendly candidate. As it turned out, the candidate never took them up on their offer to help the campaign. But the fact remains that somebody stood up for bikers rights when it counted. That is a very big deal.

The bad news, of course, is that nobody else stood up for bikers rights when it counted. But that's to be expected, since campaign work is something that has never been on the front burner when biker activists are cooking up things to do. But now it's on the menu.

All in all, it may seem like this special election was a failure for Mississippi bikers. Not true. And here's why:

> Over a dozen Mississippi bikers were aware of the election via our Legislative Alert network. We managed to get the word out to the right bikers ... the ones who were close enough to to the election to take action.

> Two Gulf Coast bikers took action by contacting the biker-friendly candidate, and offered to help the candidate. It only takes one biker to take that all-important first step, but we had two!

> The biker-friendly candidate came within 92 votes of winning, proving that we really can make a difference. If the candidate had taken advantage of our help, we could have easily changed the election outcome.

> Mississippi bikers are already thinking about the next election, and what to do about it when the next chance comes along. RIDE2REPEAL.COM will be ready to support them, too.

The idea of doing campaign work is forward-thinking. That's something we all need to keep in mind. It's not enough to wait until after the election is done, wait until the legislative session is underway, and wait until a repeal bill gets introduced. By that time, even the most energetic action is "too little - too late."

Change comes slowly to cultures and organizations. Like a battleship, it can't turn on a dime. But a little input to the rudder, consistently applied, makes all the difference. And in Mississippi, somebody reached up and put a hand on the tiller.

- RIDE2REPEAL@gmail.com

< VA > Centreville

There will be a special election for State Senate District 37 in Centreville on Tuesday, December 1. See the ELECTIONS page at RIDE2REPEAL.COM for the latest information.

Here's an article about one of the candidates for the Republican Primary:

All eyes turn to Fairfax's 37th district
Washington Post (blog) - Rosalind Helderman‎
It looks like Democrats have pretty much decided to concede the soon-to-be vacant Virginia Beach state senate district to the GOP, meaning the balance of power in the state senate may soon rest with the Fairfax residents ...

For now, the best thing to do is "wait and see." Primary contests can get personal, and it never helps to make enemies.

Two Republican candidates support repeal, and the other is on the fence. And all of them are running strong campaigns.

But the Republican nominee will eventually face the Democratic nominee. And so far, all the Democratic names popping up are former delegates that consistently voted against repeal. And the Democrats are going to fight hard for this senate seat.

One thing is certain. A fence-sitting freshman would be better than a veteran opponent. So again, we'll wait and see.

-RIDE2REPEAL@gmail.com

< VA > Virginia Beach

There will be a special election for State Senate District 8 in Virginia Beach. No date has been set, but this race has already been conceded by the Democrats. See the ELECTIONS page at RIDE2REPEAL.COM for the latest information.

- RIDE2REPEAL@gmail.com

2009 Elections

Two states held statewide general elections for legislative seats this year: Virginia and New Jersey. Several other states held special elections this year as well, including Alabama (3), California (4), Georgia (7), Michigan (1), Mississippi (1), Missouri (3), New York (3), and Tennessee (3).

Nobody Home

In the case of New Jersey, I couldn't get a single response from ABATE of the Garden State. Never got anything back from NJ subscribers, either. Considering I had my hands full with upcoming elections in my own home state of Virginia, I had to let New Jersey go.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Alabama is pert' nigh hopeless. It has no biker activism at all. They don't even have an SMRO. As far as progress goes, I expect them to be the very last state to still have a helmet law.

First Steps

Georgia had a couple of biker activists step up, but they were too far away from any of their special election districts. But then again, Missouri, New York, and Tennessee had biker activists who started to engage. But they fell by the wayside and I can't tell if they followed through. So in these states, they have yet to earn their stripes.

Individual biker activists from Michigan and Mississippi stepped right up and got involved with candidates, which was pretty darned good for a first attempt at using our network. Topping the list is California, where ABATE of California is actively working with candidates. We're just supporting what they are already doing. For now, they are at the top of the leader board for 2010.

Under the Bridge

Since the Virginia elections have come and gone, ABATE of VA will follow on with the traditional SMRO approach. That means waiting for the session to begin, going to Richmond to lobby, and then a mad scramble or two to cover committee hearings.

Then the repeal bill will go as far as it can ... hopefully to both floors ... and we can get a fresh vote count. I doubt if the repeal bill will pass both houses. But if it did, Governor-elect McDonnell would probably sign it into law.

RIDE2REPEAL.COM will also follow on with our traditional approach: We'll keep an eye out for more special elections in state legislatures across the country. These are always golden opportunities to get biker-friendly candidates elected. That's because biker activists aren't spread thin across the state. Unlike state-wide general elections, campaign volunteers are able to concentrate in one location.

Special elections also give us another great opportunity - to improve our skills as campaign workers. As simple as campaign work is, there is always a learning curve. If you've never done it before, you'll probably stumble a little here and there. But that's how we learn. Practice makes perfect.

The puzzling thing, as always, is why the vast majority of biker activists don't zero-in on campaign work. Even more puzzling is why more state and national MROs don't make it a top-priority. Campaign work is the straight shot to getting our rights back. Nothing else is faster, more effective, or more efficient.

Regardless of the reason, I'll keep pointing out the obvious with the hope that, some day, bikers will take the most direct path to freedom.

- RIDE2REPEAL@gmail.com

< CA > Riverside

California State Senate District 37 will have a special election to fill a recent vacancy. No dates yet, but there will be a quick turn-around.

Here's a recent news article about the special election:

Hopefuls for 37th Senate seat start to step forward

The Desert Sun
Both Republicans and Democrats started jockeying for position on Thursday for a special primary election to fill the state Senate's 37th district seat.
People interested in John J. Benoit's soon-to-be vacant California Senate seat ...

How close are you to this district? Enter your street address to see:  

Opportunity Knocks

I sent a Legislative Alert to our California subscribers. California bikers should be ready, with several activists living well within driving distance.

You can be the first to know as well. Just visit RIDE2REPEAL.COM and click on the red "Subscribe" tab at the top of the page. Or you can contact us at RIDE2REPEAL@gmail.com to learn more.

Virginia Election Results

Another Election Day has come and gone. Lots of news to share later on, but for now please click on the white ELECTIONS tab at the top of RIDE2REPEAL.COM to see who the winners are this year.

I've updated the Virginia maps under the STATE MAPS tab. If you select "Campaign Volunteers" you'll see a few new "red" motorcycles. These show the bikers that stepped up and worked as campaign volunteers.

Also under the STATE MAPS tab, you'll find a new Virginia House Map, freshly updated from the November 3 elections. There are a few changes, but the biggest improvement was in Northern Virginia and Tidewater, where we helped change districts from RED to GREEN. I sure smiled while I colored those in!

The 2009 campaign season was one hell of a wild ride. A HUGE thanks to everyone who worked as a campaign volunteer this year. You are true Freedom Fighters.

- RIDE2REPEAL@gmail.com

Election Eve

Tomorrow is the big payoff: Election Day.

Everything that can be done, has been done. There are no more campaign signs to deliver. No more doors to knock on. No more envelopes to lick, no more stamps to stick. The stage has been set.

In just a few hours, poll workers will be at their stations before dawn. Soon after, the morning voters will line up and cast their ballots. As the day wears on, more and more "I voted" stickers will appear on shirts and blouses.

America will again exercise its right to decide. We've been doing it pretty much the same way for 233 years. One man, one vote. Majority rules. Winner take all.

But something is different this time, too. In races across America, bikers are having their say like never before. Candidates hear us because they see us, supporting their campaigns and helping them win.

They also listen to us. These aren't the hurried and soon forgotten pitches that we deliver during the legislative session. Instead we shared our thoughts and dreams with candidates as we walked for miles, canvassing one neighborhood after another.

Many of these candidates never really thought about motorcycling issues before. For most people, they aren't issues. But they definitely are for motorcyclists. So when motorcyclists spend time with the candidates, our issues become their issues.

Now the election is upon us. Tomorrow night we will find out who won, and who lost. But bikers won something that won't be in the newspapers any time soon. But it will be around for a long, long time.